In order from least time spent to most time spent, it’s been an evening of house cleaning, television watching, and travel research. My goal tonight was to find out a little more about Nyköping, a town of about 35,000 people about an hour by train from Stockholm.

I’m spending a night there to see a concert by Peter Jöback and Cookies ‘n’ Beans. Peter does everything from show tunes to pop to heart-felt ballads, while Cookies ‘n’ Beans are country and blue-grass inspired.

I like them both very much. And this was the closest venue to Stockholm I could find them playing while I’m there.

And what a venue, as I’ve discovered tonight: an old castle dating back to the twelfth century called Nyköpingshus. Just to make sure I hadn’t misread the ticket, I’ve found a few concerts on Youtube which have been conducted there, and it looks like a really nice intimate venue. I’m in the fifth row on the left hand-side. Hopefully there’ll be interesting people on either side to chat to before the show and during intermission.

I had planned to catch the train back that night, but my friend Graeme mentioned the trains back to Stockholm stop at 9.30, so I’ve been online tonight trying to find some suitable accommodation.

I looked at four different places to stay. The first, the Railway Hostel had one room apartments right next to the railway station at very cheap prices. Another, called Forty Towers had some appeal purely for the comic value of the hotel’s name. But the real choice came down to The Scandic and The Clarion, both offering rooms at about the same price which, on current exchange rates, was about $120 per night including breakfast. Thanks to the wonders of Tripadvisor and Google Maps, I was able to read other people’s reviews and then have a good close look at the street, the location, walking distance etc thanks to Street View. How did we cope in the old days? In the end, I’ve gone with The Clarion as it seems to have nicer interiors and exteriors and the price also includes breakfast AND a light evening buffet. It’s also quite close to the stream which flows through the town, and which I’ll need to cross to attend the concert.

The hotel has its origin from ‘Nordiska Kompaniet’ which was one of Sweden’s most known furniture manufactories and which was located on the premises from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970’s. The location of the hotel is perfect, right next to the harbour and with only 5 minutes walk to the city centre. When the weather allows you can enjoy your breakfast or dinner buffet on our beautiful veranda, right by the river. Feel like home away from home with complimentary dinner buffet, breakfast buffet, afternoon coffee or tea, recreation area with sauna and jacuzzi.

The town looks quite “historic” with lots of castles in the nearby areas, lots of old buildings and so on. And as I went on Google Street View tonight, I discovered it also has lots of narrowish streets which generally makes for an interesting places to wander about. There’s a mid-afternoon tour of the castle (in English) on the day I arrive, so I reckon I’ll take that in too.

The other thing which looks really fantastic is Stendörren, a nearby archipelago where the islands are linked by little bridges. There’s some great photos on Flickr.

Also of historic interest: Nyköping was the birthplace (in 1970) of Tess from pop group, Alcazar.