Sergels Torg (Sergel square), one of Stockholm's ugliest places.

We visited the Mozambique embassy.

Johannes church.

Memorial plaque on the spot where prime minister Olof Palme was assassinated in 1986.

Hötorget.

Drottninggatan, Stockholm.

12.36 We have walked to Sturegatan in Östermalm and applied for a visa to Mozambique at their embassy. We had expected to speak English with a dark-skinned person, but it was a conversation in Swedish with a white man of probably Portuguese origin. We left our passports and will hopefully have them returned by mail. The reason for this visit is that we need to pass through Mozambique's territory during the upcoming trip to Africa this summer.

13.24 At the junction of Regeringsgatan and David Bagares gata is Pizzeria Milano. Here we shall soon eat pizza. It's time for lunch.

14.25 Behind us we now have the City Hall and the Hotel Sheraton. In front of us is the Central Palace. Inside of it is the Ministry of Environment, a part of the Swedish government.

Rosenbad, here are the offices of our government.

Riksdagen, the Swedish parliament.

The travel journal author and the chief of staff.

15.11 We are now admitted to Department of Environment and the Chief of Staff Mattias Johansson's room. He is beside chief of staff in addition also my younger brother. The view towards the City Hall is magnificent.

16.14 It was an interesting visit and we got some insight into how the work in a department works. We had to take a look at the Minister Lena Ek's room and listened to discussions about how a blog would be published. Now we have come to the place that will be our home for the next three days, Best Hostel in the Old Town (http://www.besthostel.se). The current room number is the 305. We may have stayed in the same room when we were in Stockholm last autumn. It feels familiar.

Demonstration for women´s rights on Medborgarplatsen.

18.46 After some rest we´re about to get ready for tonight's events. We have thought about food and a movie.

23.50 It's been an eventful evening. We walked down to Södermalm. At Medborgarplatsen some women celebrated the Women's Day. They talked with enthusiasm about men's violence and oppression against women. The speaker felt that attendance had been good. However, she wished they could do it another day. I think that the 31st of June sounds like a good suggestion. Furthermore, we have eaten kebabs and watched a movie. At the hostel we have looked a little on the computer. Now it's rest.

Friday 9th of March

07.40 Out there awaits a gray Stockholm day. We have plans to make a visit to the Royal Library.

08.10 Christer came back from his morning shower and announced that I had forgotten my shampoo bottle in the shower area. I left the room to retrieve it. That was when the door slammed and we were locked out. The key card had been left inside the room. I went down to reception to ask for a new key card. The reception was closed. We got help from a cleaner.

The Royal library.

15.29 We've spent the day in the Royal Library's vaults. There are newspapers from all over Sweden archived on microfilm. We have searched for people to our family history projects. We have looked at old obituaries and other items of interest. We bought a sandwich and a drink each on our way home. Once back at the hostel, we brought ourselves to the TV room. We found all sorts of channels except TV4 on the TV. It's TV4 that we want to see the World Cup biathlon on. Today it is the men's relay.

16.12 Christer made an attempt to make TV4 be like the other channels on the TV, it succeeded. Unfortunately, this meant that all the channels disappeared. We are now looking for a choppy relay on international Biathlon Union IBU's website. Sweden was at 28th place after the first leg. Now on the third leg, Sweden is in 19th place.

18.18 We have made up plans regarding the remaining time here in Stockholm. The plan includes economical calculations. The biathlon relay by the way was won by Norway before France and Germany.

Exquisite humor appeared in a shop window in Södermalm.

20.02 We've been wandering around the old town and searched for possible dinner restaurants. The first two prospects, an Indian restaurant, Restaurant Shahnai, which we dined at in November and a wok place were both closed due to renovation. We treated ourselves some coffee and chocolate mud cake at the Café Kladdkakan.

22.59 We have been walking along Hornsgatan and Götgatan. We have been looking forward for places where we can get us a dinner. There were either something wrong with what they offered, the price for the meal or the fact that they had closed the kitchen. We ended up at Burger King at Medborgarplatsen. There were among others some Finns who drank something strong from a bottle. One of them was wearing a pink cowboy hat.

Saturday 10th of March

09.10 Today we slept until we woke up by ourselves. We're going on a 40 years birthday party in southern Stockholm this evening.

09.37 Yet another breakfast has been eaten here at Best Hostel. As usual the brteakfast area is full of people and has a lack of seats.

10.19 Soon, we are ready to go out on the streets of Stockholm. There are no detailed plans today. Sometimes it's nice to just stroll around and be spontaneous.

13.37 There has been yet another tour of the capital. We have walked through the Old Town and then been out on Riddarholmen. Our visits to Stockholm often bring us to the old town but we realized how seldom we are on Riddarholmen. We looked at the church where, greeted a statue of the Swedish musician Evert Taube and saw various beautiful buildings.

The Swedish Academy and the Nobel Museum.

Beautiful houses at Stortorget in the Old Town.

In the old town there are many unexpected encounters.

Guards at the Royal Palace.

Mårten Trotzigs gränd, the narrowest street in Stockholm.

The closed Riddarholmskyrkan still attracts tourists.

Evert Taube and Stockholm City Hall.

14.46 We went back to the Old Town's medieval streets and saw the guards at the palace. We also had coffee at the Café Sten Sture (http://www.cafestensture.se), a café located in an old dungeon. The venue and the atmosphere are really special. The place and the staff are also worth a visit. You always get a nice personal touch there. We have also managed to buy something to drink for tonight's party. More has been done but I can not remember or write down everything.

15.03 Soon a group of women will be chasing precious medals. Twelve of them will succeed. It is time for women's relay at the Biathlon World Championships. We are, just as yesterday, forced to follow the race at the hostel's computers. We rested ourselves a little since our return. I have also finished the book Beggars Banquet by Ian Rankin.

16.41 The German, French and Norwegian women share the precious medals. Sweden ended up on fifth place. As for us, we will soon head south towards the evening party.

18.10 We have, after some delays on the metro, arrived at our friend and former university classmate Tobias 40th birthday dinner/party. The apartment is filled with various nice people, some of them are familiar and some are new friends.

23.25 It has been and remains to be a pleasant evening in Årsta. We have eaten well, drunk well and talked about mixed topics. The guests have come from such scattered locations as Gotland, Järvsö and England.

Tobias (to the right) has become 40 years old.

Sunday 11th of March

02.17 We are home after a nice party. We have laughed at everything possible. Tobias has spoken warmly about the Finnish hit movie Iron Sky, the same film which John recommended a few days ago. We just missed a metro train and had to wait half an hour on the next. Now we are back in room 305 and are ready for sleep.

09.21 We have had a few hours sleep. Now we have a few hours left before the bus departs northwards. One more trip and the travel journal is being tied together.

10.58 Now we checked out from the hostel. We are having a bench break on a green bench. Opposite us it is a sign that says, Österlånggatan 17. Behind us we have a copy of the statue of Saint George and the Dragon. We have once again met Saint George. A man from Södertälje has come along and asked us for the nearest metro station. He will apparently start working in the old town from tomorrow.

12.06 Some dogs made unsuccessful efforts to, as usual for dogs on our tours, visit us. They were stopped by the leashes and their owners. Now we are at Pizzeria Nivå for a lunch (http://www.pizzerianiva.se).

12.44 It was fortunate that we had an early lunch. All of a sudden it turned out that almost all seats were taken. A major travel company of Indians appeared and was hungry for pizza.

The center of power.

13.09 Now it is not a lot left of this week. We are waiting to board the Y-bus.

16.14 It is 11 kilometers left to Söderhamn. There I intend to allow myself a leg stretcher. It is warm and a lack of oxygen in the bus.

18.45 Now I once again sit down by Christer's kitchen table in Sundsvall. Soon, I will say goodbye for now. Soon we will be one the move again. New journeys wait for us later this year.