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I got my CFR Cluj Shirt! 😀 Why and how did it all start? Well 3 or 4 years ago I decided that I wanted to follow a team in the Champions League, but not just any old team, a team out of the ordinary. I then loved CSKA Moscow, and wanted one of their shirts. After a few years of searching I could not find one, so I pretty much gave up. then they finally got into the Champions League last season, so I re-started my search, and found where I could get one from, all the way from Russia! You can read the rest of the story about how that went.
I also wanted a Cluj shirt from the last time they got to the group stage, 2 or 3 years ago I think it was. Once again that was also really difficult to find a shirt, and in fact I could not. This season CSKA are not in the Champions League (but are currently top of the Russian league so may be next season!!) but Cluj are. They almost upset Man Utd the other week by going 1-0 up, but then losing. They are 2nd in their group. I decided that I would once again follow a team in the Champions League, and tried to find a Cluj shirt…And, as you can see from the first picture above, I did!
It’s slightly different to the Champions League version, the UCL version does not carry the “Energobit” logo, probably due to rules on only one sponsor or something. They do have it printed on their shirts in the Romanian league however.
I am pretty happy I got it, and I will be wearing it next week when the Champions League is on 😛
It is back, Saturday 6th October a brand new series of Take Me Out airs on ITV, I cannot wait! 😀 I love this show, and since it’s started I have ran a blog post on each series.
Her extensive list of hobbies include cycling, sewing, roller blading and hula hooping which she is currently mastering with the help of YouTube tutorials.
Angela has appeared in a Bollywood production.
She hasn’t had any dates in the last year but has had four serious relationships in the past. The longest lasting for two years.
Gant Shirt, Hugo Boss Knit, PRPS Jeans, MR KG Shoes
Hey blog!
So I was out in Newcastle last night, just for a quiet couple of drinks. We went around the central station area and stayed there for most of the night, but headed to Label for one drink. We went to Milecastle, Centuiron, Rafferty’s, O’Neils and North; There was a band on in O’Neils…Well I say on, they played 1 song in the 40 minutes we were there, and did not sing anything other than the chorus of “Knocking On Heavens Door”. 😀
We were messing with the jukebox in one bar, so I had to put a couple of songs on; So Sold Crew – 21 Seconds, Robyn – Be Mine and Tinie Tempah – Written In The Stars. Quite a strange mix I know I could not help killing myself laughing when So Solid kicked in, what a hilarious moment to hear that song in a bar, and hear it 11 years after it came out too 😀
It was the opening weekend of “House Of Smith” but I decided we should go to Label instead. We had cocktails, they claim it’s buy one get one free….However when they mix it with a cocktail shaker and glass there is enough drink to fill the one mixing glass…But then they get 2 empty glasses, throw loads of ice into them and split up the mixed drink so you aren’t really getting 2 for 1! The measure only looked 35ml of alcohol at best too so definitely not a proper 2 for 1.
I was trying out my camera on my iPhone, it seems to be just as bad in low light as the iPhone 4, not the best but reasonable. Here is a ceiling, guess the bar… 😉
Thanks for your questions and emails, so I will answer a couple of questions for you. Bear in mind I have only been to Stockholm once so I am hardly an expert, just writing what I found 🙂
It is expensive?
I should say so! Being in the UK we always hear of Scandinavian countries being expensive, I always thought it would be, but did not expect it to be that expensive. I have been to London and Amsterdam, I found Amsterdam to be really expensive, and Stockholm is more than that! Hotels are average for a capital city, but the general living expenses are high;
Eating out, drinking, and so on. Taxi to the airport was around £40. My general rule was that most things were around twice the price than the UK (check the beer/alcohol below). Even buying the usual souvenirs I ended up spending around £30 which was a lot considering I only got a few small items.
What about bars, are they expensive?
Yep! A bottle of beer was just over £5, everywhere I went including the hotel bar in Stureplan.
If you want anything extravagant then expect to pay a lot more; For example vodka and Redbull was anywhere from £10-15, cocktails anything around the £12 and upwards mark. This was around the Södermalm area in a few different places.
Strange rules?
You can only buy alcohol from designated places and only at certain times! For example these are closed on Sundays, so you cannot buy alcohol at all! (unless you go to a bar/club/restaurant). The places which sell alcohol are called Systembolaget.
Other places might sell it but it’s weak like 2% ABV or something. So if you plan on buying alcohol for a party or for your hotel don’t leave it until Sunday or you will be disappointed.
I HAD to take my jacket off in one bar. This was weird. It’s like a cloakroom but mandatory, you have no choice. I am not sure if this was just that particular bars rule or not, I guess it was. And you have to pay for the privilege too. This is actually much better, because everyone has to do the same, so people seemed more chilled and danced much more without big coats and jackets on 😀
How do you get from the airport to Stockholm centre/back
There is a bus, a taxi too, but I got the Arlanda Express, a train which goes from the airport terminal straight to Stockholm Central Station. This costs around £26 and is the quickest way to get to the centre of Stockholm, taking around 20 minutes.
I got a Taxi back from my hotel to the airport which was a lot slower, that cost £40.
How do you get around Stockholm? Is it big?
I don’t think it is too big. If you like to walk then you can walk around a lot to different places and they are not too far. I got the Stockholm Metro aka tunnelbana from Stureplan to Gamla Stan, but walked back.
The Tunnelbana is probably the best and easiest way of getting around, depending on where you want to go, much like the Tube in London. There are also buses and trams, but boats are also used a lot since there are many islands.
What is the airport like?
I flew to and from Arlanda, the biggest (and “main”) airport for Stockholm. It’s pretty decent size, not huge and not tiny. Arrivals you are sort of upstairs and have to go down to baggage claim and through passport control then you are out to the terminal and there are a few shops.
Departures there is a very large departure style shop with all the usual things in it, and places to eat etc. I did notice it was really really clean.
What is the money like?
Strange at first. The current exchange rate is around 10kr/£1 so if you have 100kr (which you will have a lot of) that is around £10. It is just odd when you buy stuff and it costs x-hundred kr and you are thinking it’s a huge amount for just a drink.
On the plus side it is easy once you get over that, because you just knock the ‘0’ off. They only seem to have 500kr and 100kr notes and nothing in the middle (there are 20 and 50 notes too), which is not good. They need a 200kr note, like our £20 note (I think they are getting this in the future?)
Snacks and drinks – Are there places to get these?
Yeah, Stockholm has 7Eleven’s everywhere! This was sort of a novelty for me since I am from the UK and we don’t have them here, and they are so popular and famous in America it was cool to go to one. Like everything else they are quite expensive in comparison to the UK counterparts. McDonalds is also not too cheap, over £2 for large fries 😛
What culture of people are around?
In terms of tourists I found that I heard so many Americans, they seemed to be everywhere! I did not hear much British English being spoken, maybe only by two or three people over the whole weekend. There were some German speaking people, maybe some other Scandinavian too, but mostly Swedish people enjoying Stockholm 🙂
Do many people speak English?
I spoke to a few people in stores, restaurants, bars, random Swedish people and everyone speaks English, and pretty good too. Most of the time their English is so good you’d forget you were talking to someone who doesn’t speak English as a first language 😀
So I was at Arlanda airport last week flying out of Stockholm, ahhh the memories. I was at terminal 5 of Arlanda, which deals with the international flights. The airport is actually quite small, not as small as Newcastle, but not huge, quite a nice size actually.
I was in departures and went to duty free to pick up some things, I got my Chanel Allure and I picked up some vodka. The vodka was Smirnoff Espresso, I had never seen it before so I was excited to get it; Apparently you can only get it from duty free if the label on the shelf is to be believed.
I went to pay and the guy tells me “We cannot sell alcohol if you are travelling within the EU, it’s the law”. WTF!?!? I could not believe it. Sweden is so strict with their alcohol laws, it won’t even let me take it out the country! Apparently it is true, at least according to their website, they do not sell alcohol if you are flying within the EU.
I like Arlanda airport though, it’s nice, friendly people, and very clean. When I arrived one of the first things I noticed about it was how clean it was!
So after I came back from Stockholm I flew into Heathrow, and I booked my train back to Newcastle so I would have a good few hours in London, so I could spend a little bit of time there. I did the usual tourist sight seeing type stuff, I have seen most of the sights but it’s London, so no harm in seeing them again 😛 It is a cool city, the weather was really warm and I chilled in Trafalgar Square as well as going around the usual spots.
I heard about Smirnoff Gold several months ago and blogged about it. It is a cinnamon flavoured vodka, and it has edible golden flakes in the vodka. The problem is that you cannot buy it on the UK high street, so it’s a little bit special. I heard from many people who had bought it that they got it from duty free shops in airports, and on the ferry from France.
When I was in Heathrow I was looking around the duty free for nothing in particular and them remembered about this vodka, and after a couple of moments browsing I found it so I bought it 😀
It is a 1L bottle, and I think this flavour may only come in that size as it’s all I have seen (as opposed to the standard 70CL)/ It was a little on the expensive side, £28 if I remember correctly. If you read my blog you will know I like strange and unusual vodkas and like to try new ones, so it is worth it for me.
I have not tried this yet, but I will do soon and write about what it is like.
You can check out my other Smirnoff vodka bottles, which includes:
I brought home a few presents from Stockholm, you know, the typical tourist souvenirs which you can pick up on holiday to remind you that you were there. I brought home a few things for people, and I got myself a couple of things too. A picture calendar, some boxers, a badge and wristband and a shot glass.
I also went to the Hard Rock Cafe and picked up a t-shirt to add to my little Hard Rock t-shirt collection. I now have: Edinburgh, Dublin, Sharm El Sheik, Amsterdam and Stockholm. I like to try and get different style and designs, so this is the one I got from Stockholm…
At Arlanda airport I bought myself a fragrence, why not I have not for a long time 😉 I tried the Chanel Allure homme sport Extreme and it was really nice so I picked up a bottle. Nice bottle, really nice smell, quite a strong kind of smell but is really nice.
I was so busy sight-seeing and walking around Stockholm that I actually did no real shopping at all! I went to a little shop in Gamla Stan to buy a couple of souvenirs, but other than that I did not buy anything such as high end fashion, although Stockholm does have a lot to offer.
It was both strange and cool to be within a 10 minute walk from my place to Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Mulberry and others.
I was right next to Sture gallerian which is home to many cool places, but I did not have any time to go in. I did however take a couple of pics.
Something which Stockholm has a LOT of which we do not have in the UK are 7Elevens. They are everywhere, and I did go to a couple to pick up a few things like snacks and drinks.
So day 3 was Sunday, my last real day in Stockholm and it was probably the most “tourist” of days I had. Despite only having around 3 hours sleep, I went out and did the tourist thing once again 😀 I went to Gamla Stan (The Old Town) and saw a lot…
I was walking around for so long and walked so far, going around Gamla Stan, Slussen and ended up around the Central Station before heading for something to eat back in Stureplan. My feet and legs were already hurting, by the end of the day I was dead!
Gamla Stan is so cool, there are just endless tiny streets to walk up and down, it really is a maze of an old town.
Enough of the text, here come the pictures, and there are a lot…
