Madrid

Going to Madrid in September is a great idea, when you live in a colder country. It was my last chance of the year to wear shorts and t-shirt.

It is a nice city. Many people don't speak English, but that doesn't stop them. I was impressed at how many conversations I had, without understanding the words, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. Whether it was trying to get a taxi to take me somewhere or ordering food in a restaurant.

I tried using my best Italian, but that wasn't much help. It was like they understood my English better, yet they didn't feel comfortable speaking it. I also looked up some Spanish words on my phone and managed to pronounce some of them well enough to be understood.

One day I went to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and went on the tour. It was impressive, and we even got to see the locker rooms and sit on the bench.

So Madrid is definitely well worth a visit and I'll probably be going there again some day. 

Stockholm - the city of friendly salesmen

I went to Stockholm this spring because my second cousin was celebrating her confirmation. It's a nice city to visit over a weekend. We went shopping, sailed around Skærgården and had nice food.

The great thing about shopping in Stockholm is - besides the obvious novelty of the selection that comes from going to another city - that the salespeople in the shops are interested in what you are looking for, and they try to help you. They are very friendly.

They'll even have an opinion on what kind of jeans will look good on your ass, which could come across offensive to some politer cultures (like the British) but as we are Danish, we'd rather take honesty than politeness.

So if you have the chance to go to Stockholm for the weekend, do it! But do it while it is warm. In general, stay out of Scandinavia in the winter (unless you are skiiing).