We had a late start Sunday because we're all jet lagged, and stayed up late Saturday night. Our dear friends Lisa and Nina, who joined Swish earlier this year at the NY Pride parade as the "Wonder Dykes" on our Superhero-themed float, met up with us, and together with Linda, took us on a lovely excursion down one of the "poshest" streets in Stockholm, with views of the water and the most stunning architecture.

There are a few things we have to mention about this trip in general. The weather so far has been absolutely amazing. We're told that it is unseasonably warm for August, which means that it's been sunny and about 80 degrees every day, with no humidity. We do not miss the humidity at home. It's just been perfect.

Also, the city has really gone all out to welcome the world for Europride. There are pride flags everywhere in the city, included two at the front of every bus. There are billboards and signs in the subways, and everyone is so welcoming. One of the biggest department stores in the city decorated their three windows with fabulous pride-themed displays, one of which is a "Fag Hags" display, all pink and "Swishy". We all screamed when we saw it from the bus, and are planning to go back later in the week to admire and take pictures for you. Suffice it to say, Stockholm has truly rolled out the red….err….rainbow carpet for us.

We should also add that the American version of the gaydar does NOT work in Sweden. We are all in the process of recalibrating ours to include the upgrades for Euro-gays. Everyone looks gay here!! It's nuts. We don't know who to hit on! Jamie isn't sure if she if she is picking up a guy for us, or herself. We're so confused.

After our stroll through the city, we headed to one of Stockholm's beautiful parks for "fika", which, loosely translated, means "sitting down for some coffee and cookies" in a gorgeous little outdoor café, boutique and pick-your-own flower garden, which was stunning. On our way, we enjoyed the sights of gorgeous Swedes paying, boating, walking and generally frolicking. And then….well….we walked past a young couple that just couldn't help but succumb to the romantic setting of the park, and found themselves having full-on intercourse in the grass, within view of everyone sitting in an outdoor coffee shop. We ogled for a few minutes, hoping we could see the final embarrassed look on their faces when they finished, but Casanova had more stamina than we had patience, so we kept going, as we were ready for "fika". We had a lovely time chatting and enjoying Swedish treats.

Later that evening we went back to Linda and Fredrik's, and Nina and the rest of the Swedes, made an absolutely fantastic dinner of Swedish meatballs, potatoes, salad and beer.

During this trip we have been introduced to "schlager" (which translates to "hitter" or just "hit"), which is the musical style popularized by the Eurovision song contest that is held throughout Europe, and has become almost a religion in Sweden. Typical schlager tracks are either sweet, highly sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes. Its lyrics typically center on love and relationships, and feelings. It is all the rage in Sweden, and it's getting on our nerves.

Fredrik also played some interesting "mash-ups" for us, including "Herb Albert and Tijuana Brass with Flavor Flav", "Eminem with The Smiths" and "Missy Elliot with Metallica." All this from the country that also gave the world ABBA. Not sure what that says about the country's music scene, but, hey, the people are pretty.

The evening ended with a night out on the "Patricia," a danceclub full of gays, lesbians and straight people all enjoying cocktails and music on three floors of an enormous ship. Schlager was on the top floor, obviously, but they also played some fantastic house music in the bowels of the ship. We noticed a lot of coupling between fags and hags. At one point on the top deck and a little boy ran over to this girl and yelled "You're my hag!" The girl replied "Yes, I picked you!" and shoved her friend out of the way to hug her new, little gay. We're starting a trend!! We all met a lot of new friends, and did a bit of networking for Swish too. Hopefully we were able to recruit more people to come see our presentation at the Pride House later this week. We headed home around 3am, around the time the sun was coming. Yes, the sun was coming up at 3am…..another late start on Monday.

p.s. We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Sue tomorrow!! More fun and adventures to follow.