So on Thursday we had done a little shopping and hungry as always we decided to go for some food and fate took us to Odenplan in Vasastan. We ended up going to a “sushi” bar called itamae located at Odengatan 62. I had been here before, but its worth visiting more than once, though to call it a sushi bar is in line with Stockholm’s bastardisation of the word (and Itamae means sushi chef) - its more of a wok/thai place I think and the food is really good and really cheap.

Its basic in the way the best Eastern food places are, quick, the food is delicious and the menu choices are set into three areas, then you choose whether you want vegetarian, chicken, prawns or (I think) pork.

Friday we meant to meet up with some friends of mine and go to Restaurang Himlen (also known as Skybar - not to be confused with SkyBar in the SAS Radisson) located in the old tax office on Götgatan 78 in Södermalm but unfortunately I wasn’t notified early enough to a change of plan by my friends that they had gone somewhere else. We tried to get in anyways at about 7:30pm but greeted by the typically bad doorman Stockholm had to offer was asked to wait outside in the cold for 20 minutes. This despite our party of four matched the numbers of those leaving, and the fact that no one else was waiting led me to believe all the wanted to do was start a line to prove how popular the place is.

I have heard good things about it, but that the doormen are typically bad as is the custom in Stockholm, the drinks really expensive - even for Stockholm and the service terrible.. Mmm. Should we try again?

Instead we ended up going round the corner to the Vampire Lounge on Östgötagatan - a place I have been quite a few times now and well known for their excellent cocktails. We appeared to have arrived in happy hour as the prices of drinks was extremely reasonable - about 29Kr for a Beer and 59Kr for a cocktail, but this soon ended but I would never call the drinks expensive for that you get.

Saturday we tried to go out again to a large party that was happening in Telefonplan but the 13 dance floors and 49 DJs on offer seemed to be over subscribed - good for them, but the queue to get in was apparently from the place all the way to the train station, and getting on the t-bana in the same direction many more seemed to be joining them. Instead we went out in Söder - to SöderTeatern which was hosting what it described as Flamenco music - which it briefly touched upon but it was ok music anyway.

Sunday I wasn’t feeling too good - coming down with the flu but we made it out to a apartment viewing in Södermalm - always interesting, but I think that we will carry on looking but it did have potential thats for sure. Coffee break on Götgatan (will try and get the name of the place) and then back home.

So this weekend went to a few more places, after work I went to Belgobaren (Bryggargatan 12 just off Vasagatan), not the first time that I have been there but its a good place with an excellent range of Belgium beer and it was located very close to T-Centralen. Unfortunately the service that we got for food was non-existant so we left as it took 20 minutes to get just a menu, so I would recommend it for the excellent Kwak, Chimey or Duvel they have but I am not so sure about the food.

From there we went to meet some friends at Akkurat on Hornsgatan in Södermalm, a place which I wasn’t particularly happy about going to - it doesn’t seem to have the best clientele from walking past but in its favour you can get Chimey and Guiness there and seems to sport a broad range of drinks, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

And I revisited Indigo Bar, on Götgatan in Södermalm, a nice little place although everytime that I have been there its been packed. Still its easy and one of the better places at the north end of Götgatan.

Looking for a brunch spot in Södermalm we decided to try Dolly’s Saloon on Götgatan, probably way after brunch time as it was advertised as having brunch, though I can’t say anything we saw to eat there was brunch and we ended up ordering lamb racks with potato wedges and a steak with fries - it was priced the same as a normal priced good meal in Stockholm, but was probably less than average and way more filling than we needed at the time. I don’t think that I will be going back as we have had far better meals for less. Some of the paintings inside though are laughably bad..

Following on from this we went shopping in Söder and including the usual places ended up in the Adidas originals shop and on Sunday Filippa K in Bruno mall, Götgatan 36. It also houses Whyred, Reiss, Stuk and American Apparel amongst others.

Last night we went out shopping, ended up buying something in Keihls store in Stockholm. As always the service was great and we found out that if you are not happy with a product you can take it back and exchange it for something different. Very unusual for a cosmetics company.

After that we went to find some food, originally we thought about going to get some Tapas, but instead ended up around Rådmansgatan, and after a short walk decided to try Paladar de Cuba, Tegnérgatan 19 and I must say that we were quite impressed. Both ordering the same thing, Beef with Chorizo and with Cassava and it was excellent, particularly the Cassava - I think the first time that I have tried this root vegetable and hopefully not the last. The surroundings in the restaurant and the service was both good, so I would definitely recommend Paladar again

From here we went around the corner to the Cinema on Sveavågen, and choose to see Before the Devil knows you’re dead and what a disappointment that was, its probably one of the most pointless and boring movies I have seen at the cinema and the only highlight was getting to the end of it and going home. One to miss at the cinema, ignore for rental and definitely don’t buy it in the shops…

It seems there is still alot of question around how easy it is to get the Swedish ID card for non-swedish people.  As mentioned in this article, Everyone has the right to an ID card, the Swedish Cashier Service tightened its rules as of 1 January 2007 so that only those with Swedish family can not get an ID card.

So there is to be an investigation, but the date with which they have to form a result is December 2007 - still a long way off!

There is also an article in the local here: http://www.thelocal.se/6421/  and here http://www.thelocal.se/blog/20070215/104/

And looking at the forum, http://www.thelocal.se/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=8995 , the rules might have changed already.  I will wait and see until I get the personal number.

On friday I got one step nearer to being properly registered in Sweden and that was getting my co-ordination number.  This is a number that can be used by foreign citizens in Sweden for tax and other purposes when one doesn’t have a personal number.  I got the number by sending off the form I recieved from Skattekontoret Uppsala to Skatteverket.  This form I had to phone up for since I am a member of the EU.
I have also applied for the rights to residency using form 140011 “Registration of right of residence”, which will then give me the personal number needed so often for everyday matters in Sweden.  Again being from an EU member state I don’t need to since there are rules, but the personal number is needed for most things in life here and so I wanted to go along with the system.
For more information on this http://www.migrationsverket.se/english.html will help

Next I will have to get a Swedish ID card…

This is quite an interesting list of the top 100 most livable cities for expats:

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/livable_cities_worldwide/

Stockholm is at number 20, which is at least up from London at position 39.  Zurich tops it for the second year running though.

So today I went to the Swedbank bank in Stockholm to see about getting a bank account, but this dream was rather short lived. It seems that there is a new law saying that I have to have a Swedish ID card to get the bank account.

To get the Swedish Identity card, I need to get a Swedish Personal number and to get this have to have registered with the Tax office. Well I did that 2 weeks ago and I am still waiting.

Looks like this process is going to take longer than I thought.

Yay! Today I got in my hand the contract from work which means that I can now go through the process of applying for swedish personal numbers, and registration to work.

The personal number is a big deal in Sweden, everything is centered around it from healthcare, banking to video shops and applications. I like the fact that you register your address against it, then you only need to change it in one place all the companies are updated at once.

Now to fill out some forms…

Well its been a long time since I have posted on this blog, and a lot has changed since that last post.

Firstly the biggest change has been I have relocated to Stockholm which I am really excited about.  So far its still my first week and I am currently on hold to the Swedish Migration Board trying to find out exactly what forms I need to send.

I have moved into the centre of Stockholm about 10 minutes walk from Kungsgaten, and I am working for Ardendo a Vizrt company, working on integration projects.

I am sure more information to follow on what its like in Sweden and to move to Sweden.