Today we woke up with one goal - apply for our Tax ID numbers. Sweden requires a tax id number to do just about anything beyond breathing. Thanks to David we had looked up the location and even viewed the building on Google Earth so we were confident that we would be able to find the location without difficulty.
As we left the hotel, we noticed traffic seemed to be heavier than our first day but assumed it was due to the time of day we were out. Once we get to the train station, the real fun began. There are signs up that of course we can't read. Finally we get enough information to realize part of the subway is down due to an electrical problem. The city is really organized though and had buses in place that were running along the rail paths. We rode the bus which Ellie has be asking to do. It was crazy crowded. Two stops in the bus just stopped and everyone including the driver got off. Guess understanding the previous announcement would have helped. Finally someone explained that the subway was working from this stop forward. We made it to the tax office with 10 minutes to spare. The application process was quick and painless and we should have our cards in 10 days to 6 weeks.
Our liaison brought us the keys to our new apartment. We were so excited we headed right over. Ellie couldn't wait to see her new room. The apartment was so nice. We can't wait to move in. The building is old (1905) and has all kinds of great woodwork and mouldings. We are so lucky to have found such a great space.
After a stop at the park and lunch we decided to walk back to the hotel since the train system was still down and we didn't have a bus map. We walked the path David will take from the apartment to work. It was a nice 1.5 mile walk including cross a river so he will get to see water each day. Along the path we saw lots of great shops and a really large grocery store.
After naps we wandered around trying to find a pizza place that David and I had eaten at in August. Forty minutes later we found a different little pizza place. It was delicious. Ellie ate THREE pieces. We are discovering that every pizza place has really different pizza. They all make a thin crust pizza but the flavors are very different. Coming home we rain in to another train outage and were rerouted through T-Centralan(the station where all the lines meet). David and I managed to lose each other but not Ellie. After board what we thought was our final train home, it stopped 3 stops away and turned off the cabin lights. We decided that they were shutting down the system again for repairs overnight and headed upstairs to figure out how to walk home. As we were looking at the map another train arrived and continued on like normal. We decided that the announcement was the train we were on was done for the day not the system was down. Oh, to only understand Swedish. This is something we have to work on in the coming months.
Overall, it was a great day and the trains are still Ellie's favorite part of Sweden.
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