random story:
last night i was out with my friend, jordana, having wonderful, warm cups of hot chocolate in Gamla Stan (Stockholm's Old Town - best part of the city), and after we left the area we started walking towards the middle of the city. as we're walking, jordana gets a text from a friend of ours asking sarcastically, 'so does Condoleezza Rice really need to shut down Sankt Eriksplan? Cause i can't catch my bus now.' apparently, Condi's in town, and her arrival required that all of a plaza be shut down, thus keeping our friend from getting his bus out.
so we're laughing about it, and continue walking until i notice...there's a helicopter hovering over us. weird, haven't seen a helicopter since i've been here. we walk some more and start noticing police everywhere. again, haven't hardly seen police officers since i've been here (which is a shame cause i now have no concept of a speed limit...). we walk up to one officer and ask him what's going on, and he responds, 'i'm sorry, but i can't say.'
well, whatever. we cross the street and go up a block towards the train station. helicopter #1 is still hovering, except now, TWO helicopters have joined and they're all just hovering over us. we go to cross the street, and a police officer tells us we can't go that way. okay....so we go the other direction. nope, can't go that way, either. so we turn around to walk in the opposite direction, and we're halted there, also.
at this point, we're just standing about 100 feet from the entrance to the Sheraton hotel, and we're waiting with a group of about 15 bewildered, confused pedestrians. so we're all standing there, waiting...not sure WHY we're waiting, and the helicopters are hovering, and the police are standing guard - definitely an odd experience.
and then all of a sudden, from around the corner come four police officers on motorcycle, and behind them is two black cars (and a bus that looked like it was coming from a local nursing home outing...but that's not really relevant) and they all pull up in front of the hotel. and DUH, it all made sense then...it was Condi and her Secret Service entourage!
sure enough, we're standing there watching and a petite woman with short dark hair and a red wheeling briefcase gets out of the car and goes into the hotel. and that was it. helicopters flew off, police retreated their posts....and i got on my train and went home humming 'Proud to Be An American' :)
3 comments:
hey, good luck with taking care after kids! I am also thinking about to become au pair in Sweden (may be Stockholm), could you tell, through which agency you found job? Thanks a lot, Anna
that's very cool. and i thinks its cool that she carries a red briefcase. so utterly american.
red breifcase is pretty bold, hum...
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