So, without further ado, Stockholm.
Friday March 7, 2008
We flew Ryanair to Stockholm... well actually 1.5 hours outside of Stockholm. I got in trouble for taking this picture but I needed to capture for you the visual horror of their color scheme and the way they splash it so liberally throughout the plane.
Archipelago. Say that five times fast.
Our arrival went smoothly. We found the subway and eventually made our way to our hotel. This was our fist experience with a currency other than the Euro (can you believe that!) so it was very confusing. I think it was approximately 10 SEK to one euro so you divide the price by ten. Every time I handed over a 100 I had a little panic attack though.
Our hotel was located on Södermalm, the island just south of Gamla Stan, the island with the historical "old town". We were just off a main drag with shops, bars and restaurants. We got some great recommendations from the hotel and made our way to a Turkish/Greek restaurant. The food was AMAZING and so our weekend of feasting on delicious, gourmet food began.
Ok, here's something I've never tried before. I took a little video on our way back home. Some people were gathered in front of the city library having a demonstration or rally of some kind, but they really seemed to be having fun. Sorry it's so dark, you can't see much. Oh, and yes, they are saying what you think they're saying.
Saturday March 8, 2007
We started the day by just casually strolling around. Near our hotel was this elevated tower to take in the views of Stockholm.
Spring is starting to come to Stockholm.
Then we wandered through the old town, which was very picturesque with narrow winding lanes filled with interesting little shops and restaurants. I forgot to take any pictures though. Oops. This is at the palace (I think). Sorry, we were in wondering mode and not too concerned with the sites/sights.
We were getting quite chilly at this point so we found a busy cafe where we stopped for a rest, some delicious gourmet sandwiches, tea and pastries. Why didn't I take a picture of my amazing pastries?! We sat in that cafe for almost two hours!
Then continuing on the walk, this was sort of a main square/transport hub. It's a landmark square but I don't remember what it was called.
A free, little museum.
Another amazing dinner.
Enjoying the candlelit ambiance.
Sunday March 9, 2007
We spent the majority of the day at this muesum which housed an old ship called the Vasa. It sunk in the Stockhom harbor only a few minutes after setting sail on it's maiden voyage. Ouch. I know. But what was a great loss in 1648 has become an amazing opportunity for us to see a virtually complete and whole ship of the times. The museum was very interesting, explaining both about the ship itself and the life and times in the 16oos, but also with details of how the retrieved the ship and preserved it.
Sorry, it's hart to get a good picture. One interesting tidbit is that that blue line on the wall behind the ship shows where the waterline in the stockholm harbor was when the boat was underwater. The tallest mast was only a few feet underwater!
Even the cafeteria food was delicious and beautifully presented albeit expensive.
We tried to get home on the bus but were confounded by the bus ticket machine. We decided to cut our losses and walk which took us along the harbor where we saw this:
Then we needed to stop in a cafe again to warm up with tea and more pastries before heading back to the hotel at sunset.
That night we tried a Thai restaurant that was supposedly very popular. It was such a unique experience! It was extremely busy even on a Sunday night so we had to wait in the lounge for about half an hour for our table.
The entire place was lit with strings of fluorescent lights and black lights (which picked up ever piece of lint on my black sweater! Oops!) The tables were all squished close together and made of unique materials. I saw some people sitting in a tuk-tuk. The sound track was "rain forest sounds"
The food was really good and the portions were huge. Overall it was just fun for the experience. My favorite part was halfway through our meal when almost all the lights went out and there was a "thunderstorm" for about a minute. Crazy!
Monday March 10, 2008
Our hotel was quite nice. It was in a great location, that's for sure. But the shared bathrooms on the floor were pretty tiny.
That was more than made up for by the buffet breakfast. Amazing! Plus the decor made you feel (eerily) as though you were sitting in an Ikea showroom.
After nearly a whole day of traveling time (subway, bus, wait at airport, wait some more, flight, wait, bus, wait at the train station, wait some more because of the train strike) we finally arrived home.
Our flight did take us right over Karlsruhe. I wasn't paying enough attention until we were almost past, but I got this shot of the Rhine harbor.
Easter is coming!
Overall it was a really great trip, containing some of my favorite things: eating, strolling and relaxing (and lots more eating). Stockholm was definitely one of the highlights for us so far. If you ever get a chance to go to Sweden - do it!
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