I'm a little behind here as usual, but in March my friend Devin and I went to Stockholm for a weekend. I was getting antsy since it had been a full 3 weeks without traveling, so we found a cheap flight and went to check out some more of Scandinavia. I visited Norway last year and pretty much loved it so I was excited to check out another place.
The first day we arrived we just checked into our hostel, which was so nice, clean and welcoming, and then walked around the city. We thought we'd have a casual beer, but when we saw the prices, we went to the 7/11 and decided to just drink in the streets, as you do. I was shocked at how expensive beer was! It was like ten dollars for a pint of beer. I am not paying that.
The next day we walked around the city, explored a local zoo/outdoor museum called Skansen which was awesome, checked out the Vasamuseet and enjoyed the sunshine. The Vasamuseet is a museum where they restored and entirely put back together a ship that sunk right outside of Stockholm in the 17th century. They somehow salvaged it over a hundred years later, got it up from the bottom of the ocean and brought it back to life. I fell asleep during the video so that's all I can really say about that, but the ship was cool to look at!
Our favorite part of the trip was the concert and bar that we went to that night, where they had FREE live music playing and lots of cool-looking hipster kids. Those Swedes really know how to dress, and I have never felt so midwestern and uncool in my life. Both of the bands that played were great, we met a few really nice Swedes, and this time we learned to BYOB so we didn't have to worry about the absurd drink prices!
The next day we didn't have much on our schedule, we just wandered around the old town, did some shopping, and visited the Grand Hotel, where my Grandpa and uncle Charlie went to years and years ago. We just sat in the lobby and people watched pretty much, but it was funny being somewhere where I knew that they were so many years ago.
Overall my favorite Swedish custom that we picked up on (thanks to Rick Steves I have to say) is fika. Fika is the Swedes ritual coffee break. They have a big coffee, american style, and some sort of pastry (my fave was the cinnamon buns. so good.), sit outside, and enjoy their coffee break with friends. Since it's just a few dollars, this is a custom we really got into. Our favorite part of the day was enjoying our fika break and taking in as much people watching as possible. One thing that we really noticed is that pretty much every young couple is pushing around a stroller, and usually has another baby on the way. It's a major baby boom in Stockholm! Something else that caught our attention is that Sweden is way more progressive than France. France does everything to keep their culture, old buildings and customs, and in turn always seems just a few steps behind the rest of the world. Sweden is the complete opposite, and almost seems a little bit too far ahead. If you've ever stepped foot in an IKEA, you know what I mean. Anyway we loved Stockholm: fika, hipsters and all. Great weekend getaway!
 |
| Skansen |
 |
| Devo with the swedish mascot, the Dalahäst |
 |
| reindeer! |
 |
| What they used to use for scuba diving, called a diving bell. It pretty much just gave you a tiny air pocket to breathe in, it must have been terrifying |
 |
| The Vasa |
 |
| extremely lifelike and creepy replica of a man's skeleton that they found in the Vasa |
1 comment:
Three weeks without traveling. What a life. I think that's great. I went no where when I lived in France and was jealous of all my ex-pat friends that could go off on trips every weekend. It's definitely the way to go! I am glad you can do that. Sweden looks great! Love your pictures. I like the idea of a long coffee break. I need to pretend I am Swedish and start doing that!
Post a Comment