I can now say I can cross off visiting a Scandinavian country off my to do list!
This weekend was a whirlwind adventure as my friend and I were up at 5 on Friday to leave for our flight to Stockholm and up this morning at 2:30 to make our flight back to London...yes 2:30AM.
When we arrived to the city we were quick to find out how friendly the Swedes really are. We had tickets for a boat tour at 3 and we left the bus stop pretty clueless as to how to get to the docks and on time at that. We were standing on a street corner looking pretty clueless when a guy realized how lost we were and went out of his way to speak with with a taxi driver to get us a cab to the docks...apparently you need to call ahead of time for a cab in Sweden . Vethina and I were so grateful we wanted to give him a hug but felt that might be a little much...
The boat ride though was really a great way to get oriented with the city and get our barrings for where all the main sites are. I never realized how many islands are a part of Sweden let alone Stockholm as the tour guide told us that the city has 20,000 islands!
We spent the rest of Friday night exploring Old Town. We discovered a chocolate shop called Lisa's and the oldest confectionery in Stockholm so needless to say we got our dessert fix that night.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early out to pack in as much sightseeing as we could into the day. Our first stop was the Wasa Museum which features the biggest and best preserved viking ship in the world. The boat was so massive that the masts were sticking outside the ceiling of the museum. The museum was also a really neat spot to learn about the history of vikings as I honestly knew very little about it before this trip.
This weekend was a whirlwind adventure as my friend and I were up at 5 on Friday to leave for our flight to Stockholm and up this morning at 2:30 to make our flight back to London...yes 2:30AM.
When we arrived to the city we were quick to find out how friendly the Swedes really are. We had tickets for a boat tour at 3 and we left the bus stop pretty clueless as to how to get to the docks and on time at that. We were standing on a street corner looking pretty clueless when a guy realized how lost we were and went out of his way to speak with with a taxi driver to get us a cab to the docks...apparently you need to call ahead of time for a cab in Sweden . Vethina and I were so grateful we wanted to give him a hug but felt that might be a little much...
The boat ride though was really a great way to get oriented with the city and get our barrings for where all the main sites are. I never realized how many islands are a part of Sweden let alone Stockholm as the tour guide told us that the city has 20,000 islands!
After the boat tour we struggled to find our way to our hostel but we managed to do it! The hostel was really in a great spot as it was located right in the heart of Old Town. It was the cutest little hostel that looked like it came out of an Ikea catalogue...I can only hope our hostels for spring break are as cute and clean.
We spent the rest of Friday night exploring Old Town. We discovered a chocolate shop called Lisa's and the oldest confectionery in Stockholm so needless to say we got our dessert fix that night.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early out to pack in as much sightseeing as we could into the day. Our first stop was the Wasa Museum which features the biggest and best preserved viking ship in the world. The boat was so massive that the masts were sticking outside the ceiling of the museum. The museum was also a really neat spot to learn about the history of vikings as I honestly knew very little about it before this trip.
After the museum we made a stop at McDonald's to grab lunch on the more affordable end of things as we were quick to realize how expensive Stockholm can be...and I mean more expensive than London expensive.
The menu honestly wasn't as different as I hoped it would be but I will say the McFlurry with Daim chocolate (from Sweden) was delicious!
Afterwards, we then made our way 30 minutes outside of Stockholm to Drotting Slots which is the palace where the King and Queen of Sweden live. The palace reminded me of a mini Versailles in a way with it's expansive gardens and ornate designs inside.
I was however surprised to find at the palace that the guards outside will actually acknowledge your presence and answer your questions...definitely something different from England.
Afterwards we worked on checking off some of the last things we wanted to do which consisted of 1. Getting a traditional Swedish wooden horse 2. Try the traditional Swedish log looking like dessert (actually name still unknown to me) 3. Visit the Royal Palace and 4. Eat some Swedish meatballs!
I'm happy to say we managed to do it all with the last half of our day. The Swedish log like dessert tasted kinda like a Samoa Girl Scout cookie as it was a marshmallow on the inside covered in chocolate and coconut. Need I say yum?
We were lucky to make it to the Royal Palace in time with an hour to spare before closing. The state rooms and appartments inside were absolutely gorgeous. I was bummed we weren't allowed to take pictures but it was still a great experience none the less.
Most importantly though we knew we couldn't go all the way to Sweden and not get Swedish meatballs. We asked the receptionist at our hostel for her recommendation and she directed us to this really quaint restaurant in Old Town called the Kronan (Crown) which served up meatballs better than the ones I've had at Ikea.
The meal made for an exclamation point on the end of a great trip to Sweden!
I'm still curious how I am functioning right now as I've been up since 2:30 this morning so I'm thinking catching some Zs early is rather necessary as I'm sure my boss would prefer me not to be dozing off at work tomorrow.
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