Stockholm's Swedish Splendours

This past weekend we went to the beautiful city of Stockholm. Despite the weather not being fantastic in January (rainy 2 of the 4 days) we had a good time chatting with the locals since it was low season. The people of Stockholm are super nice and speak English quite well so we had no problem getting by. The nordic language actually formed a lot of English words so it was surprisingly easy enough to understand signs etc. For example, 'parkering' is 'parking' and 'kyckling' is 'chicken', etc. What was quite weird, and eventually frustrating was the late morning openings of (or perpetually closed) shops every day. Our tour guide says that it is a 'lazy trend' of the socialist Swedes, as it was hard to find anything open on Sunday, or before 11 am, even on Monday! Very strange from the capitalist culture of North America, or even England. In a lot of ways though, the highways and countryside (sans ancient architecture) reminded us much of North Ontario with pine trees and rock faces. A nice thing to see...until 3 pm when the sun went down!

Hotel:
We stayed at the Hilton Stockholm Slussen, which was neatly laid out, with funky closets that completely reminded us of IKEA. Everything was completely compact and efficient. Syd LOVED the shower because it was a marble shower stall and the shower head came out of the ceiling. It had a great hot tub in the gym area, though we only got to experience it once as it closed daily at the early hour of 7 pm!

Museum:
We visited the Vasa museum and can't rave enough about it. It contains a viking-like warship from 1628 that is just amazing! A must see! It turned out that they constructed the ship wrong (not enough ballast weight to offset the weight of the cannons and the mast) that it sunk on its maiden voyage and was at the bottom of the baltic for 333 years! The reconstructed vessel that took about 30 years to restore was 95 % original and splendidly adorned with hundreds of carved sculptures. We spent 2-3 hours going through the place, watching videos and learning fascinating history about the people at the time and the restoration project.

Dining:
We ate at a great Swedish restaurant called Ostogan Kallaran south of our hotel on the first night in a district called Sodermalm where we had goulash and steak. Another place with Swedish cuisine and decor was during our last night at Pelikan, in Sodermalm again, where our favourite meals of the weekend were. I had a cider-braised beef roll with mashed potatoes and gravy and Syd had large meatballs that had the same sides as above, but were special meatballs because they were spiced with nutmeg. He couldn't stop raving about them!

Nightlife:
Nightlife in Stockholm is fun and very laid back. At least where we went. We hit up an Irish bar (i know, so cliche) to catch the end of a rugby game. We hung out in the basement of the pub because we have a thing for rustic stone walls. However, on the way down Syd failed to heed the signs in not one but two places on the staircase and ended up with a big welt on his head!


In Sodermalm there was a cool basement lounge that we went to called the Vampire Lounge. It was done up all gothic with dragon candle sconces, red velvet curtains and the walls were authentically stone. A bar without sunlight. Great drinks & great music. What more could you possibly want?
They made the BEST martinis we've ever had and had an extensive drink menu. We loved the 'Blackberry Amour' which was vanilla vodka mixed with chambord liqueur and fresh blackberries. We met a local that night named Edward and we mentioned that we thought Sweden was very similar to Canada (in landscape and some laws - like licensed drinking establishments), to which point he said, "Ah, yes, I can see that, except we don't have strip bars because they are illegal here!". That was sooo funny, and something we will always remember.

The next night Syd was pumped to finally be in a hockey town and we found a 'casino bar' where the Bruins/Rangers game was playing in one room, but also had black jack in another room, and then karaoke in another to keep me entertained. A very fun vibe to this place, with decent priced beer, ciders and wine.

Sightseeing:
Gamla Stan stands for 'old state' and is a medieval portion of the city that has been preserved since the 1600's. All of the streets were cobblestoned and narrow. Albeit full of tourist shops and cafes, but memorable nonetheless.


We stopped for 2 of our lunches at a nice and affordable lunch stop in Gamla Stan at Muren Cafe. We had tasty homemade soups and sandwiches while sitting in a cafe with stone walls and alcoves and arched windows looking out on the street. Another highlight with similar fare was Cafe Art, that was located in a cellar downstairs and had fireplaces and stone walls with art decor. Very quaint and rustic.;o)

We also spent some time exploring the Swedish tourist shops (I'm a sucker for xmas tree ornaments and magnets) and some clothing stores. I found a few deals but Syd was not as successful. It was a very lively shopping district considering it was low season, so I can only imagine what it would be like during the summer! It was definitely a memorable city regardless of the season and I would recommend it to anyone looking to get away from the every day.