No, its not cold, as many have asked me, and yes, it does beat a Spanish beach. Out of all the places I've been to, Stockholm is the nicest yet. Everything looks beautiful. Even the Grafitti has a nice edge to it (i dunno how!)
I flew to Stockholm with Ryanair. Ryanair must like Stockholm because there are two airports tochoose from. Vasteras to the west ar Skvasta to the south. We flew to Vasteras. The airport is nice, small (like all the ryanair ones) but modern and nicer than hectic London ones or other major international airports. One major drawbck with Vasteras is the bus connection to the station. The bus is OK just before and after flights, but if you want to go there half an hour before or later, then it goes on request, in a taxi. Not as cheap or reliable, but a hassle phoning the company. However, a nice thing about here is that the train journey to Stockholm is very cheap and very stunning. You glide through forests and over lakes in the modern sleek trains.
Well worth flying out to Vasteras. Swedish trains are amazing. The train was schedules to arrive at 12:53, and we arrived at Stockholm at 12:53. Stunning compared to the UK. This was not a one off either. That same week, my friend went from Oslo to Stcokholm by train, and it arrived at exactly the right time. How far is it from Oslo to Stockholm? So rail travel is cheap and fast and reliable. The best way to explore Scandinavia.
Once in Stockhom, we checked into our over-priced hotel (somethong like the viking hotel), which was right outside a metro station, but was also outside street works. A better recommendation would be the Youth Hostel, which is on a boat, and is acclaimed as one of the best in europe. Here there ar family rooms, a full breakfast, but like most hostels, the showers are'nt the greatest, but bareable. We were going to stay here, but they were fully booked :(
Once here we decided to visit Skansen, the Swedish open-air museum/zoo, on the Jurgengarten, which can be reached by a pleasant, short boat journey from the bottom of the old part of Stockholm, the Gamala Stan. The nearest metro station is Slussen. The boat costs about £3 per person, but you can also take the tram. A short walk up the hill from the boat docks you can find the entrance to the park which contains all sorts of old Swedish shops, which actually sell things. Be warnes that while most people here speak very good english, the one in the bakery at Skansen hadn't a clue! There are also a nice array of Swedish animals. Moose, Elephant Seals (they really stink) and bears are only a few. There is so much that you could spend the day there. We only had the afternoon. This is fantastic value for money at only £4 per adult. That evening there was a huge food festival on just accroiss the bridge to the north of the Gamala Stan. There are many food stalls selling all kinds of food, and then you go and sit on some very long benches whilst live music is being played. Its like a huge city event. Great way to meet the locals. This is on from the 1st to the 6th of June and is situated in the Kungstradgarden.
I never actually saw it dark in Stockholm in June. It got dark at about 11 at night, and the sun came up at around 4 in the morning. The first thing we did on the second day was shopping for something swedish in the main shopping street in the Gamala Stan. There are many souviner shops here/. Id you leaf thorugh the expensive 'tack' then you can find some quite good stuff.
At lunchtime we went on a boat cruise round the Jurgarden. This is a nice way to see the outer city towards the sea, without bookjing a ferry to Helsinki or Riga. Some tours are quite expensive, but are well worth it, as you can listen to a recording giving you information on the places you go past, which is very interesting.
In the afternoon we went back to the Jurgarden to see the Vasa. This is a ship which sank almost 300 years ago in Stockholm, and is currently inside a huge building along with a great museum which is full of very interesting information, and was a geat releif from the hot weather outside. As we had some time before we could go for dinner, I chose to go to to the arcitechtural museum, a very short ferry ride from the Jurgarden. This museum is full of models, but has funky chairs to sit on and a great shop full of cool stuff (expensivley priced), but the actual museum is free. We ate at michalangelos pizzaria onb the Gamala stan which had good service, a nice building and nice pasta.
On our last day, I decided that we should visit the City Hall. This has amazing views accross the water and is a very beautiful place for free. It also has a nice shop (mum was happy). The next place was somehwhere just outside the central area. This was a huige park, but was like the Swedish wilderness in the middle of Stockholm. We walked from the University to the Olympic Stadium. Recommended if you have nothing better to do! Too many mosquitos sadly, but very nice, nevertheless.
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Advantages: great views, excellent breakfast, clean friendly top class hotel, great location Disadvantages: Can be a little busy, if that's really that bad!
Jan 14th, 2005
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