Stockholm

Stockholm was a random choice of next destination — we’d wanted to get to Helsinki and the Baltics, and then tried to use FF points for the flights, and the closest we could get was Stockholm, so here we are! I was here only two nights, but we packed a lot in.

Stockholm is beautiful, with big blocks of old looking buildings and wide streets, dotted with parks and outdoor areas where the locals can take advantage of the current summer weather. We stayed at a Scandic hotel near but not too near Central Station, which ended up being a useful walking distance from the airport bus and the city tram line.

On my first afternoon before R hit town I hopped onto another walking food tour, which gave me a bit of orientation and meant I got to try delicacies like reindeer, moose and bear meat, experience the food halls and “fika”, the coffee-and-pastry break.

The next day R and I hit a couple of museums – the Vasa Museum and the Abba Museum. The Vasa was extensive and had some great exhibits, including the doomed huge old black boat of course, plus reconstructions, sections of salvaged gear and skeletons of people who’d died when it took a tumble on its maiden float. We finished up there at the amazing Lego Shipwrecks exhibition which had a few boats from close to home, like the Batavia.

Walking from the Vasa to the Abba museum we stopped for lunch next to the Drinking Culture museum, delving into potato crisps with fish roe, pickled herring and charcuterie. In the spirit (heh) of the Drinking Culture museum, R had a tasting tray of beer to wash down his herring.

The Abba museum was pretty amazing. I was happy to look at all the costumes, but there were also interactive exhibits like karaoke where you become the fifth member of the band, recreations of living and working spaces, and even an area of fan art.

The evening was the Rosendal Garden Party, a three-day music festival in a park relatively near the museums, so we hopped onto the tram again and headed down there. As well as bands on the main stage, there were lots of food trucks, drinks stands and a few groups making their point, such as ecological conservationists, yarn bombers, and the Free Palestine group who paraded around to the beat of a drum, chanting slogans and songs.

The reason we went was to see Massive Attack, who were great. They had a couple of guest vocalists including the amazing Liz Fraser. It started raining during their set, but we stayed until the end even though the bag ban meant we hadn’t brought anything to combat the wet weather.

We started walking back to the hotel in the rain, and eventually relented and flagged down a passing taxi, who then got caught in the snarl of traffic trying to get back to the city centre, which eventually cost us over $100! At least we were drier than if we’d walked for another hour in the rain.

The next day we caught the overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, so our last bit of time in Stockholm was spent wandering around picking up a few souvenirs and some snacks for the boat. The ferry is huge – like a proper cruise ship, and even dogs are allowed on board! We set off in the sun, with everyone up on the top sundeck dancing and drinking and sunbathing, and then three hours later as we began to leave the main islands and enter the Baltic proper, the fog rolled in and we suddenly felt very close to the Arctic! It’s very eerie to hear the foghorns…