Stockholm

Last weekend the Saffa and I extended the already long weekend and decided to take a trip to Stockholm. Actually, we had had other ideas about where to go for a weekend getaway but as it turned out he was just returning from a business trip to South Africa and had to be in Stockholm on Tuesday for another business trip so to keep it simple we settled on Stockholm.



I had no real expectations but was looking forward to a nice getaway as I travel so rarely now and felt the need for a change of scenery. We decided to stay at a B&B after seeing the hotel prices in the city. I normally don't like the B&B scene as I prefer the anonymity of hotels and have found B&B's always to be a roll of the dice on what you actually end up with. In this case we were in luck and the location turned out to be perfect. The room was very nice and private with a fantastic balcony and view over the city. We were in room SCE5 and would happily recommend it.



Stockholm itself also pleasantly surprised. We did the touristy things - harbor tour, bus tour, Wasa museum - and also just wandered around on our own quite a bit.

What stood out:

• We had a funny communication problem. We could understand the Swedes very well but they struggled to understand us, or at least that is what I think was happening. For example, if I ordered a Cola I got a Fanta. Or if the Saffa ordered an ice cream without any topping, he got rainbow sprinkles all over it. It didn't seem to matter with my American accent or his British accent, we both had trouble. So maybe it wasn't our English, maybe the Swedes just all have ADD.
• The city seemed much more influenced by American and British culture than in Munich. Pubs were everywhere and we saw our fair share of American style restaurants, clothing, cars, TV shows, etc. It seems the Swedes have a love of all things Harley. They were everywhere. Hot dogs too.
• The long, long days. Twilight came around midnight and by 3 AM it was bright as day again. I can't say we slept very well as our body clocks were completely confused.
• It is fun to try to imitate the language. In a high pitched voice with the tendency to put the accent on completely different syllables than I would guess by reading the words. Yes, this is the part where we were just making fools of our tourist selves but we were amused.
• There is something so invigorating about so much water everywhere. It wasn't quite like being by the ocean but the sun was hot, the breeze was cool and we couldn't help but feel uplifted.
• We had great meals the whole time. Breakfast rolls with cardamom, smoked reindeer, salmon, swedish meatballs with dill cucumbers, mashies, and lingonberries, shrimp salads with dill and avocado...it was all great. And everyday a soft serve ice cream in the homemade waffle cones they were freshly preparing in each ice cream shop. I did skip the pickled herring - maybe next time.

It was a lovely getaway for us and I would be happy to return again. It would be nice to make it a longer trip and we talked about going back next summer to spend a few days in the city and then head out to the country for a week at a house on the water.


Posted from Munich