Stockholm, Sweden, Stop 26

August 30

The Gothenburg bus station is gorgeous!!! I think if US bus stations looked like this, more Americans would be taking the bus.

Also, if you get hungry for chicken, you can eat here! Nordic? Fried Chicken?

Kidding aside, we find this at the train station and it's GENIUS:

We hop on the train to Stockholm and find that our seats are not together. No matter. Off we go. Once again, no masks and it seems like pre covid times. We arrive in Stockholm and walk to where we are staying, the Generator Hostel. We check in and get settled and head out to check out the town. We are walking distance to two fairly big shopping streets. Jack is in need to new shoes and so off we go.

***Jack--I only had crocs for the first portion of our trip so getting real shoes was a big upgrade, we also discovered lots of cool shops and restaurants on the shopping streets.***

Well, we did start the trip with sneakers for Jack, but he outgrew them early on so we needed to find replacement shoes!

Aug 31

Stockholm (and Sweden in general) is very bike friendly. There are traffic lights just for bikes!

And nice wide lanes for bikes that are separated from automobile traffic.

The four of us head out on a bike tour of Stockholm. We ride all over the various islands and get a better sense of Stockholm.

Statue of the Lady Working for Peace in the World

Yup, there is a statue for all the women in the world who help work toward and negotiate peace.

***Dmitri: We’re staying in a hostel/hotel called the Generator, and it’s about as perfect a hostel as you can imagine. Cheap, clean, fun, with tours, bikes, good food, loads of interesting people, etc. The only problem is I’m going full Danny Glover “I’m getting too old for this shit” here, and I can’t hang with the bunk bed. It’s hard to get up into the stupid bed and I don’t fit in it. We’re here for five nights and I’m wondering how many I will last.

We’re comparing Copenhagen to Stockholm in almost every way since Copenhagen has established itself as one of our favorite cities in the world. I’d have to say it’s a close call. Stockholm is the more beautiful city for sure. It’s all islands, parks and beautiful old buildings, whereas Copenhagen is much more modern. I dig the architecture in Copenhagen more, but the scenery in Stockholm wins out. The views are hard to beat, it’s easy to get around, and the biking is just as good as Copenhagen. It’s not Copenhagen’s fault that the Generator bikes we get are too small and I’m riding around like I’m on a 10-year old’s first bike with my knees up at my chest. Ug.

But hey, another city, another bike tour! I love a good bike tour. My knees are so thankful, and I relish being able to zip around and not hold everyone up. Our tour guide Sarah is a poli-sci student, so she shares some information about how Sweden does things. Don’t worry, you’re not going to get another long polemic on Scandinavia. Just a little one! They have parties, but for every issue they realign into majority and minority votes. So, you could be a liberal in general, but vote for military funding or be pro-life, etc. This seems like a much harder way to run things for those herding (whipping) cats, but a much better one for people to vote on their conscience rather than in blocs all the time. I’m not sure if it’s better than the parliamentary system, but it’s pretty intriguing. And, these people, like the Danes, enjoy some of the highest happiness rates on the planet. So, food for thought at least.***

Sarah, our tour guide, is great! We learn lots of interesting tidbits about Sweden and Stockholm. We ride by where the Nobel Prize banquet is held. It's held at Stockholm City Hall. We also learn that a portion of taxes go to culture. There are free museums all over the city and the opera is subsidized. The Swedes really want culture to be accessible to people.

There is one particular island in Stockholm and to live in this area (which is gorgeous!) you have to contribute the arts in some way. You can be artist, musician, etc. A perk is that those living in this area can take their children to the amusement park in the area, Grona Lund, for free. Nice benefit!

The views seem to be similar to Nyhavyn in Copenhagen, but on a bigger scale. We ride all a round and have a wonderful time. Being typically Swedish, Sarah offers us a fika break midway through the tour.

We eat our lunch at a food hall, where each of us can get what we want. It's like a nicer version of a food court at a mall. Jack heads back to the hotel and Dmitri, Mia, and I bike to Gamla Stan and get fika and walk around.

While in Gamla Stan (the old town) we find the BEST bookstore EVER.

We spend lots of time in here! We wander the aisles and laugh and laugh and have a great time.

I mean.....?????

And for all you cat lovers out there, ahem, Jack....

And then there are these gems:

And my very very very favorite:

What a find! This bookstore exceeds expectations. We buy a few card games. We have a week on a boat coming up and hope to make sure of them. We walk around the design area and then bike back and meet back up with Jack at the Flying Dog Beer Palace.

Sept 1

It's museum day for us. We head to Djurgarden and split up. I head to the Vasa Museum while the rest of the gang goes to the Viking Museum. The plan is to meet for lunch and then go to the Abba Museum.

The Vasa is a ship that sank in the 1600s in Stockholm harbor less than a kilometer into her maiden voyage. Because of the way the harbor is and the temperature of the water and various other reasons, the ship has been preserved in nearly pristine condition. It was rediscovered in the 1950s and there is a whole display at the museum about the process of bringing up the ship and it is very fascinating. I'm not one usually for maritime stuff but this museum is highly recommended and I can see why. Divers went down and dug tunnels underneath the ship so they could put cables in to lift the entire ship up carefully after they bailed the water out little by little. If you ever in Stockholm, I can highly recommend this museum. And if you aren't, but are interested in the making or recovery or preservation of a Swedish warship, check out the wiki entry or the museum's website. I liked the museum so much, I told the gang they needed to check it out, even if they were to just walk in the museum and see the ship itself.

***Jack--While my mom was at the Vasa museum, my sister, father, and I were enjoying the viking museum to the fullest, we got to see how vikings lived, their culture, and things they did in their spare time. I even got to play an ancient viking board game called hnefatafl.

We meet up for lunch at the Viking Museum before heading for the main event of the day.

Mia is in Abba heaven. Look again at the photos above and see how truly happy she is to be there!!! It's a really cool museum, filled with lots of costumes on display and a full history of each of the members of the band. We have a thoroughly enjoyable time here.

***Mia- Thank GOD for the ABBA Museum. I don't think I've ever smiled more in a museum in my life. They had music playing through the speakers the whole time and I can say that I followed their motto of "Walk In, Dance Out."***

Before we bike back to the hostel, the gang checks out the Vasa and are not disappointed.

***Jack--Afterwards, we checked out the Vasa museum which was even more interesting that I thought it would be. We got there just in time to see a documentary about the Vasa and how it came to be, and also how it sank.***

Sept 2

The kids planned to go to the Grona Lund today but we all have poor sleep and Dmitri's back hurts and Mia's neck is out of wack. Jack is feeling a bit congested. We decide to take a chill day. Dmitri and I decide to move a block away to the Clarion Hotel Sign--no more bunk beds for us in Stockholm!

***Mia- Not sure how it happened, but that morning I rolled over and felt something in my neck pop. For the next few days I couldn't turn my head at all to the right and spent most of my time working on the vlogs in the hostel lobby with an ice pack on my neck. Not exactly how I saw myself spending the last couple of days in Stockholm, but what can you do?***

***Dmitri: Day 3 and I meet my limit with the hostel. Cindy and I ditch the kids and get an actual hotel around the corner. It’s just a regular old place, and it feels like heaven. I’ve also learned that I just don’t want to share a room with three other people while traveling. I need my own space, sonically and physically, and one bathroom isn’t enough for two parents and two teens.***

The kids are happy to be rid of us and have the room to themselves. Dmitri and I head out for lunch and find a different food hall. After lunch, we settle into our lovely new hotel room and I get back to work catching up on the blog. We walk around and have fika and Dmitri takes the kids to see a movie. As much as I want to see a movie in a theatre, I pass, as I am making decent progress.

***Dmitri: We’re walking around looking for a place to eat when I spot a sign by a movie theatre that I think means there’s a hall of some type. We go explore and it turns out it’s a pretty big food hall and deli area with about 30 counters and stalls. We get some great fish soup and salmon, but the highlight is this older Greek dude named Konstantine who’s working some kind of natural food booth with lots of dried fruits. Almost everyone we meet asks us where we’re from and when they hear California it triggers loads of stereotypes (mostly good), but for many others it reminds them of time in the US. Konstantine spent time in the Bay Area doing holistic medicine (or something) and is super excited to talk to us about food, California, and dried fruit. It sounds annoying, but we spend about 30 very fun minutes talking to him. And of course we leave with a bunch of dried fruit for snacks. Frankly, we could use healthier snacks anyway.***

Yes, we truly could use healthier snacks! I will miss the kanelbulle when we leave Sweden but my waistline will NOT.

Sept 3

The last full day in Stockholm finds us falling into our usual routine--mail, laundry, packing. We find a Mailboxes, Etc. a block from the hotel and mail off some souvenirs. It's the easiest mailing transaction we have had this trip. Also, the most expensive. Yikes.

Dmitri and I take a tour of Stockholm City Hall, where they hold the Nobel Prize banquet.

After, we head to Gamla Stan and have our last fika in Sweden--kanelbulle and princess cake.

And a couple of chai lattes. What a lovely way to end our stay in Stockholm.