We arrived in Stockholm around 9am after a fairly easy trip. Deltas nonstop flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam was only 7 hours. Didn’t sleep much which I sure did feel on Friday afternoon.
We took a bus to Central Station and then a metro (subway) to find our hotel in the Sodermalm neighborhood. After getting pick pocketed in Athens last summer on a metro, we wanted to try it again – public transportation with luggage, not getting robbed!
Stockholm is a lovely city surrounded by water everywhere. It isn’t crowded and is easy to get around on foot or by boat, bus or metro. It is a clean city with many parks and trees. It is very lush this time of year, in early June. The sun sets late and the sky doesn’t get completely dark all night.
This year is a particularly good time to travel to expensive Scandinavia. With the dollar to euro exchange rates being at historic lows, prices are not shocking. We can get a hot lunch at a restaurant for less than $15 each.
On Saturday evening we splurged at a little restaurant in the old town that was recommended by Rick Steves’ book, Kryp In. We sat at an outside table looking down a pedestrian alley. Food was outstanding…reindeer, lamb, beet salad. And we badly needed a rest after being on our feet for most of ten hours.
We could not check into our room until afternoon but were able to check luggage at the Clarion. Friday was an exceptionally beautiful day – sunny and balmy in low 60’s. So we walked around Sodermalm to get oriented. This was once a working class neighborhood that is becoming gentrified where the Larson crime fiction books take place (Girl with a Dragon tattoo).
We found the photography museum (Fotografix) located on the north shore of Sodermalm. Lunch was at an all outdoor restaurant lining a plaza. You order and pay inside choosing from one of five daily specials. Serve yourself bread, salad and a drink. A waiter brings entree…which always include some form of potatoes as a side.
Friday was graduation day. This is how Project Graduation operates in Stockholm… kids ride around in rented trucks dressed in costumes drinking, singing and having fun.
To adjust to time change we slept just 2 hours in late afternoon and then met up with Bonnie, Barb and Les for a quick dinner and to catch up. They arrived two days ahead of us and are moving on to southern Sweden on Saturday.
We turned off mobile data and forwarded all calls to voicemail but kept texting capabilities on cell phone. Which is how we found each other in the middle of a festival on a Friday evening.
Wandered through Gamma Stan (old medieval town ) as sun was setting and for dinner.
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