Tuesday 25 August, planning ahead

Here are a few hints to prepare for a visit to Stockholm. See also the links at top right.

You can see some useful tips at the link from Swiss: see https://www.swiss.com/explore/en/SE/stockholm

From Stockholm Airport you can take a train (the Arlanda Express is fast) to the Central Station, which is close to our hotel.

Radisson Blu Waterfront Stockholm: Nils Ericsons Plan 4, 111 64 Stockholm, Sweden

http://www.radissonblu.com/waterfronthotel-stockholm

It has three restaurants/bars and an exercise lounge but no pool.

Top sights according to two of my Swedish friends: The Vasa Museum, Drottningholm Palace, a boat ride around all the waterways, the old town (Gamla Stan) and Royal Palace, the food market (Östermalmshallen) and numerous restaurants and chic bars.

You might need to get some Swedish Kronas. They don’t go far. 100 Krona = £7.80 at the moment, or 11.51 Swiss Francs. Credit cards are also used all over.

It's also an idea to buy a travel card either for 72 hours or a week, for integrated public transport.

Here are a few Swedish phrases:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/swedish.php

Thank you          Tack
Hello                   Hej
Cheers!              Skal!
Yes                      Ja
No                       Nej

Sorry                   Forlat

although many vowels have special accents which change the pronunciation.

Wednesday 26 August

Setting off for Stockholm today! We are meeting other family members at the hotel.

The view from our 16th floor room was spectacular

In the morning we finished packing and I sent some emails. I don't plan to check email while I'm on holiday. We took an early bus to the airport for our Stockholm flight. After checking in our bags, we had an early lunch in the Sport Bar. Our 12.50 Swiss flight was a bit late taking off and we arrived 20 minutes late in Stockholm in mid-afternoon.

We took the Arlanda Express train to the Central Station and got directions to our hotel, the Radisson Blu Waterfront, from the helpful Tourist Information point. We have a nice room on the top floor overlooking the City Hall and Gamla Stan.

On the way to the restaurant we saw this unusual fountain

We contacted Kathryn, who arrived earlier, and had a drink in the bar. Later we walked along the main streets to Cloud Nine for dinner. Quite a quirky place. We ate in a pavilion at the back. We had a very nice meal but the portions were rather small. I chose beetroot carpaccio and dorade, with Albarinho white wine.

Back at the hotel we watched Endeavour on TV with Swedish subtitles.

Thursday 27 August

The recovered warship at Vasa Museum

At breakfast we met Lesley, David, Kathryn, Robbie and Grandma. We enjoyed the huge selection in the buffet and the attentive service. We had a discussion and decided what to do today.


We took a vintage tram to the Vasa Museet on Djurgarten to see the 17th century wooden warship which sank just after being launched in 1628 and was recently recovered and installed in the museum. We had an entertaining guided tour and also saw the exhibits recovered from the sunken ship.

On the vintage tram

After a few tries we found a nearby cafe for lunch, before getting the tram back to the city. We bought tickets for an afternoon boat trip, Under the Bridges, on Lake Malarem. It lasted over an hour with an informative commentary. We passed many landmarks for future reference. Then we went back to the hotel for a short rest. It was raining and windy by now.

Under the bridges from the Baltic to Lake Malarem.

In the evening we took a taxi to Nalen for dinner. We had a very nice traditional Swedish dinner including seasonal chantarelles and fish or seafood, and white Sauvignon Blanc.


Then Robbie called an Uber taxi to take us back to the hotel where we saw the news about Usain Bolt's win in the 200 metres of the World Championships.

Dinner at Nalen was delicious

Friday 28 August

Tall town houses in the main square

We had another nice breakfast at the hotel - muesli and fruit, soft boiled egg and toast for me. We decided to walk to the island of Gamla Stan which we can see from our room. It's the old town where the Royal Palace or castle is located. We walked there over the bridge and admired the view.



We first visited the 12th century cathedral which featured a statue of St. George and the Dragon. In the main square we had a coffee.

Crowds gathered to watch the changing of the guards

Then we went to watch the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace. There was a big crowd and we were kept back by one of the guardsmen. Some of the guards were on horseback and there was also a band. It took over an hour for the whole ceremony.

Our table at Smak - we had great food and service

We had lunch nearby at Le Bar. I had salad nicoise and Belgian beer. Then we explored the old streets and tourist shops. Richard, Grandma and I walked back to the hotel and managed to book a place for dinner tonight at Smak. Friday night seems to be a popular night out.


At 7pm we hosted drinks in  our room on the top floor. Lesley brought champagne and we had white wine. We all admired the view.

Then we got taxis to Smak. We had a tasting menu of 5 or 7 courses each, small helpings of delicious dishes. It was a surprising success with everyone. We took an Uber cab home. They are very efficient.

Saturday 29 August

The palace library looked underused

A later breakfast today; it was very busy. I had muesli, yogurt and fruit followed by boiled egg, bacon, toast and marmalade. We met in reception to walk to the City Hall boat station to get the ferry to Drottningholm.

The boat was very full and I sat on the top deck with Lesley. It was windy and a lady lent me a scarf. We arrived at the large palace and grounds, and visited the impressive house, built in 1665. We saw the staterooms and an exhibition. The house was built in the 17th century and decorated in the Baroque style; it's a World Heritage Site. There were portraits of members of the European royal families. The Swedish Royal Family still has rooms there. From the windows we could see the extensive gardens.

But the gardens were very impressive

We had lunch in the outdoor cafe and then visited the large gardens and the Chinese pavilion. I sat downstairs with Joan while the others went upstairs, but they all left without us! We had to walk quickly back to catch the 4pm boat. It was very sunny by now. Back to the hotel for a rest before dinner.

We took a taxi to Den Gyldene Freden on Gamla Stan. We had a drink and met up with the others. The food was traditional Swedish, nicely cooked. I had mushroom soup and meatballs with mashed potatoes and berries. We had very good service again.

Sunday 30 August

The photo museum was housed in a former customs house

After a rather late breakfast (the porridge was very nice), we took a big taxi to Fotografiska on the large island of Sodermalm. There were three modern exhibitions in the converted brick customs house. On the ground floor, large graphic images mainly of women, but also flowers, by Vinoodh and Inez. Some of these images were hard to look at.

Upstairs were photos of animals by Nick Brandt, taken during his stay in Africa. His elephants and lions were especially memorable.

The third exhibition was of photos and paintings of women by Swedish photographer and artist Anders Zorn. We had a coffee upstairs and then we looked in the gift shop.

Interesting cloud formations. Later it rained.

To see the rest of Sodermalm we had to take steep steps up a rock face. The views from the cliff edge were spectacular. When it started to rain, Robbie found a rather dodgy Turkish restaurant, Amida, on Google, where we had falafel platters and water.

We found shops nearby and bought a paper before taking the metro or Tunnelbana home. We did some of the Bank Holiday prize crossword.

In the evening we dined at Zink Grill. We had fish (I had salmon) or seafood platter. There were large portions. I also had a creme brulee. We got a taxi back to the hotel. Robbie spent the evening with a university friend.

Monday 31 August

We were up by 9.30 for our last breakfast at the Radisson Blu Waterfront. Very good buffet. I had porridge again with maple syrup, followed by a soft boiled egg, toast and apricot jam. We discussed plans with Lesley and Grandma.

In the little train at Skansen

We decide to visit Skansen, a top attraction in the DK Top Ten Guide. It's an outdoor museum of traditional Swedish life. We took two taxis. We went up in a funicular to the upper level of the park and saw a traditional house where a women dressed in old-fashioned clothing explained about life 200 hundred years ago and demonstrated the use of flax plants to make linen fabric.

Brown bears live in the north of Sweden

We also saw wood-cutting, an old church, many native animals such as elk, bears, pigs, seals and lynx. But the reindeer weren't around today. We had a drink at the cafe and saw the old town buildings. The others were staying longer but Richard and I left at 13.00 to get a tram back to the city.

We had quite a long walk to the hotel and collected our bags from storage. We had a ticket for the train to Arlanda airport but it turned out to be the wrong line so we had to pay more. The Arlanda Express was very fast and even had WiFi. At the airport we checked in and had a beer and sandwich. The flight was a bit late but arrived more or less on time in Zurich where it was 31 degrees. Phew!

We got the train and bus home and checked our mail. For tea we just had a tomato salad with cheese. We watched the quizzes and then I checked my emails. Still some things to sort out for next weekend when the Pink Ribbon Walk takes place.

We really enjoyed our trip to Stockholm. A very interesting and beautiful city.