Stockholm

Why go to Sweden in the middle of winter, people ask. Well. besides airfare being much cheaper, the atmosphere is great and the tourists have retreated to the warmer corners of the earth. Stockholm was much less crowded than when I was there four years ago in the summer, and it had a different air about it. Anders and I arrived mid afternoon after a four hour train ride down from the central part of the country. We stayed in a guest apartment in the same complex as his uncle. It was a great location, just a quick metro ride from the center of town. We had dinner with the uncle, then settled into the apartment. Even though it was dark, we then strolled around the center of town, seeing the christmas lights on the main streets, the ice skating rink, and the worlds largest Christmas tree. The next day was the day to play tourist, as we went to the Vasa museum. The Vasa was the pride and joy of the Swedish navy, until it sank 15 minutes into the maiden voyage. Whoops. It was eventually brought back up to the surface and they built a really good museum around it. Then I dragged Anders into the aquarium (the aquarium is always a must) which was a good combination of salt and freshwater ecosystems. We had snack in the cafe, watching the sun set over the tops of the old buildings across the harbor. Memories dont get any better than that. We then took the ferry back over to the main island and went to a large underground market that had food from all over the world. After picking up Italian and Mediterainian food for later, we navigated the bus system all the way out to the university. Connected to the natural history museum out there is Stockholms only Imax theatre. What better to do than to learn about black holes when you travel halfway around the world. It was infact really interesting and well done, I must say. Back at the apartment we devoured the food from the market and continued catching up on music and videos. The next day was more laid back, exploring Old Town, the armoury museum, and the palace. Our last full day in Stockholm was spent with Andersˇ grandma in her apartment, so it was fun to talk to a stockholm resident about all sort of random parts of life. Boy do those summer cottages sound fun. Our visit took up all afternoon and most of the evening, so we finished up packing before our next big travel day. On the Saturday, we had one last social visit to make, this time with a family friend. She took us back to the international market with another friend so we could try the fish. You cant have a trip to Sweden without eating fish. After buying strange fruit from who knows where, the group of us walked around the business district near the central train station and back into the downtown area. One stop we made was the pharmacy guild that was celebrating its 200th anniversary. we got to take a peek inside and see the old library and the lecture hall. It was another long train ride down to Malmo, plus it was already dark outside. The downside of winter travel in Scandinavia, short days. Finding the hostel was no easy trick. Being as clever as we are, we sort of took the bus in the wrong direction. Technically it was the right way, but it only went halfway to where we needed to be. A half hour walk later we finally found it and dropped our stuff before searching for dinner. It was more travel planning in the evening, and early to sleep.