It just so happened that we arrived in Stockholm during their culture festival. This years theme…Barcelona. The city was buzzing with live music, dance, acrobatics, and other cultural demonstrations. Oh, and I should add this was all for free! We have come to really appreciate and LOVE, free. Our apartment, located in Norrmalm, was located just off of one of the streets that are blocked off daily for pedestrian use only. So, our walks into the center of the city were full of shops and restaurants where we could meander aimlessly without fear of being squashed by traffic! We walked all over the city from Gamla Stan to Södermalm to Djugården and to Solna for a visit with Sophia and her family!

For the first few days we wandered from venue to venue watching different performances. We listened to the history of the Castells de Barcelona (human towers) and watched a demonstration on how they prepare and build the tower. At another venue there were various acrobatic groups, an entire park that was dedicated to youth with art projects, music, dance performances, sports, and just about anything a kid would want to do, and on the last night, we sat on a wall above an inlet and listened to the Swedish opera perform on the steps of the opera house.

Gamla stan is considered the old town and from where we were staying, we walked through it to get to Södermalm where we found this amazing (and very affordable) lunch spot. We liked it so much, we went two days in a row! Södermalm is a quieter neighborhood, and we very much enjoyed our walks, to and from, along the water. In

Gamla stan the streets are small and cobble stoned. Very cute and quaint. We stumbled upon the smallest street in Stockholm that looks like an alley, but has a couple of shops with their own addresses, which I guess technically makes it a street. At one point the alley became so narrow that only one person at a time could pass through at a time.

On Sunday we walked to Solna to visit with Sophia. Javier met Sophia when she stayed with his family in Peru as an exchange student. Thanks again to facebook, he was able to get in touch with her, and we were able to spend the day with her, her boyfriend, and their sweet baby. Sophia was so gracious. She met us outside of her apt complex and walked us to her place. She prepared lunch for us which was so thoughtful and quite delicious! We really enjoyed just sitting and visiting with her and her family for the afternoon. After lunch, we all walked through the park, which actually ended up dropping us off very close to home (it was a really long park). It was so nice to talk with other people. 🙂 We are really having a great time together, but we definitely look forward to visits with other’s as it breaks up the monotony. So, thank you Sophia for having us over and sharing your time and family with us. It was truly a blessing.

Our last couple of days in Stockholm were a bit of a rush. We had relaxed and enjoyed the festival so much, that we had neglected to see the major tourist sites. We opted to go to Skansen in Djugården, which is the world’s first and largest outdoor museum and zoo. Here, they had buildings from all over Sweden that were deconstructed at their place of origin and reconstructed at this location. Many of the buildings are several hundred years old, and tell of Sweden’s history. They also have workers who are dressed according to their era, who are carrying out their daily activities and chores. There are men and women tending to the farm and farm animals, glass workers, carpenters, bakers, just about any occupation one could have had in historic Sweden was on display. The fun part was that the visitors could interact with the workers by helping with chores and were encouraged to wander through the houses, town hall, and churches-all original and intact.

We always eat the local food, at least once, in every city we go. Stockholm was no exception. We found this little restaurant really close to our place called Tradition. If you’re ever out that way, and are looking for traditional food, I would highly recommend it! Now, the only thing we ate was the Swedish meatballs, complete with mashed potatoes, cucumbers, and lingonberries. Javier and I have decided that this meal was our favorite “traditional” meal so far. We had meatballs again at another location, but it was not as good, so I think it was the way this place prepared everything. Anyway…delicious!

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Our next little adventure almost didn’t happen. We had been walking everywhere, so we hadn’t yet seen the subway stations. I had read somewhere that Stockholm’s subway stations are like one long art exhibit. Something like…96 out of 100 of the stations in Stockholm have been decorated. We found some of the highlights, bought a ticket and made several stops to take pictures and admire the artwork. It was great because we didn’t really have to leave the platforms, some of the artwork started above ground, but it was the underground that were the real centerpieces. Very cool, and very glad we made the extra effort to go when we were already tired and hungry!

On our last day, we took a tour of the archipelago. We were told that a little island called Sandham would be a great destination. The trip to Sandham took three hours, where we were able to see the many different islands throughout the archipelago. Some were large, with a couple of homes built on them, while others were so small, it could only fit a tree or two. It was beautiful, serene, and a little chilly! At Sandham, we grabbed lunch, walked around the little island, window shopped, and spent some time by the shore so we could touch the Baltic Sea. By the time we boarded the ferry to take us back to Stockholm, we were tired.

Our last adventure happened when we returned. Javier wanted to buy something, anything, from H&M in Sweden. Well, whadayaknow, the first H&M we walked into happened to be the flagship store. After an hour or so the final score was Javier-3, Jackie-0 🙂

All in all, Stockholm was a great trip. We were able to relax, enjoy the festival, and see some of the local sites. We found ourselves a little hectic on our day of departure. We had forgotten to print out our hotel confirmation for St. Petersburg, and well, you NEED to show proof of lodging at the boarder. Our plan was to fly from Stockholm to

Helsinki where we would board an overnight ferry to St. Petersburg. We hadn’t really given ourselves enough time to travel from the airport to the port, so the business of printing our confirmation in Finland was not realistic. Hence, we needed to print before leaving Stockholm. Our plan: get to a hotel and try to print there. We had it all planned out…Javier was going to stay with our stuff at the train station, while I was going to go find a hotel that would print out our confirmation. On our way to the train station, Javier saw this small hotel and went inside. This is where we met George who came to our rescue. He was so kind and helpful.

He waiting patiently as my phone slowly connected to their wifi, and forwarded the email to the hotel (again very slowly). He printed all our stuff and wished us well. As we were walking out the door, Javier told him the name of our website, but it was in passing, and I knew he hadn’t written it down, but oh well. Well, George emailed me a little later asking for the name of our website. It was really cute, and we are so thankful for random acts of kindness shown to us. So, thank you George for your help!

Alright friends, it’s been raining here in Dresden all morning, and there seems to be a break, so we’re going to head out and grab some lunch. Love you guys!

JandJ

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