Sweden!

Next location: Stockholm! Even though Our trip to Sweden started in my previous post as we arrived late on Friday and stayed at the Jumbo Stay Hostel. This is the official start to the Sweden post as we were able to explore Stockholm from this day forward.

Day 16, Saturday
So today was our first official day in Stockholm as yesterday we were technically in Arlanda by the airport. Our bus took us to the main train station and from there we eventually found out the right place to take a metro to for our next hostel. We took the bus to Zinkensdamm, apparently a posh area of town. The trek to the hostel seemed far but the green gardens and colourful flowers that lined the streets made up for it. Our hostel was near the Zinkensdamm soccer stadium and inside were several different teams practicing. After leaving our stuff in our room we headed out to Gamla Stan.

Slottskyrkan- The Royal Chapel

Gamla Stan was absolutely gorgeous. In comparison to what we last experience in Helsinki, this DEFINITELY tops it. The older buildings, the palace, the tiny streets, everything seemed so historic and stuck in time. The cobblestone streets were really nice to walk on, minus my choice of flats as I felt every cobblesone, my bad. We found our souvenirs at a really great price and I even had Swedish gelato (Stracciatella) that was to die for. We took photos in front of the palace which faces the little bay and to my surprise I saw a female guard. I have never seen a female guard for a royal building before so I snuck a shot of her. We also took photos with the side guard before we entered the Royal Chapel. It was absolutely gorgeous! Even the entrance to the Royal Chapel was gorgeous but none of my photos could even compare how gorgeous it actually was unfortunately.

We went to bed early that night as we were going to have to switch hostels again the next morning. I talked a lot with another woman who was in our room. She was a geologist from England and she was so nice to talk to. She had a lot of insight into the field and possible venues for work pertaining to my interests.

Day 17, Sunday

The ship hostel (right) with Gamla Stan in the background

 As soon as we woke up we headed towards our next destination. We took a bus to get to it but it was not very confusing. Our next hostel was to be the af chapman af Skeppsholmen. This is a former ship that was originally made in 1888. It was a super cool experience to know that our hostel was going to be us sleeping on this boat. It also had great views of Gamla Stan and specifically of the royal palace.

After we dropped off our stuff we went to a little dock and finished eating our breakfasts. I took some photos and just relaxed by the water. The view was really gorgeous if I have not stressed that enough already. The bridge walking from Skepssholmen to Gamla Stan was really pretty as we got great views of the harbour on both sides.


From here we skipped the old part of Gamla Stan and headed toward the newer part of downtown. When we got there we went in to a huge H&M, as it is from Sweden. We did some minor shopping and headed towards an international food festival. There were mini booths from all over such as perogies from Poland, cheese from the Netherlands, crepes from France and barbeque burgers from Australia. From here we found a music festival that was going on. There was a young singer on stage who apparently is the Swedish version of Justin Bieber. The tweens were going crazy. When I asked one who he is, she told me: "He sings Lady Gaga, and he looks like he's 18 but he's only 14! OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM!". Obviously those are requirements in order to be talented.


We left the downtown and headed back to the older Gamla Stan in order to go on a boat cruise. It was really nice even though we didn't have window seats. We sat beside a family that actually lives right near where we departed and even though they have lived in Stockholm for many years they had never done the tourist sight-seeing boat cruise so they actually provided a lot more information to us which was great.

Radhus

After our boat cruise I really wanted to go see the radhus which is where the other Nobel Prizes are given out other than the Peace Prize (which is in Oslo as I previously mentionned). It was right along the water, which is not a great indicator as Stockholm is tons of small islands surrounded by water haha. Again, the view was stunning. There was a Stockholm horse in the middle of the court yard area, which apparently Stockholm is known for as they are everywhere. My poor camera took a tumble at one point as Amanda accidentally dropped it :( So in some of my photos if I forgot to move back the cover for the lens it will block part of the lens :( 
I came so close to putting my feet in the Baltic Sea as well but Amanda did not want to come down to the little water area so I didn't try as the current was too strong and there was nothing to hold on to...next time I'll do it and take a picture to prove as I always do!


From here we walked back through Gamla Stan to get to the ship. I completely ran out of money so I knew I needed sleep so that I could carry the 55lbs that was my backpack and purse all the way to the train station the next morning to catch our train to Copenhagen.