Stockholm - let's go

First of all - Stockholm is a big "Wow!!!" I totally fell in love with this city already in the very first seconds after I have arrived there. Stockholm is totally different compared to the Finnish cities I have visited. In my opinion it radiates joy, beauty and an own flair!
I met with a good friend of mine in Stockholm for about 4 days and we tried to figure out before where we would like to go and what we would like to see in order not to "forget" anything.

My friend and I met at the Arlanda Airport in Stockholm as she came from Germany and I started my trip from Helsinki by plane. From there we took the "Arlanda Express", which needs only 20minutes from the airport to the city center and costs only around 15€ for students. Good option, fast drive and not that expensive as well :-)

After we have arrived in the city center we started our way to our Hotel, which was the Best Western Plus Time Hotel. This hotel was really nice regarding the rooms and breakfast, but for a city trip too far away from the city center in my opinion. We had to walk about 15 to 20 minutes to the center and this is in my opinion too long.
Our first evening we spent outside in Stockholm for some first insights of this beautiful city.

The next day we started with the Royal Palace, which is one of Europe's largest and most dynamic palaces. It is the King's official residence and also the setting for most of the monarchy's official receptions. Besides this, it is also a culture-historical monument open the whole year to visitors. This combination of royal residence, workplace and sightseeing spot makes the Royal Palace of Stockholm unique amongst Europe's royal residences. From the outside it looks quite nice and inside there are a lot of rooms you can visit: the treasury, the tre kronor museum, the royal chapel etc. For me, the different rooms and museums were indeed interesting to look at, but to be honest I have seen quite more impressive Palaces than this one and after a while my friend and I got quite bored by all the exhibited jewelry, dresses and dishes. Nevertheless, we had a great shopping experience in the gift shop and are now proud owners of little princess crowns :-))))).

Before we left the Royal Palace we were lucky to see the shift change of the guards :-) It was funny to see that they still do it in such a traditional way.

Afterwards we walked around and enjoyed the different sides of Stockholm - colored facades, little alleys and the view on the water. Here are some pictures and I hope you can see what I am talking about :-)

A few minutes before the sunset started we found an observation platform, which offered an incredible view over the whole city. There was no entrance fee, which might be due to the fact that the actual platform was closed, because of some constructions going on there. Anyway, we could walk on the bridge and take some photos and enjoy the view.

On Saturday we started our journey to Djurgården Island, which is easy to reach by foot, by the Djurgården ferry boat from Gamla Stan/Slussen, by tram from Norrmalmstorg or by bus. We went by boat and visited two famous museums of Stockholm - the Vasa and the Skansen Museum. 
Before we entered the Vasa Museum I was quite skeptical as I am not really a museum fan, but afterwards I was really impressed. They exhibit the warship Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. After 333 years it was savaged in 1961 and since 1990 people can come and have a look at it in its own Museum. 
Our next step was the Skansen Museum, which is Sweden's first open-air museum and zoo. Here you can explore the ways of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era. Some locals are sitting in the cottages with typical clothes on from that time and tell you stories about the lives back then. Nearly all cottages are decorated in the way they used to look like and 
you can see some bedrooms and living rooms. Besides this, there is a little zoo in Skansen with moose and rabbits etc. Before we went back home to our hotel we had a delicious food in the restaurant directly next to Skansen and then we started our way back home to the hotel by foot.



On Sunday we just walked through the city center, did some shoppings and enjoyed the city before our flight started back home to Germany and Finland.

If you ever have the chance to visit Stockholm - go for it!!! It is definitely worth a journey and I am sure I will go there again, but next time during summer season:-)

Hejdå! 

Katharina