Stockholm in a Nutshell
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2012
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Trip End
Jun 05, 2012
Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Friday, June 1, 2012
We were fortunate to have several drop off points in the city today, especially since our hotel is about an hour away near the airport. The optional excursion this morning was the Stockholm Town Hall which hosts the Nobel Prize dinner every year. I skipped out on this one as it didn't quite pique my interest - I know I know, it's the Nobel Prize I should check it out. Great feedback from the people I talked to, so perhaps next time I'm in Stockholm, right?
After that we hopped back on the coach and got dropped off just outside the Royal Palace in the Old Town. I had to go buy my ticket for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo walking tour at the city museum, so we interspersed a bit of shopping along the way to the museum. i hadn't visited an old town since Croatia, so it was quite nice to see one again. Lots of cute little shops and cafes in the narrow streets. If it wasn't raining, I definitely would have explored it more!
We were also able to watch the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace as we were back in the vicinity just after noon. A large crowd of umbrellas and cameras were out in the rain for this. The ceremony itself is not as complex or showy as other palaces. There are only 3 guards to change, so that part itself was really quick. The neat thing really is to check out the marching band that partakes in this ceremony. They march in with the guards, providing music through much of it, and even play a few extra pieces afterwards.
Lunch was in demand next as it was also cold and wet out - definitely a day to be indoors and we found a nice little coffee shop that had pretty good hot food (good enough that we went back the next day too!) After that it was just shopping shopping shopping haha. It was really fun though seeing what Stockholm had to offer and the different stores they have. H&M of course, not to be missed, started in Sweden, it and Ikea are well known around the world.
Tonight, we checked out one of the clubs in Sweden, the dress code was actually fairly relaxed as there was a wide range in what people were wearing. Great fun, though some of us were getting tired probably a little too early in the night (just around midnight) and were simply waiting for our shuttle bus back to the hotel. 13/14 days now for some of us - sometimes we just need the rest.
