Blerf Blog: Stockholm 2018

Stockholm is where our cruise departed from, but rather than rush there just in time to get on the boat, we arrived a few days early too a longer look.

I had upgraded our tickets a notch on SAS in order to get free bag checking and a better choice of seats. It was still pretty cheap. Little did I know it also got us in the priority security line at the airport (which still took me three tries to get through...), admission to their lounge, and lunch on the plane. Nice!

The Arlanda airport is out in a rural area, but is connected by a 120 mph, non-stop train to downtown Stockholm. Since it was midday, we (okay, I) decided to the schlep to the Metro would be worth a try, rather than dialing up an Uber.

Arlanda Express at the airport station

Comfy seats

It actually worked pretty well. We negotiated a maze of underground passages, purchased a transit ticked, negotiated the turnstile, and promptly boarded the Metro.

...the wrong way...which we didn't figure out until we reached the end of the line.

Stockholm Metro - new equipment

Older equipment - spotlessly clean

Worse yet, our AirBnB host we were to meet in the Metro station, had to leave. So....she left the key with the convenience store clerk in the Metro station. "I'm here for Sophia's key." worked just fine, but was the weirdest way to get an AirBnB key yet, narrowly edging out the key in the lockbox on the fence around a tree across the tree in Melbourne, Australia.

AirBnB key pickup location

The place itself was a bit funky. Lots of Edison-style lighting and a Patti Smith themed decor, but it was in a nice area - Mariatorget (pronounced maria tory ya or something like that) on Sodermalm. There were lots of sidewalk restaurants, cafes and bakeries as well as a park.

Mariatorget

small park

crazy statue in small park

park lamps that look like lampshades

Funky, low hanging decor

on the street where we lived (for a few days)

Cool building facade

local church and graveyard

Having established home base, the next day we headed out for some sightseeing.

Day one. Hit the travel information office and take a "free" walking tour.

Our tour guide

The tour gave a good overview of the city and told some interesting stories. Where Greta Garbo got her start, where the "Stockholm syndrome" robbery occurred, the history of the Nobel prizes as well as how Sweden organized their society around a welfare state (not the public assistance sort of "welfare" the US has, but a set of services designed to foster families and parental care for children. And IKEA. And, ABBA. There is even an ABBA museum. No IKEA museum...yet.

Saint Jacobs Kyrka

Parliament

Opera House (every city has an opera house...)

Share the road. Bikes, pedestrians, cars and trams. It's how they roll in Stockholm.

Grand Hotel (nice bathrooms!)

Palace guards retiring

Shopping mall

More shopping mall

Following the walking tour, we took a boat tour. Stockholm is composed of many peninsulas and islands sheltered from the Baltic Sea by an archipelago. The boat tour gave us a view of the city form the water.

tour boat

Gamla Stan (old city)

Riddarholmen Church

City Hall (more later!)

Heading out to circumnavigate Sodermalm

South shore of Sodermalm. Used to be "the wrong side of the tracks". Now trendy place to live.

Funky paint job on shipyard crane

One of many ferries serving Stockholm. This one goes to the amusement park and museum area

Passing Stockholm Kastellet

Toward the end of the day, we walked over to Skinnarviksberget for the view.

Overlooking Gamla Stan

We enjoyed the walking tour so much the first day, we took another one on the second day. This one of Gamla Stan - literally, "old city."

Our tour guide

The Swedish "White House".

Storkyrkan - contains1535 image of Stockholm

Link to the painting: Vädersolstavlan

Gamla Stan street scene

You can tell a building's age by the wall anchor design

The smallest statue

St. George and the dragon. The dragon always loses. In this instance, George represents Sweden and the dragon, Denmark.

Stortorget - the square in Gamla Stan

Backdrop for an old ABBA cover....

Viking rune stones used in construction over the ages

Old German church. The German Hanseatic League ran much of the commerce for centuries, hence a German church in Stockholm.

Protestant churches have roosters on top.

German church

Another street scene in Gamla Stan

Cafe in Gamla Stan

A nice place for happy hour.

When in Sweden (or IKEA), meatballs!

An amazing museum. A monument to bad engineering. A fascinating story. The Vasa Museum. A poorly designed warship that was supposed to be the pride of the fleet. First Swedish ship with two gun decks. Launched in 1628. Sunk in harbor an hour later. Sunk in mud. Was raised nearly intact in the 1960s. What you see is the actual ship. Turns out the ship was top heavy and too narrow.

Time for lunch. This place was recommended by at least two locals. The Blue Door. The door isn't blue. It was a long time ago. Current historic building regulations keep the door from being blue again. Only thing blue was the name and the neon sign.

Some Stockholm sights...

King Gustaf with sea gull on his head

Royal Palace

Palace guard

Royal carriage (one of many on display in the palace)

Guard

Changing of the guard. I have no doubt that all of these royal changing of the guards were Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks"

We also took an afternoon day trip to Uppsala

Stockholm Central Station

Regional train to Uppsala

So, riding trains in Sweden isn't too difficult, but you do have to know the difference between the commuter and regional trains and that they don't cross honor tickets. This makes sense as the regional trains make limited stops and run faster. It isn't terribly obvious to the newbie which is which and which platform has which train.

So, we goofed and boarded the regional train with our local ticket. The good news is we didn't get tossed at the first stop. Instead the conductor suggested we buy the right ticket online - which we did - but he never cared to check. It was good practice for the return trip.