Stockholm Sights

Last December I was fortunate enough to attend a week long conference for work in Stockholm . So I took the opportunity to arrive early and spend the weekend getting to know my first Nordic country.

This was also my second attempt at Couchsurfing. My host was extremely trusting and within minutes of meeting her at the central train station she had handed over to me her house key and explained that she had a few errands to run so I can head back to her place whenever I wanted!

My host left me with friends in a Jazz bar where we drank and enjoyed the local artists jam together. One of my hosts’ friends is actually an awesome didgeridoo and harmonica player. In fact after the beer was flowing I was invited to stay at their home for the night rather than making the longer journey to my hosts’ home. The night ended in their apartment quite tipsy and discussing music tastes. I can certainly confirm I will not be entering any talent shows as a didgeridoo player anytime soon!

I left the next morning with a copy of my hosts CD to listen to whilst I explored the sights of Stockholm . I got a bit snap happy with my camera and here’s a few of my favourite snaps.

I stumbled across an outside ice skating rink and the kids really looked like they were having fun there.

With it being Christmas time I also planned to do most of my Christmas shopping whilst I was there. I’d have to say that Stockholm has been the one and only place in the world where I have been Christmas shopping and actually enjoyed myself. The shops are well spaced out, it was never manically busy and I could find everything I wanted without resorting to buying socks. In fact most of my gifts were purchased in Stockholm ’s equivalent of Harrods called NK – a good job to as they had a free wrapping service!

Inside the NK store there was a convincing Santa handing out gifts and where I snapped my favourite photo of the trip below:

The conference ended with a posh nosh evening in one of Stockholm ’s most impressive museums. I originally wasn't going to attend the gala dinner but I blagged a last minute ticket. My late attendance meant that I wasn't in the full tuxedo as most people were but I think my black Burton T’shirt was plenty good enough ;-) The venue was superb. An old Viking ship that sunk close to Stockholm was raised and restored in all it’s glory.

I made the most of the free booze and retired to a bar with some crazy Belgiums . I find it’s always good to be in a bar with some Belgiums as they can recommend a good beer. However, the morning came too quickly after only 2 hours sleep and I managed to check in for my flight just 10 minutes before take off time. That’s 10 minutes before take off time and not 10 minutes before the check in closed. I got a pretty funny look from the check in girl but the gods must’ve been looking down on me that day because the flight was delayed. However, I got my punishment when the delay turned into a cancellation and I had to spend an entire day in the airport recovering from my stonking hangover :-(

Stockholm definitely gets my thumbs up and goes on my recommended list of places to visit. I can see myself returning in the summer at some point and exploring some more.

The rest of my photos can be viewed here or in slideshow format here