Stockholm!

In the first weekend of December, Knut and I went to visit our friends Hanne and Aigars in Stockholm. Knut had been there before, but for me, it was my first visit to Stockholm. I was really excited to explore the city, but of course also to see my friends.

Hanne and Aigars live on the little island Lilla Essingen, which was a really cute place, with some small cafés and stores,  and a lot of apartment buildings. Unfortunately, we did not explore the island, as much as we could have done, other than just walking to the grocery store and to the bus, but there was a lovely walking route along the water, where you see a lot of the Stockholm archipelago. If I come back in the summer, that is on my to do list!

On friday, we took the bus to Hötorget, in the city centre, to do some shopping. One of my favourite swedish stores that we don't have in Copenhagen is Lagerhaus, and we immediately went to that one. We also went to Knut and my favourite store, the Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, and to some other stores, before we went back to the apartment and made som tacos in our PJ's.

Such a cute group of friends

On saturday, we went walking in the city, from Hötorget, over Sergels Torg, and over to Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. Even though we tried to hurry out in the morning, it was almost getting dark as we got to Gamla Stan (also due to the heavy clouds and rainy weather). It was such a cosy walk through the city, and in Gamla Stan we saw some really cute little stores, and we stopped in the café Under Kastanjen to Fika.

Walking through the narrow streets of Gamla Stan

Fika at Under Kastanjen

On our way back to the apartment, we walked on the east side of Gamla Stan, where the royal castle is, and had a beautiful view of the water, and all the old buildings on the other side:

That evening, we went to Södermalm for some drinks, and ended up at a really cozy Greek restaurant, and later, at a really carried out Gaming-bar, with Nintendo on little TV-screens, gaming-themed drinks, and also boardgames.

On sunday, we went to the Vasa-museum on Skansen, which in my opinion was the absolute highlight of the trip. The Vasa ship was built in the 17th century, to be the biggest and best warship in Europe, but on its first day on the water, it sank right outside of Stockholm, and of course was a huge disaster. The museum not only tells the story about the ship itself, but also about the swedish society in the 17th century, and of the people involved in the planning and building of the ship. And last but not least, the exhibition had its own part about the women in this time, which I found really interesting and that taught me a lot.

Knut, Aigars and Hanne on the bridge in front of Skansen.

Group selfie in front of Vasa

I am a big fan of everything that has to do with maritime history.

After the museum, we went to Fika, and then we had to catch our flight home. Stockholm made a very good first impression on me, with its rich history, very cute pastel houses, and delicious bakery. And as always, it was really nice to be together with Hanne and Aigars!