Tipsy in Stockholm
Tipsy organised a three-day stop in Stockholm, which seems the right amount of time for a first glimpse of this lovely city – it’s never enough time, of course, but we did get to see quite a few of the great sights.
Gamla Stan
We stayed in Gamla Stan – the beautifully cobbled old town – and it’s a perfect base, as you’re in the heart of everything. Our hotel was the quaint and delightful, Victory Hotel – packed full of charm, character, naval antiques, beautiful tile-work, friendly staff, and a very special treat at night (we won’t spoil it, but it certainly brought a smile to Tipsy’s face). It’s also a few minutes’ walk to the underground, a little longer to the ferry port with its great connections, and only a stroll away from the picturesque Stortorget Square, the Palace and Museums, and a hop over the bridge to the central station and commercial area.
The Gamla Stan area lends itself to pottering around, taking in the atmosphere, sights, and Moomins. There are great bakeries at every corner, cute shops, and plenty of photo opps. Many of the shops and cafés have a “no-cash” policy, which makes it very easy for the tourist as you don’t need much foreign currency in cash if any at all (as long as you have a card that doesn’t charge on foreign exchange!)
Palace
The Royal Palace of Stockholm, which is His Majesty, the King’s, official residence, was largely shut due to the forthcoming State Visit of the Canadian Prime Minister. However, we did get to see parts of it (sadly without any reduction to the entrance fee!), and a lovely exhibition of the Royal Wedding Dresses. We also stopped to take in the Changing of the Guard, which was fun to watch.
The Nobel Museum
The Nobel Museum has a very interesting collection of artefacts and facts about the history of the prizes and the people who have been honoured to receive one. Tipsy particularly wanted to look up the Higgs-Boson, because it was partially named after Professor Satyendra Nath Bose (perhaps a relative, who knows?), who missed out on receiving a prize himself, but was later awarded the honour of having his name incorporated into the so-called ‘God Particle’ for his work with Einstein on it. Peter Higgs and François Englert went on to win a Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on it in 2013.
You can actually gain free entry into the museum on a Tuesday from 5pm (we hadn’t realised and paid up at 4pm – slightly annoying – but never mind), and we enjoyed our wander round nonetheless.
An important part of your tour has to include a stop at the café to taste the famous (and yummy) Nobel Ice Cream – with is served with no less than a Nobel Prize itself (albeit a chocolate one), and to sit on the seats of the award-winners themselves – you can check underneath to see whose famous bum once shared the same spot as your own tee hee.
The Abba Museum
A museum of a very different sort is The Abba museum, a must-see for an Abba / Eurovision fan. It’s great fun – as they say, “you walk in, but dance out”. It’s got lots of interactive games, karaoke machines, and artefacts from the global phenomenon. Tipsy tried her paw at several activities, and liked the ‘audition’ the best. Check out the end of our blog post for a special treat!
The Vasa Museum
Located on the island of Djurgåden (also home to the Abba museum), the Vasa is, according to Trip Advisor, the number one tourist must-see. It’s definitely worth visiting as the Vasa is a 17th Century wooden ship that sank and capsized on its maiden voyage, lay on the seafloor for 333 years, and was then lifted out of the depths and lovingly restored. It’s a pretty incredible sight, and has a fascinating history. There’s also a wonderful short film about a little piggy on board called Lindbom. He was destined for the Captain’s table -eeek- but then the ship sank, and he didn’t know if piggies can swim or not, and then… ok….we won’t give away the ending hehe, but go and see it if you ever visit the Vasa.
The Medieval Museum
We only had a quick whizz around this one, being short on time, and took in the amazing gold room and Viking Exhibition – both of which were fascinating. There’s also a rather interesting ‘departure lounge’ area with ‘flights announcements’ to different eras (nice for kids), and a sweet little shop selling jewellery based on original medieval finds at a very reasonable price, and then wrapped beautifully (all the shops seem to be big on nice packaging, which makes your purchases seem extra special). Outside, we spotted a very warm tree. “How spoilt” was Tipsy’s comment (this being a compliment indeed – she’s still rather miffed that I haven’t kept going with learning crochet and making her a jumper or two!).
Transport and Art in the Underground
Stockholm is made up of several islands, so apart from the extensive metro system, there are also plenty of ferry-hopping opportunities. We went to the Djurgåden island, for example, on a short and interesting ferry ride from Gamla Stan – you can use your travel card – and as the seas still had large chunks of ice in them, we felt like we were on an ice-breaker ship as we went along. You can also get a nice view of Stockholm from the waters, so definitely try to take a ferry ride if you can. Buy a paper 24-travel card (or 72-hour) to get the most out of the trip, as this is valid on all forms of public transport. You can do this from the newsagents in the metros themselves (strangely the metro’s ticket kiosk didn’t seem to sell the paper kind – only the plastic one, which includes a non-refundable deposit, and as prices in Stockholm are steep enough, this isn’t a great option).
The Underground is also said to be “the world longest art exhibition”. There’s plenty to see and you can go on a tour, but we saw the famous Tunnelbana in T Centralen, and the rather wonderful rainbow escalators which Tipsy reckoned should be used everywhere!
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel (arranged by the hotel and waiting for us at arrivals), but we took the Flygbussarna airport bus back. It departs from the Central Station, takes around 45 minutes, and it saves you a penny or two. There was a muddle-up with the tickets, as the internet somehow said the purchase hadn’t gone through, and it had, so we ended up with two sets, but after a friendly email chat, we were refunded the extra purchase – great service all round!
And now, as promised, here is a special treat just for you. Thanks for reading! Ps. “Can’t sing for toffee” means that it’s good, right?
Just to let you know, we’re not being sponsored by anyone (yet) to write this blog post. We’ve put in the clickable links so that’s it’s easier for you to find things, but I think, if you click and book through Trip Advisor, we’ll get a wee commission. The other links are some others we’ve found useful. ?
Naaw!
Wish we had known you back then so we could have shown you some of our favourite places! But you managed to cover a lot in just a few days!
Love,
MrFox, Ugglan and all of Sixten´s Friends and humans