Day 4 & 5 - Stockholm

Saturday - 9/19

My Stockholm Card had until 1:30pm until it turned into a pumpkin. Unfortunately, the time limit ran out before I could visit the Stadshuset tower, but that wasn't too cost prohibitive to worry about. Still, it would've been a nice touch to have completed everything on the to-do list before the card expired.

The #47 bus going to the Vasa museum was a few blocks from the hostel. I had hemmed and hawed about visiting but was glad I did. The Vasa is an original, fully intact viking ship that sunk on her maiden voyage. It was salvaged in the 1960s and remains one of Stockholm's biggest tourist attractions. Afterwards, I visited the Nordic museum, which exhibits Swedish culture. I also wanted to visit the Titanic exhibit, but passed on it. My card didn’t cover the outrageously expensive entry fee.

I grabbed the bus back into the city center and headed down to the Stadshuset (city hall) for a tour and to go up inside the tower. I had awhile before the tour began and decided to walk around the park. A peppermint ice cream cone from one of the vendors by the water hit the spot. The city hall tour might seem boring, but it wasn't. Our tour guide was informative and had a decent sense of humor. The gold plated room with the mural of Malaren was awesome. The views of Gamla Stan and the rest of the city from the tower were gorgeous. The sunny weather made it even more pleasant.

That night, I went back in to one of the candy stores that are all over Stockholm and stocked up on Swedish Fish - the original fishies. Once you try these you will never go back to the stuff manufactured for American palettes. In addition to being pastel colored, they are also fruit based and less sickly sweet than their American counterparts. Being less sickly sweet, of course, I consumed tons of them. This is another thing I love about Scandinavian countries, most of their candy is sugar based. I also consumed tons of licorice, my favorite candy, and to my joy, discovered my old friend from Denmark, licorice fudge.

Sunday - 9/20

Thankfully, I checked in the previous night or else I know I would have been stuck with the dreaded middle seat. The flight was full but airport check-in was a breeze. It was as uneventful a flight as one anticipates. The only hassle was the Air Tran at Newark.

This trip to Stockholm was short but sweet. I think four full days is enough in the city, perhaps five would have been better if adding a day trip. I was disappointed that I couldn't visit one of the archipelago islands, but welcomed the extra day in Stockholm. As promised a few years ago, I would visit Stockholm before offering up any judgment of the country. My day trip to Helsingborg and Malmo a few years ago was sort of blah, but this particular trip renewed my faith in Sweden.