Thursday, July 24, 2014

Stockholm is no "stock" city, part one of two Swedish posts

A few years ago, even prior to setting a wedding date and matrimonial plans in motion, I asked  tasked C. Green with planning a 40th birthday trip to remember for yours truly, with the caveat of animal interactions (outside of a zoo, ahem).  The man brought it in STYLE!  This post is part one of two.  Part one will satisfy some or any curiosity you may harbor (punny, you'll see) about Stockholm.  Part two dives into the "Swedish Outback," as Mudda referred to it, portion of our experience in Sweden.

We began our adventure in Stockholm City, as the Swedes refer to it.  But first, we must trolley over:

Are we there yet?


Nope.


The ride over truly wasn't brutal.  C. Green hooked us up with exit row AND bulk head seats, which meant we had not only leg room but also standing up and "prairie dogging our heads around" space.  This was only my second trip abroad and now I may be a tad bit spoiled to have room for flipping out my lower limbs, albeit shorter limbs than your average bear.

Our flight was overnight so arriving in Stockholm - with a stopover in London (just to change planes) - during their morning forces you to strongly consider staying awake until at least the early evening.  I can't speak for Mr. Green, but I don't remember much of that day, aside from being charmed out of my mind by the apartment serving as our lodging in the city, linked here:  it was out of a "live in a charming, old world city" storybook!  Here are a few additional photos taken from the apartment balcony and in the building's courtyard:



Entry from street:


Using the "are you kidding me; beyond cute" lift in the apartment building:





Noteworthy:  C. Green asked one of our Dallas based flight attendants for DP on the flight to Sweden.  She laughed and said that he better get used to not having access to DP during our visit.  We found this bottle in a store around the corner from the apartment:


Our apartment balcony is at the top in this photo:


Heavenly pizza moment:  C. Green ventured out during the late afternoon of our arrival day to find take-out food for us.  He scored a pizza (nice and thin, the way this chick likes it) with delicious spicy salami.  Yet another reason to roll out dough and DIY a pie here at home!

I am a skilled sleeper (read:  can sleep nearly anywhere, under nearly any conditions) but Mr. Green is not so fortunate.  We knew that given the time of year and the location of Sweden on the globe that complete darkness was rare during Sweden's short summer.  So, after the first zombie walking day (for me) and each day for C. Green, it was a bit challenging to feel like hitting the hay much before midnight (when the medium grade darkness began).  Our apartment was fairly light and airy (pun intended) so by two or three am, the medium grade darkness was quickly dissipating.  

On our first full day in Stockholm, we ambled over, with the help of city transit, to the tour boat hub.  C. Green purchased a two day "Stockholm Card" for each of us, which granted us unlimited access to not only public transit but also to a great number of tourist attractions - and not tourist traps, mind you.  




En route, I decided that, based on the advertisement seen below, all potatoes should wear bathing suits:


Did you know that roughly one in eight Swedes owns a boat for recreational use?  Here are some photos snapped on our Sweden 101 boat tour:









After our boat tour we piddled around, snapped more photos, enjoyed some patio food, and capped off the evening with World Cup watching:







 



This pub claims "Interesting Value For Money":



Up and at it our second day in Stockholm, we set out for Skansen, which is part museum part zoo.  This place is well organized, historically authentic, and beautiful:




Many of the structures in Skansen are authentic, or have been restored to their original form.  Below is a fancy version of a charcoaler hut.  You'll see what I mean by fancy if you read part two of this blog post:


Reindeer!



A tree kitty that's clearly been fed (humanized) too frequently by unknowing tourists:





Mid-Summer Maypole, a feature of a country-wide popular festival that takes place in Sweden each year on Summer Solstice:




"Don't feed the pigs - they can get tummy aches!"


Very large tree kitty:







Local music:


Lemurs:




Bebe baboons:





For our third and final full day in Stockholm, we set out for Old Town and The Royal Palace.  I think Old Town can be equated to Big D's uptown neighborhood, except Old Town is truly historic and infinitely more charming.  The Royal Palace is Sweden's version of Buckingham Palace.  In this photo, you can see why we don't have many photos of the interior of The Royal Palace:

Lower, left quadrant:


Soooooo, trust me when I say that the interior was divine.  Now, here's the exterior:



Bocce Ball in the courtyard:


These guys looked official:






Mr. Green and I both followed @visitstockholm on Instagram in the months leading up to our trip and learned through posts there that the Stockholm underground is a literal showcase of artistry, much like the murals are that are so frequently found in Philadelphia.  Disclaimer:  My photos of the pieces aren't great.  At this point in the trip we were reliant on cell phone photos.  The BGC (big girl camera) was packed in a Shrek sized suitcase that we shared, and the airline had not delivered the bag at this point.  It really wasn't a major inconvenience because we each had our necessities in our personal, carry on sized luggage.  It was a bit of an annoyance for hubs because his phone, though supposedly equipped with international calling and data for the trip, wasn't delivering important calls or messages.  Like from the airline.  So he purchased a burner, a term any fans of The Wire will recognize:


Onto underground art:







Next we hit up Old Town for dining and milling about:


















A troll to welcome shoppers:



Something for everyone:




With the fall of evening (sans darkness), World Cup watching returns.  Sidenote:  I've actually come to enjoy watching the sport, despite understanding very little of it.  It seems that the commentators are largely either British or Latin.  With British commentating, the voice energy level rarely rises above "Hi, how are you?" and in the case of Latin commentating it's typically in Spanish so even when voice energy level rises on the richter scale it still sounds melodic.  This is code for:  when soccer is being played on our den television it's the perfect soundtrack for an afternoon nap.  And who can't appreciate a sport that is clearly loved by people worldwide?  

We found a fun spot to post up, take in the atmosphere, and watch futball:



This glass came with its own zip code:


I'm signing off for now, with the promise of our Wild Sweden/Swedish Outback portion's recap coming soon to a screen near you.  I've dumped, literally, all of the Stockholm City photos into an album linked below.  Beware, they are not necessarily in order and captions are present for some are sadly not present.  I've also included photos of unique doors I spied in the city.  So, if you're a unique door fan, take a gander.  Or if you're just unique, which you are if you're still reading, click here: