Weekend Travels - Stockholm, Sweden
- Mar 3, 2017
- 5 min read
Adam had a conference to attend in Stockholm, Sweden for two days, so G and I booked a flight and followed along to explore a new city. Though it was just the two of us for two solid days and nearly 40,000 steps, we had a great time and saw a lot of the city.
We flew in Monday evening. G did very well in the airport staying next to me and keeping u;, I was shocked at the (lack of) security in the airport at Helsinki and again on the way home in Stockholm. I had checked in for the flight before leaving home so I had both our boarding passes on my phone. We had no checked baggage and therefore simply walked straight to the security line. I scanned my phone at the line entrance, walked through the scanners, and we were finished. Not one person asked to see my ID or passport, even at the boarding lane. I truly felt that I could have given my phone to anyone and they could have taken my seat.
In one way, I feel happy that they are so trusting - it feels like it did 25 years ago, but in another way, given the issues the world has faced in recent times, I am nervous. Perhaps if we had been in a different terminal with "international" flights leaving the EU it would have been more complicated. As it was, all flights from our terminal were scheduled for EU destinations and since the borders are open within the EU countries I guess they feel as though they know who's there.
We don't have any trips planned for non-EU destinations currently, so I can't test this theory, but we shall see.
Upon arrival in Stockholm, G immediately began crying that his foot hurt. He never cries, so I was surprised but upon taking off his shoe to check his foot, found a large ugly blister on his heel. He couldn't put any weigh on it, so I had to carry him through the airport with our stuff. We found the bus transportation into the city to be our best option. Everything was in SEK (Swedish Kroner) so I had no idea how much the bus ticket was at the time, but it sounded scary at 264 SEK (about $24 for a roundtrip ticket - G was free as he was under 4)! When the bus dropped us off, we had a 1/2 mile walk to the hotel - again, with me carrying him. We made it, but I hadn't carried him that far in a LONG time so my arms were Jello. Nothing terribly exciting to report about the evening - we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, met up with Adam, and headed to the room.
There was a bathtub! G immediately wanted to jump in, so he got a nice, long, bubbly bath - his first in a long time as most bathrooms here have only a shower. I also indulged, bringing my E-Reader in for a nice long soak. Very relaxing!
Tuesday morning, G and I took an Uber to Gamla Stan, the oldest part of town. I thought G's blister was fine as he had no issues whilst in the hotel, but as soon as we got out of the Uber car, he began crying again. I popped into a pharmacy and picked up blister band aids, and he was a completely new kid IMMEDIATELY after the plaster was applied to his heel - absolutely no pain and once again his normal, happy self. I now carry these with me everywhere we go, just in case!
The weather was cloudy and cold so our photos didn't turn out amazing, but the city lived up to my expectations. Tiny alleys, colorful buildings and delicious cafes. We wandered for several hours (nothing opened until 10-11 and we arrived around 9) checking out the Palace guards, the Parliament House, Nobel Museum, and more. At noon, we were the first inside the Medieval Museum, a gem of a find underground just across from Gamla Stan. The museum is the result of an excavation underground - they found the remains of the original city walls, 15th century buildings, and a Viking ship. It is rebuilt and you can walk through they "city" as it might have been back then. The best part: it's FREE!
After this, we continued over another bridge toward the city center and visited the Medelhavsmuseet, another free museum! This museum houses ancient Greek and Roman antiquities, including mummies. G had a good time "writing" his name in hieroglyphs, as well as getting out of the cold.
Around 4, we headed back to the hotel by Metro, stopping for a hot cocoa and pastry. G took a nap until dinnertime - we had just over 18,000 steps so he was pooped! We ate dinner at Lowenbrau, a 100-year-old restaurant serving German food. It was good, and the atmosphere was nice.
We woke up Wednesday morning and took our luggage down to the storage room - Adam asked us to take the luggage bag home with us since he had to go to the office and didn't want to have to take it with him. Manage G, our carry-ons, AND a large rolling suitcase on my own through the airport and a train ride? Sure, why not!
We took the metro to Skansen, an open-air museum showcasing 500 years of Swedish history. For those from the US, it is similar to Williamsburg, VA, but MUCH larger. It was the world's first open air museum, founded in 1891. While many of the exhibits are closed in the winter, they are good about telling you at the entrance which areas are open with small cards in your map. They had a great zoo area, and the historic buildings were beautiful. The employees are dressed in period dress and there are many activities for kids. Since it was a cold, cloudy day, the museum was virtually empty with the exception of 2 school groups. I imagine in the summer it is a very crowded place and loses some of the charm we experienced. We left at 1 to pick up our bag from the hotel and catch our bus to the airport. While the timeline made me a little nervous, we made it easily to the airport. We even caught an earlier train in Helsinki to home and Adam was able to meet us at the station to walk home with the luggage with us.
While we didn't get to see all of Stockholm, we got to see a good bit and had a blast. It's an excellent weekend trip from Finland, as the direct flight is only 45 minutes from Helsinki.
Things we learned about Finland this week:
Stockholm is only 45 minutes from Helsinki via direct flight on Norwegian. It's worth taking a weekend trip.
Compeed Blister Plasters are AMAZING!
I can handle traveling solo with G.
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