Sunday, December 17th I had an early flight from Oslo to Stockholm. I walked a few blocks to the Nationaltheatret station and took the Flytoget express train to the airport. My flight was very empty as you can see.
I arrived in Stockholm by 10:00 a.m. and took the Arlanda Express to the main central station in Stockholm. Since I was unfamiliar with the city at this point, I took a taxi to my hotel. I was lucky again and could check in early. I dropped off my things and headed out. I took the ferry over to Skansen.
Skansen was Europe's first and it's said best, open-air folk museum. It's very similar to the museum I visited in Norway, but it's more elaborate. It's not so much a winter destination, but on the weekends leading up to Christmas they have a Christmas Market and are open, so I needed to hit it up the day I arrived.
The market wasn't particularly pretty, but it was very legit with great things to buy and eat. I grabbed some food first thing. I had the lightly smoked and fried elk meat with crushed potatoes and cloudberry creme fraiche in a flat bread cone.
It was wonderful.
I liked all their signs above each vendor
I got some of these cinnamon sugar almonds which were yummy, but also warm, so they kept my hand warm.
I bought several things at this market. I got two bags of gingerbread flavored muesli (which weighed much more than they looked like they would!), a few cookie cutters, and I got this star ornament because it reminded me of all the stars lit up in the windows across Scandinavia.
One of the things that was more elaborate about this folk museum was that they had animals typically found in Sweden. I saw wolverines, seals, etc. The bears were hibernating though, and I couldn't find the otter in his enclosure to save my life. There was a moose!
and reindeer!
It had really started to rain so I left Skansen and walked over to the Vasa Museum.
I took a tram instead of ferry and had a rainy walk to my next stop.
The Royal Armory was another place on my list that had to be visited on Sunday because of a Monday closure. The quick description given in guide books is "a fine collection of ceremonial medieval royal armor, historic and modern royal garments, and carriages".
It was all of that but also a very informative museum about the history of the Swedish royal history.
And it was kind of gory. In large part thanks to Maria Eleonora...
The cloth!
But wait! His horse died in battle with her husband and she had the horse taxidermied!
A couple of inches below and over to the left of the gold button on the hat, you can see the bullet hole
And his bloody gloves (I told you it's a gory museum)
Can you even imagine wearing (and walking in) this?!
Bonkers!
But gosh the fabric was divine!
Someone's wedding dress (I don't remember who's), but it was pretty.
Some examples of opera attire
the details!
More fabulous fabric
Fancy stockings
I saw lots of the royal carriages, but here is just a sampling
They also had lots of the royal sleds
After leaving the museum, I walked through Gamla Stan (Stockholm's historic old town). I walked to the Christmas Market that's located at Stortorget. It's Stockholm's oldest square and in the 1400 was the heart of medieval Stockholm.
So very charming and notice the stars in the windows
Only a block away was a restaurant I wanted to eat at. I didn't have reservations, so I was there when they opened to snag a table.
Everything was very good.
For my meal I had Venison roast beef (reindeer), tomato and root vegetable ragu, pickled sea buckthorn in red wine sauce.
For dessert I went with the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and topped with gingerbread.
I walked around more and stopped off at this candy store near my hotel.
The candies were gorgeous and I got a couple of bags of peppermints and a bag of lingonberry candies which I fell in love with and am wishing I had bought more of.
I stayed at the Hotel Scandic Gamla Stan. I was convinced that I had to stay in Gamla Stan, and while I found it convenient, I don't know that it was as imperative as I thought it was.
This hotel provides breakfast, but you have to reserve your time the day before. You also have to request housekeeping the day before as well. I did request it and it got me clean towels, but they didn't bother to make up my bed. Not sure if this was an oversight or if they don't provide this?
It also has a elevator, which every hotel in Gamla Stan doesn't have, although a very small one.
I had a standard queen room, but it was quite small and you couldn't walk if your bag was open.
The bathroom was so odd. It was tiny, but had lots of counter space, even though you had to do a weird dip to the side to sit on the toilet and avoid the sink!
The shower was a decent size compared to some small ones I've seen across Europe
That's a wrap on day one in Stockholm. More to come...
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