On to Stockholm - Days 8 & 9

In Stockholm, we stayed at the Hotel Karlaplan (Best Western). I stayed here when I visited Stockholm back in 2015, and it is still just as charming. 

Again, there is a lovely courtyard, where we were allowed to keep our bikes. Very convenient.

From the airport, we took the train to Central Station, and then got a taxi to the hotel, arriving in the early afternoon.

We set off on our bikes to explore the city, but unfortunately a helpful local gave us some unsolicited directions that were less than helpful. 

The conversation went something like this:

"Oh, such nice bikes! Are you going to the Old City?"

"Thank you. Yes."

"Oh, just follow this road to the end of the park and then turn left."

I'm not sure why we listened to her and I'm not sure quite what went wrong, but we ended up far from our planned destination. Apparently the left turn had not been sharp enough and the road we were on angled away from the Old City.

We ended up near City Hall but too late for the last tour of the day. After exploring the grounds a little, we stumbled on a bike/pedestrian pathway that circles the island called Kungsholmen. Why not? We rode most of the way around, enjoying the variety and the views. However, at one point we got off the main bike path and had to walk our bikes through a park area close to the shore. It was muddy and a little rough. At the end of this path, a fairly steep climb took us up to the road again, but we got onto the wrong bike path. Instead of continuing around the island, we went back towards the side we'd started on. When we realized this, it was getting late, so we decided to just keep going and finally ended up rejoining the same path. It was still a nice ride, about 15 km total.

By this time, we were ready for something to eat, so on our way back to the hotel we stopped at a place that looked promising. It was called the Kulturhuset -- some sort of cultural centre with small cafes. We were too hungry to look any further, so we opted for Toast Skagen and a couple of desserts. Delicious, but not cheap!

August 21: Stockholm

As you can see from this photos, this was a bit of a gloomy day, and it rained a little off and on. Undeterred, we set off on our bikes to explore. This time we did not let any well-meaning locals tell us where to go, and instead relied on my memory. We first rode across the bridge to Skeppsholmsbron, a lovely island with a little fortress. After riding around the island, we got on the ferry to go to Gamla Stan, the old city. Again, I used my Apple Pay for the ferry, and again it seemed to work, but I was never charged. Very mysterious!

In the old city, we enjoyed riding around the narrow cobblestone streets, admiring the buildings. We were in time to watch a parade involving guards from the Royal Palace. 

We also visited the Nobel Museum. Last time I was here, I went on a tour of the museum, which was actually quite interesting, but we had missed the English tour and the next one wasn't for another couple of hours, so we just wandered around on our own.

I think swans are swell, so to see so many of them was a real treat!

When I was here in 2015, I rented a bike from a bike shop in Gamla Stan and rode around the island of Sodermalm. This time we had our own bikes, so it was easy to cross a bridge and make the loop of the island. There are not really a lot of touristy things here; it is more of a chance to see where people live and work. There is a big Viking Cruise terminal, which gave us a little trouble when we were trying to find the ferry dock. However, we finally figured it out and took the ferry again. 

It stopped at Skeppsholmsbron, but instead of debarking there, we continued to Djurgården, which is where most of the big museum are. We hadn't decided exactly which museums to visit, although Dave knew he wanted to see the Vasa, which Rick Steves talks up in his Scandinavia video.

There is also a Viking Museum, but this seemed geared more towards kids, so we opted out. We did eat at the restaurant there, feasting on venison Swedish meatballs and some kind of fish that I can't remember. Both were delicious.

The Vasa Museum is definitely worth visiting! The ship is incredible, and the story of its disastrous maiden voyage is fascinating. I am not really very interested in ships or wrecks or anything of that sort, but even I was captivated.

We returned to the hotel along the beautiful Karlavägen (bike/pedestrian/ vehicle boulevard lined with trees and gardens) and packed up in preparation for flying out the next morning.

Sweden and Denmark revisited

Strangely enough, I ended my trip to London with a short visit to Sweden and Denmark. When booking my flight, I found that it was about $300 cheaper to return to Edmonton from Copenhagen. So I took a Ryan Air flight from London to Copenhagen, stayed two nights in Malmo, Sweden, just across the border from the Danish capital, and enjoyed Scandinavia in its full spring glory.

Malmo is an interesting city, with some beautiful parks and squares and lots of fascinating old buildings. 

I got off the train at Central Station:

My hotel -- the Best Western Hotel Royal -- was a short walk from the station, right on this canal. 

"Royal" might be a bit of an overstatement, but it was inexpensive, clean and comfy and they served a great breakfast, so I am not going to quibble about the name! 

Malmo is pretty with old buildings,

the canal,

some new buildings... one of which is called The Turning Torso:

My second day here turned out to be a national holiday -- called something like National Prayer Day -- and everything was closed, most people seemed to stay inside, and things were very quiet. So I spent a lot of time walking around the town.

There is an old fort and a beautiful park, 

a fantastic old church (Sankt Johannes):

 and some funky looking geese...

Lots of fountains

and some of the freakiest-looking statues I have ever seen:

The other thing I did while I was in this area is buy some wool socks. Yes, that's right. When I was here in February, I saw that they have a big selection of women's wool socks. Not the big thick kind you use when skiing, but normal socks you can wear inside your dress or casual everyday shoes. Not only that, but the socks are sized. Unlike the North American "one size fits all" socks, these come in smaller (35-38) and larger sizes. They were a little bit expensive, which is why I hesitated about buying them the first time around. This time, however, I knew I wanted them, so when I was in Copenhagen, I went to this store, Magasin du Nord, and stocked up. There was even a "buy 3 pairs, get the 4th free" sale going on.