From medieval to modern in Stockholm

For the long weekend, Ana, Laleh and I headed to Stockholm and managed to dip our toes in as many aspects of Swedish life as possible splitting up ocassionally where our interests, or the amount of sleep we'd had the night before differed!

Exploring the city:
- Gamla Stan (the old town which serves up narrow, cobblestone streets, galleries, medieval buildings and a delish cup of hot chocolate at Chokladkoppen)
- SoFo & Sodermalm (an edgy, more alternative part of the city)
- Ostermalm (home to posh shopping, design stores and a lovely indoor market from the 1800s)
- Norrmalm (we stayed in this area which is also home to some v. good shopping and is the commercial district)
- Canals, lakes and Baltic sea surround the islands of Stockholm so we took the obligatory boat ride to see the city from the water (which is worth doing if you visit)


At one of the many art galleries


Mmmm...hot chocolate


Kindstugatan (the lovliest street)


In the square with the tree


Afternoon drinks on the boat, Flyt


The beginning of our night out at Pet Shop Sounds in Sodermalm


Ostermalm Saluhall (the indoor market)

Enjoying all things Swedish:
- Ate meatballs with lindonberries and potatoes at Pelikan (thanks for the tip Tessa!)
- Visited Vasamuseet (salvaged warship, Vasa, from 1628 ticked of the nautical theme)
- Snacked on a 'french' hot dog (a vertical hot dog oddly found just in Sweden)
- Explored Skansen open air museum (more than a bit cheesey at times but you can't beat a combo of folk dancing and real-life reindeer
- Pepped up with Stockholm's answer to Starbuck's, Wayne's Coffee


Street in Skansen


Break time in Skansen


Swedish interiors on display at Skansen


View from the rose garden


Vasa museum from the boat

I love stationery:
- Ordning & Reda is fab


Strandvagen (the poshest residential street)


Kungstradgarden (there's a good place for coffee in this park if you happen to need one!)

It is the home of IKEA afterall:
- Design Torget (this store is soooo cool and features products from upcoming Swede designers)
- Carl Malmsten flagship store (apparently a god of swedish design)
- Svensk Tenn (Josef Frank's design mecca)
- I missed the National Museum and Modern Museum making the same mistake I did in San Sebastian when we went to see the Guggenheim. Musuems are closed on Mondays - I won't do it again!

Footnote: yes, the Swedish boys are very good looking especially if blonde & blue eyes is your type ;-)