My flight was out of stansted airport which to my dismay was much more difficult to get to from Bournemouth than anticipated, so I decided to take the coach into central London for the evening to enjoy dinner and drinks with some friends instead of taking the random 9 hour journey direct from Bournemouth which involved switching coaches 3 times. No thank you.
I arrived in London around 6:30 to meet Aaron (friend from Paris and Bournemouth blogs) and we headed to his new place near brick lane. After quickly freshening up we headed out to brick lane for some of their infamous curry dishes. On the way we stopped at a little Bangladesh dessert bar where we tried 6 different kinds of sweets all of which were delicious, however I still have zero idea how to explain what they tasted like!
The theme of random food continued as we sat down for our curry meal, we decided to try anything on the menu that sounded completely unrecognisable and run with it, starting with some crispy wafer thing and dips that I couldn't even explain if I wanted to. One was a pink powder that tasted somewhat like a coconut, the other was yellow and I could definitely taste some cilantro, the other was pink and it almost tasted like Chinese duck sauce. Although those descriptions are really a total understatement of flavours. Next we had chicken and lamb korma which was absolutely delicious and my favorite chili naan.
After all the food we were super stuffed and headed back to Aaron's to grab a jacket where we ran into his flat mate Joel and had some drinks, discussed English literature, fifty shades of grey, American politics, gun control, random Australian poets, and world war 2. Quite a heady evening, and I loved every second of it!
Later Aaron and I went to a super funky cocktail bar on the corner or brick lane and ordered a couple of old fashioners and talked the night away before I had to catch a taxi to Victoria station at 3 am to make my way to Stansted airport. The taxi arrived late, was super rude, barely spoke English, and I found myself running after the coach like a crazy person. Luckily I made it on and off to stansted I went.
Arriving at stansted was once again, hectic. No one knew where they were supposed to be going, no one seemed to know how to get through security with ease, it was like traveling amateur hour. Seriously people, liquids have to be under 100 ml, take your shoes off, and don't be a dick to the security agents, it's really not that difficult. I digress. Once down at the gate everyone waited in a massive queue outside in the rain to get on the plane, oh Ryanair you really are my nemesis. This is why proper airlines assign seats and call you up in groups. Even easyjet manages to do that and they are cheaper than Ryanair.
Anyway, we arrived in Stockholm 20 minutes early and while waiting for the bus to Stockholm city from skavsta airport I made friends with some awesome girls from Taiwan who were staying in a hostel near to my hotel. We chatted for the coach ride into the city and exchanged numbers with plans to do a boat tour the next day.
Once I got to the bus station I really should have hopped on the tunnelbana and gone to gamla stan and walked to my hotel, BUT I was on 1 hour of sleep and I was not confident in my abilities to navigate the underground with luggage I such a state, so I paid for an extortionately priced taxi that took me straight to the door of the Hilton Honors Club Stockholm Slussen. BIG step up from the hostels I have been staying in! Don't get me wrong- hostels are amazing, the people you get to share your traveling experience with end up as life long friends and there is no more economical way to see the world, however my mom had originally planned on coming on this particular adventure with me, which meant that the room at the Hilton was already reserved. Who am I to punch a gift horse in the mouth??
Due to my mother being the ultimate badass and a gold Honors club member (she owns a timeshare in NYC which tends to rack up the Hilton bonus points) not only do I get to stay there for free, charge 5 star meals to the Hilton account, and have a room on a floor where you have to put a key into the elevator- I also got to check in 3 hours early, my first glass of wine was free, and they brought me a big box of Swedish chocolates. Which by the way are better than Belgian chocolate- with hints of cinnamon. Amazing.
After arriving I relaxed, took a nap, had a snack, you know, tried to get myself together for all the walking and sightseeing that was to come.
Once I was ready I ventured out into gamla stan which is full of cafes, coffee shops, boutiques, art galleries, AND the royal palace. Unlike England apparently in Sweden you can actually enter the royal palace... Explore where kings and queens used to live (and some royals still do) and this palace puts Buckingham palace to shame!! Gold fixtures everywhere, intricate paintings and statues, absolutely incredible I could have wandered around there for hours (and I probably did).
When my feet started to ache I headed back to the hotel to freshen up and get dinner where I had the most incredible meal I've had since I've been in Europe (including the fabulous foie gras and duck I had in Paris) at a restaurant called Eken which just so happened to be connected to my hotel! i started with seared scallops and grilled cucumber with a spicy cucumber purée, followed by veal, fried asparagus, and lemon chili butter. Melt in your mouth amazing!! Even the couple next to me was raving about the chef to no end!
Next I was deciding between going out and staying in and where to go?! Traveling alone can sometimes be off in the sense that you don't want to end up in a crazy club, you want to find a place where it's normal to sit at a bar, have a drink, and chat with total strangers, but truthfully it is already 8:30 and the sun isn't even setting yet, I'm not quite sure what time people even go out here its so light SO late! During midsummer the sundowner set until midnight, and it rises by 4 am, so strange.
I decided to mosey down to sodermalm and see what it had to offer, it was much closer to my hotel than I expected and I found a bunch of cool bars, I opted to go into the "Victoria" pub and ended up making friends with a group of Swedish guys Jo were lovely, we then hopped over to Patrick's bar where I was convinced to try the best beer I've her had:::: staropramen ; say that ten times fast. Oddly enough Patrick's plays American country music so I felt right at home!! I did however find it a bit hard to interact with the Swedish because while they do speak perfect English, unlike the Dutch they still speak Swedish to each other fully knowing you can't understand them. On a side note, I now think Swedish is the most fascinating language in the world; or at least Europe. The fact that I couldn't even pronounce half of their words if I tried intrigues me. They literally have letters that don't exist in the English or Romance languages that produce sounds that my tongue is just not trained to make.
After Patrick's I headed to enke the bar/restaurant attached to my hotel and made some friends and sipped champagne and enjoyed the evening with my new friends!
The next morning I joined a hop on hop off boat tour and found my way to skansen which is much larger than I expected and I'm not sure how to explain it, it may as well be a city within itself. It looks like it popped out of a fairy tale! I couldn't dream up a more beautiful place! I stopped at cafe pettisan for some delicious pastries where a woman in traditional Swedish attire served me the most DELICIOuS rhubard pie with vanilla sauce and another pastry which was equally delicious but I'm not sure what it was exactly I would guess almond coffee cake but that doesn't quite describe it. That vanilla sauce though, I could bathe in it. So freaking good. I did giggle to myself a bit when I noticed that this super cute little cafe was playing Swedish house mafia though, didn't quite fit but I guess it's technically Swedish music haha.
Following my mini brunch I wandered around skansen kind of aimlessly and found a large group of people folk dancing in a circle to traditional Swedish folk songs! Incredible! I snapped a few photos and quickly joined in the fun, the singer was shouting instructions to the dance though I could not understand them. Next I meandered over to the zoo, followed by the aquarium, the theatre, explored everything skansen had to offer. It was so beautiful I could I have spent days there, but I hopped back on the canal bus and went to explore the national museum, the boat hostel, and some shops. I was pleased to see that the boat hostel has a lively bar on the deck and pool that is open to the public, i made a mental note to go back the next day to check it out.
Once my legs were aching I headed back to my hotel and ordered room service, a herring plate (which was awful but not because of the preparation I just discovered I don't like herring), and Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes which were fab. Since I was running low on cash and totally nackered I decided to stay in put on my big fluffy hotel robe and watch some movies in my hotel while watching the sun go down over the canal from my hotel window. Relaxation at it's finest.
Early the next day I went downstairs for the complimentary hotel breakfast and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't just croissants and cereal. You could choose anything from scrambled eggs to meatballs, assorted cheeses, herring again (yuck), pastries, Danishes, and every kind of juice imaginable. A girl could get used to that. Since I was running low on money and didn't want to spend it on food I piled up my plate so I had energy for the days activities, then went upstairs to get ready for the day.
Next I walked 2.3 miles to Langholmsbadet city beach just on the outskirts of Stockholm city where locals go to swim in the super clean Swedish water, unfortunately I did not pack a bathing suit and Sweden is not one of the places in Europe where people swim naked so I was stuck laying in the sand and reading my book. Rough life. The beach was stunning and as always so were the people, seriously is everyone in Stockholm completely stunning?!? What is up with that?? I find myself at a loss for words every time a Swedish man attempts to speak to me (and completely flattered when they assume I speak Swedish).
After the beach I made my way to this bar which is located on an old ship (so cool) where I met some new friends for a drink and then called it a night.
The following morning I had to check out of the hotel, afterwards I decided to see pretty much every museum I hadn't seen yet; the ABBA museum, the SPRIT museum, the vasa museum, etc, Sweden is loaded with unique museums!
My personal favorite was the absolut vodka exhibit at the spirit museum. Where I also learned about sweden's very conflicting rules regarding alcohol, which I found fascinating. Did you know that in Sweden you can drink at a bar at 18 but you can not purchase it from a liquor store until you are 21? Sort of a smart move if you ask me- in a bar the bartender should be watching to see how much you have had and ensure that you are not super over served- and if you manage to get to drunk they can ensure that you get a safe taxi home.
So that was the end of my midsomer journey, a great mix of lively and peaceful!
