Hello Stockholm! - six

The last full day today. Mixed feelings.. I do like to go home again, but somehow I feel like I haven't seen enough yet. There is so much left to explore, to see, to experience.

Yesterday was so amazing. I went to Kungsträdgården in the evening, hoping there would be some open air concert, but sadly enough there wasn't any. Well, I thought, watching people passing by can be fun too. I was just enjoying to see the variety of people, when an older man came to sit next to me. He asked me something in Swedish, which I did not understand. Somehow, people talk to me in Swedish automatically here. Apparently I don't look like a foreigner. Anyway, the man repeated his question in English, asking me if it was okay if he smoked. I said yes, and a conversation was born. That man told me all about the city. He told me all about what to do, what not to do, which places are worth to visit, where to eat, drink and go out.. Where youngsters are having fun, what accents people have in different parts of the city and why. He showed me an excellent spot in town, from where you could see all the important buildings and the water with the ferries coming in from Finland..

However, today was the last day, and the old man recommended me to see the Vasamuseum and the Royal palace on Gamla Stan. I also wanted to see some of Södermalm, since I hadn't really seen much of that part of the city yet.

The Vasamuseum was pretty interesting. It was about a ship that had been built in the past, but already sank on the first day it went out.

This was the wreck. It took years for the people to get it out of the water, and in the museum you could see how exactly they did that. 333 years after the ship sank, the ship was above sea level again. The ship is so well preserved, because of the Baltic sea not being very salty.

Together with the ship, a number of people sank with it. The skeletons were to be found in the museum as well. Very nice to see how much has been found back of the sailors.

After that, I went to Gamla Stan on my rented bike to see some of the Royal Palace. Pretty nice to see really!

Apparently it was forbidden to take pictures of the crowns and jewels of the royals. Haha sorry, too late! I wasn't planning to remove my pictures, to be honest. Haha.

And now I'm tired. I haven't ever walked so much in one week. I just made use of the free sauna, which was pretty nice.
So tomorrow will be packing my bags and taking some last pictures of the hostel to show at home..

Hello Stockholm! - five

So, today was -and still is- a hot day. Clear blue sky and the sun shining bright. I planned to make the archipelago tour this morning. It would be a boat trip of three hours, showing me some of the many islands near to Stockholm. The archipelago is a recommendation if you go to Stockholm for a few days. It's so beautiful!

This is the view after just leaving Stockholm.

Lots of people living in Stockholm seem to have a summer house somewhere on an island in the archipelago. Besides that, many famous people have that as well. Probably because it's one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I've even seen Bjorn Borg's summer house.. Haha.
Here it is:

After the archipelago boat trip I actually wanted to visit some garden museum with lots of statues, but to get there, it was easier to rent a bike, because walking that distance was too far, and travelling by bus wouldn't be easy from where I was after the boat trip. Unfortunately, walking back to the hostel to rent a bike would take me too long, and renting a bike near to where I was after the trip was so terribly expensive, that I decided to change my plans.

So.. I've been doing some vintage shopping again! After I get back home, I will show some pictures of the things I've bought. Seriously, if you'd like to buy vintage clothing or buy some antiques, VISIT STOCKHOLM!

I saw these beauties. Amazingly beautiful dark red leathered shoes. They were only about 20 euros! Unfortunately they were too small..

Hello Stockholm! - four

So, yesterday evening I went to see the sunset in the Old Town. Seriously.. Gamla Stan looks so amazing when the sun is setting. It already looks amazing in normal daylight, but it gets some magical touch in the evening. It's all so pieceful and lovely. Street musicians play peaceful music on guitars.. I felt a bit like a fairytale figure.

Today I went to Uppsala, but unfortunately the weather was bad. It rained all morning, and it was cold and windy. I wanted to see some of this university city, but the weather made it unable to see much. I went to the cathedral and the arts museum, but after a walk of about half an hour, I decided to walk into the direction of the shopping area. I thought the weather was better for shopping than for making city walks.

Hello Stockholm! - three

Day three, Birka. This morning I got up early to take a boat trip to Birka, which is a viking island, only 1 hours and 45 minutes away from Stockholm. I already thought it would be nice to see an historical monument (yes, it's part of the Unesco heritage list), but I hadn't thought it would be that interesting and beautiful.

There were a few of those piers with an excellent view. I've spent a time writing on the first pier, overlooking a hill with a monument on top.

This view was common on the island of Birka. The little hills you can see are graves of people who lived on the island. There are lots and lots of them, around 2000 if I remember that correctly.

I joined an English guide who explained everything about the island. He wanted us to remember one thing: Vikings were Scandinavian, but not ever Scandinavian was a viking. Only approximately 5 percent of all the Scandinavians were vikings. You could see it as a kind of 'job'.

This was our guide. My compliments for his English and his way of talking. He was a real good talker. His way of guiding was extremely interesting and easy to listen to. He didn't give you a chance to get bored or distracted. He did a great job in showing us some perfect spots, he explained all about the history of the island, and above all, he had a great sense of humor!

This was the view on one of the highest points of the island. Isn't it beautiful?

Tonight I'm planning to view the sunset in the inner city of the capital of Sweden. I'm curious how Gamla Stan looks when the sun is setting. I hope there is some live music as well. We'll see.

Hello Stockholm! - two

Today's planning was to visit one of the islands of Stockholm named Djurgården. This island is situated in the south-east of the city and has a lot of things to visit. There are several museums and the island is very green in general. This sounded good to me, so I decided to go there.

This was the view from the island. Absolutely not city-like, eh?

On the island, I decided to visit Skansen, the first open-air museum ever set up.

There was live music, in old style. The people were dressed in old fashioned clothing as well. Very idyllic.

You could see how furniture was made. Pure hand-craft. Wow.

This was an electric printing machine. Unbelievable how they needed a complete building to print a paper..

Overal view of the streets of Skansen.

I thought the rest of Djurgården was too touristic and crowded, so I skipped the rest and went to Östermalm. Most of the small streets over there had one or more antique stores. In fact, I've seen all the islands of Stockholm today, because after visiting quite a number of antique stores, I decided to do a city walk which turned out to be a walk of about 4 hours.

Hello Stockholm! - one

I just arrived in Stockholm this morning, and I have already taken some time to see the block I'm living in for the nextcoming week. I'm staying in a hostel in the city centre, extremely close to all the main shops, but I must say that I find the block where the hostel is located far more interesting already.

There are some extremely interesting vintage shops! I've just been to one and I've bought an amazingly beautiful flower dress. I'm sure I'll wear that dress to Christmas prom this year. I promise to post a picture after I'm back home, because I have to do some adjustments to make the dress fit perfectly.

By the way, I have to admit that I am happily surprised about the state of the hostel. It's not dirty, it's not old and ugly, it doesn't smell bad and I haven't noticed any bugs either.

This must have been a good choice.