But I was not disappointed by Stockholm. Overall it is a very cool, very colorful city. And I am apologizing in advance for the length of this blog entry.
Friday:
We arrived in Stockholm around 11 pm, and while Ryanair has amazingly cheap flights, it flies into small airports not actually in the city. So we had a 2 hours bus ride to Cityterminalen; I sat next to this cool guy from London who does cardiovascular ultrasound. Due to my interest of all things medical I was very excited about this and he told me how he typically sees underprivileged populations who have sickle cell anemia and how the ultrasound helps determine the severity of the disease and the best was to treat it. I thought it was cool. We arrived to our hostel (my first hostel experience) and we were starving. So Kate, Virginia, Tyson and I went exploring our street looking for food. We found this dive of a fast food place. However, none of us knew how to read the menu or how the money worked. While we were blankly staring at the menu. the person in front of us turned around and said "You re not from here are you? I can tell because you're thinking in English and not Swedish." But it turned out he was from Aberdeen which was pretty exciting. After our late night snack, we turned in excited about the weekend ahead :)
Saturday:
We awoke Saturday morning to overcast skies and a windchill that felt like 0 degrees C. Didn't we leave this weather in Scotland? But our first stop was the area of Gamla Stan- or the Old Town. FYI- Stockholm is a city that is made of about 14000 islands, so each "neighborhood" is a different island. We went to this cute little Cafe and had a Smorgasbord; each of us ordered something different, aaaannnnddd I had my first official Swedish Meatballs, which were fahamzing! Continuing our journey on the cobblestone streets of Gamla Stan, we found Storkyrkan, the oldest church in Stockholm, as well as the site where the kings were crowned.
When we ventured inside, we discovered that an Organ concert was in progress; the organs were massive and the decor inside of the church was so intricate and sophisticated. I felt very cultured. Upon leaving the church we discovered that the Palace was closed for the day, so we went shopping at H&M, which is Swedish, and it takes up four corners of an intersection in the shopping district. Huge! After a brief seista back at the hostel, we met some guys from france who play on a football team together who were taking a holiday in Stockholm. We all decided to get dinner somewhere in the city, and we settled for an Italian restaurant. Recap: we were 4 American Girls eating with 6 French guys in an Italian restaurant in Sweden. Talk about the mixing of cultures. It was a fun night though as we found a dance club in Gamla Stan. it was a top night! Sunday:
Since our castle tour had failed on Saturday, we returned to Gamla Stan for a tour of the Royal Palace, the Treasury (where all of the royal crowns are kept), and the Tre Kronor Museum (the museum about the palace that burned down). Our tour guide was this crazy lady who spoke English very well but would stare you down for 30 seconds or so. She was kind of creepy. After the Palace tours we took a boat tour around one of the islands of stockholm. it was cool getting to see all of the different parts of the city from the water. For dinner, we found a Chinese buffet, in which we promptly stuffed ourselves (for 14 pounds we were going to get our money's worth!!) On our way back to the hostel we decided to stop by the Irish pub that was right down the street. and lo and behold the two bartenders were from Glasgow! One of them had majored in Physiology at Glasgow Uni (though Im not sure what it means to say that he is now a bartender in stockholm, but I digress...). It was fate :) But this pub was also the sponsor of a local football team, who had happened to win their Division that day, so they were all celebrating (which proved to be quite entertaining). Another side note: Swedish men do not hold their alcohol as well as Scottish men. But we ended up going out to one of the nicest clubs in Stockholm to celebrate with them. Monday
By monday, I am completely wiped out and ready to go back to Glasgow, but our flight isnt until 10 pm. So what better way to feel better about life than to go to Chokladfabriken. Yes that some
how translates to Chocolate factory aka happiness. This place was heavenly :) Today was also the first really sunny day that we had in Stockholm, so the views were extra beautiful! We took the ferry over to djurgården, one of the islands recommended to us. We found this awesome Nordic Museum (which we did not tour) but we had a fabulous lunch inside! We proceeded to walk around the entire Island. Yes, I did find a tree to climb :). We also stopped on the dock which had amazing views of the city and park and took our last group photo of the trip. However, when four girls are spending their last few hours in Stockholm and we are standing on a dock overlooking very pretty clean, blue water, there was only one thing left for us to do... (if your mind immediately thought we went swimming, you were incorrect). While Sweden does boast about clean water, we did not swim. We DID however have a spontaneous dance party!! Yes, it really happened. I got out my ipod and blared N'Sync's Pop; yes we got some strange looks, but I think it was my favorite part of the day :) 
After taking the very very very scenic route around the island, we realized while waiting for the ferry that we had 6 modes of transportation between then and home (ferry, metro, bus, airplane, bus, taxi). As we left the city, we rode off into the sunset, the end of a great weekend and great adventure.
There's an H&M in New York that we've shopped at - suppose it's the same chain? Amazing!
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