Stockholm, capital of Scandanavia
Very, very delayed post. I actually wrote this ages ago (at the Frankfurt airport) but forgot to post it! Anyway, here it is :)
Haha. I started blogging about Oslo. Would have been interesting to read 2 of the same takes of the same city at different points in time. Didn’t realize I’d already told you about Oslo! Lucky for you, what I was writing started sounding a little too familiar so I checked my earlier posts and realized I did in fact already do Oslo.
I will therefore move on to SWEDEN! Stockholm was amongst the top places on my life long list of places to go. I’d initially wanted to save it for winter because Stockholm in Christmas is meant to be magical, but I am more than pleased with myself for choosing to go in summer anyway. When Summer comes to Stockholm, there is an endless list of things to do. Being an Archipelago and being made up of 30,000+ islands, there are countless places to ‘escape’ to, if the main island ever needs escaping in the first place. I guess for the Stockholmers, the islands are the place to go when the hoards of tourists like me turn up. Also, every few years new islands are discovered since the land is still rising from the built up pressure from the last ice age. Pretty amazing that there are still aftermath effects so many thousands of years on, like in Oslo how the fjords have become such a major attraction for people all around the globe. Anyway, I didn’t make it too far out the archipelago because of time restrictions but it’s always good to have something to do next time :)
Nyssa and I had a total of 5.5 days in Stockholm, the longest time we’d spent in the one city since we’d been in Florence. Was nice to wind down a little bit and not have to unpack and repack the suitcase so often. I felt like we really got to experience the culture more riding bikes, walking and taking boats as our forms of transport
We opted for a 3 day Stockholm Card which entitled us to many museums and attractions. Scandanavia (well, Oslo and Stockholm at least) have the best modern and contemporary museums in the world! So many ideas and concepts that are so unique and novel to the world it doesn’t surprise me that companies like Ikea and Georg Jensen originate from Scandanavia. They kind of remind me of the Japanese in that way, but their ideas seem a little more carefree than the very technically precise Japanese. In terms of museums in Stockholm, I visited the National Museum of Architecture and the Modern museum which were both situated on the very small Skeppsholmen (which translates to Ship’s Island), a short boat ride away from the island of Djurgården. Djurgården is where the Vasa ship is situated. The Vasa ship is the only fully recovered ship from the 17th century (it sunk on it’s maiden voyage :( and was recovered 300 years later from the depths of the ocean!). The re-piecing was so accurate that the directors of Pirates used the Vasa and copied the model for Jack Sparrow’s Black Pearl in the Pirates movies!!! I only found this out a day after I visited the ship…probably would’ve spent the entire day there if I’d known earlier. Which reminds me, I still need to watch Prates 4!
Anyway, Djurgården is actually quite a fascinating one. Part of it is dedicated to ships and museums about ships, another part houses the oldest theme park in Scandanavia (didn’t make it there, unfortunately – probably for the best because we would have been at least twice everyone’s age), another part is a zoo / national park type thing called Skansen. Spent a good few hours in Skansen seeing my first elk, my first reindeer, my first wolverine and other things! I was very amused by the baboons. Photos (many of them) to appear in Facebook soon. Reindeer antlers look furry! They look exactly like the toy antler beanies / hats you get at Christmas time! They also manage to fit 2 palaces on this tiny island!
We had to work our activies around the weather forecast which ALWAYS was wrong. Seriously, weather in Stockholm is more unpredictable and volatile than Melbourne. Hard to believe but so very true. We didn’t have many days to choose to bike ride but we happened to go on one of the best! Not a single drop of rain. We rode around the island of Djurgården and the surrounding area on the main island. We had the best guide. She was so smiley and had the best facts about Stockholm to share. I’ll give you a few.
1. The government gives 2 sets of (predominantly) transferrable parental leave – one for the mother and one for the father. They made 2 months non-transferrable. These 2 months are known as the “father months” unsurprisingly because when the months are transferred they more often than not end up on the mother’s side. During the months where the baby is under care of the father, you see “latté dads” or fathers’ clubs going on walks with prams. Rather amusing sight!
2. The name “Stockholm” is known to have come from the fact that the city produced a lot of wood, and “holm” meaning island, it meant “wood island”. Our guide told us that this is only one of the many meanings. Thus making it more of a rumour than anything…but still. It’s nice to think the name has some sort of meaning.
3. In Sweden, education is free. In high school, they even get free lunch! When they get to uni, education is still free but lunch is non-inclusive. Instead, they get a bulk payment to support them in their studies as well as a special scheme for student loans.
4. Systems such as the free education system is only facilitated by the government collecting a lot of tax! However, this is made possible by the high level of females in employment. In Sweden, strong emphasis is placed in gender equality so it’s easy for women to get jobs.
5. In Sweden, there’s a law that makes it legal to camp for a night anywhere you want, provided you’re not within a typical resident’s immediate line of sight. Ie. You can pitch a tent in a national park! You can also camp for a night in someone’s backyard if it’s big enough. However, the Swedes are very respectful people (from what I gathered) which is the only reason why this law works. Can’t imagine it working in Melbourne. People would get way too excited about it and abuse it.
6. In Sweden, the have sayings that are used equally as frequently and have equal importance as sayings such as “if you don’t eat your greens you’ll go blind”. One saying that “if the sun is shining, you have to be outside” (apparently in Swedish it rhymes or something so it makes more sense haha)…explaining why the Swedish are all so tanned and have bleach blonde hair! That coupled with the fact there are tens of thousands of islands to choose from AND that they get up to 20 hours of sunlight per day in summer!
Of course, I got my fair share of shopping done…AND spotted Elin Kling (famous Swedish fashion editor and blogger) on the streets. Sweden has the best shopping in the world. No joke. Oslo was good, but I think things are in general a little more expensive. I have some new favourite shops that I am very sad to have left behind but all the more incentive for me to return in the (not so near) future (due to fears of shopaholicism, if I don’t have that already). There are also plenty of shops to purchase interior decorations and useless little household gadgets. If I’d had my own home to decorate, I would have been coming back to Melbourne with a second if not third suitcase filled with variations of bottle openers, silicone baking trays and remote control holders etc. So good thing I hadn’t moved out yet! COuldn’t not buy something from Acne. Other favourites were Monki, Weekday and Cos. Make sure you visit these three stores when you come to Scandinavia they will not disappoint! Tax refunds don’t hurt either.
In terms of food, Swedish meatballs are EXCELLENT! Definitely the best meatballs I’ve had. I really really wanted to try reindeer meet or elk steak but never got around to that. They also have very good sushi! Best sushi apart from sushi in Japan. Couldn’t find Rekorderlig ANYWHERE(?!) but tried another one I forget the name was which was tasty.
Can’t forget the palace situated on Drottningholm unsurprisingly called Drottningholm’s palace. It is known as the Versailles of the north, presumably because of the gardens and the beautiful landscape architecture. I personally can’t say it is in fact the Versailles of the north but it was definitely a grand palace I wouldn’t mind living in! It’s actually the official residence princess of Sweden and her husband (who she met because he was her personal traininer at the gym haha). We toured the whole palace except for where they actually live, of course. Would be a bit tormenting for them if they had foreigneres running through their corridors on a daily basis. Oh and coming back to the point about gender equality in Sweden, the Stockholm palace have female guards sometimes! I had to do a second take.
I spent half a day relaxing, wandering around Södermalm island which is kind of like the Fitzroy of Stockholm…in the best way possible. Plenty of unique little boutiques, cute cafes and op shops. One of the streets is referred to as SoFo (after Soho in London, but the “fo” coming from the street name “folkungsgatan” on the island “Södermalm”). There’s also one of the best views from a cliff like thing on that island where you can see the island of Kungsholmen where the city hall and colourful town houses are. Such a beautiful view! Best view was probably from the city hall tower (the city hall itself I could write a whole blog about! But im sure pictures will give you an idea – one room was completely decorated in 18kt gold mosaic tiles! One of the Nobel Prize balls are held there yearly)
So, that is my recollection of Stockholm! Exceeded my expectations, would’ve loved to have spent another week there and also want to go there again in winter! Obviously, it’s left an impression on me and it’s a place I can only see to get better.
Right now, I’m sitting at Changi airport in Singapore waiting to board the plane for my final leg home to Melbourne! Hearing all these Australian accents right now makes me a little sad that I won’t be able to hear and play my own game of trying to depict foreign accents at any given moment in a day. Frankfurt airport was a little experience in itself. 10 hours of plane waiting turned out to be not as boring as I thought it would be because I was kept entertained with Boost juices, balloons, cups and the 3 German boys bored at work for the most part. It made me how much my German speaking skills have deteriorated. My response to this realization was to watch Goodbye Lenin on the plane from Frankfurt to Singapore. Even if I did just read the subtitles. Great movie – watch it if you haven’t already!
Anyway, that marks the end of my European (and UK) adventure! It’s been 4 months of once in a lifetime, unique experiences I will not forget (especially since I’ve recorded it here – thank you Katrina for the idea!), plenty of new acquaintances I am glad to have met whether or not I see them again, amazing food and generous cultures. I wouldn’t be able to express in words what I’ve learnt and will hopefully take through to my every day life back in Melbourne.
Goodbye Via Lupi! Thanks for facilitating my 4 month public rant about living, travel, and thoughts.
