Snow .... sun .... snow .....sun - the weather can't decide what it's doing. One thing stays constant though - it's damn cold.
We have spent the last two days wandering the streets of Stockholm, in and out of shops, admiring the architecture and the cold wintry views. It is a lovely city. It feels empty and quiet compared to London and extremely civilised. I would love to come back in the summer when the pavement cafes would be full of people enjoying 'fika' (relaxing with coffee and friends) and it would be a lot warmer!
We toyed with going to a museum today but ended up just wandering around more shops in the city centre - H&M, of course and NK, the big department store (Stockholm's equivalent of Selfridges). We looked but we didn't buy.
We lunched at one of the city's top fish restaurants, Wedholms Fisk. It is obviously a place for business lunches and was full of suited men - virtually all men which surprised me. We felt decidedly underdressed but what the hell - we wanted a proper white table cloth, top notch fish lunch and that was what we got - very good value from the lunchtime special menu - one plate of salmon, herring, cod and halibut between us and two glasses of a delicious Spanish wine from Galicia - excellent.
And so our Swedish sojourn comes to an end - just remains to pack our bags and head off to Arlanda airport for our flight back to London. 'Tack', Sandra and 'tack', Stockholm for a great weekend away.
Showing posts with label Stockholm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stockholm. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Archipelago
Am now back in Stockholm after our 24 hours out in the archipelago to the east of the city. The weather was very kind to us - the expected snow held off - in fact the sun shone most of the time and the wind was minimal - it was perfect and very beautiful.
We stayed on the island of Sandhamn, which is out at the far end of the archipelago virtually out in the Baltic Sea. We reached the island via a 30 minute drive and an hours ferry ride. Sandra had prepared a picnic for us to eat on the way, which inevitably included some salmon and dill salad and shrimps and reindeer and horseradish paste - at last, some genuine local food.
The whole archipelago is extremely beautiful - thousands of tree covered islands with traditional wooded houses dotted along their coastlines. It is a sailors and nature lovers paradise and the ferry service makes the whole area very accessible for those without their own boats and for visitors.
We took a fairly early ferry and so arrived on Sandhamn mid-morning and well before our rooms were ready. There really was nothing else to do other than take a walk and nose around, from a suitable distance, the mostly empty houses. There were still patches of snow on the ground but it was really quite warm in the sheltered sunny spots. We walked the whole length of one coastline and then back to the village of Sandhamn along the central 'road'. It was the longest walk I had done for a while - exhilarating, refreshing, tiring - we were all ready for a beer and some lunch when we got back, so we dropped into the island pub.
Fresh air, exercise, food and alcohol meant that an afternoon nap was inevitable. Sandra and Mats went off to the sauna, naturally - but we had forgotten to bring swimmies with us so we gave it a miss. I've heard about Swedes in saunas!
Later we drank cocktails in the bar and had a delicious dinner at the hotel and woke early to see the sun rise over the Baltic - well nearly - we looked out of the window at it before snuggling back down for a bit longer.
Back in town, Mats went off to do some work on his boat and Debrah, Sandra and me went off for a stroll and a coffee - 'fika' in Swedish - the art of socialising at a cafe - I love the way different languages have words that don't directly translate into an English word.
We stayed on the island of Sandhamn, which is out at the far end of the archipelago virtually out in the Baltic Sea. We reached the island via a 30 minute drive and an hours ferry ride. Sandra had prepared a picnic for us to eat on the way, which inevitably included some salmon and dill salad and shrimps and reindeer and horseradish paste - at last, some genuine local food.
The whole archipelago is extremely beautiful - thousands of tree covered islands with traditional wooded houses dotted along their coastlines. It is a sailors and nature lovers paradise and the ferry service makes the whole area very accessible for those without their own boats and for visitors.
We took a fairly early ferry and so arrived on Sandhamn mid-morning and well before our rooms were ready. There really was nothing else to do other than take a walk and nose around, from a suitable distance, the mostly empty houses. There were still patches of snow on the ground but it was really quite warm in the sheltered sunny spots. We walked the whole length of one coastline and then back to the village of Sandhamn along the central 'road'. It was the longest walk I had done for a while - exhilarating, refreshing, tiring - we were all ready for a beer and some lunch when we got back, so we dropped into the island pub.
Fresh air, exercise, food and alcohol meant that an afternoon nap was inevitable. Sandra and Mats went off to the sauna, naturally - but we had forgotten to bring swimmies with us so we gave it a miss. I've heard about Swedes in saunas!
Later we drank cocktails in the bar and had a delicious dinner at the hotel and woke early to see the sun rise over the Baltic - well nearly - we looked out of the window at it before snuggling back down for a bit longer.
Back in town, Mats went off to do some work on his boat and Debrah, Sandra and me went off for a stroll and a coffee - 'fika' in Swedish - the art of socialising at a cafe - I love the way different languages have words that don't directly translate into an English word.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Stockholm
I am looking out of the windows of Sandra's corner apartment in Stockholm and strangely it has the feel of New York (without the skyscrapers) - the grid system of broad streets in this part of town, the taxis, the apartment blocks, the pizza shop downstairs, the coffee shop across the road and the corner supermarket.
Sandra has a lovely apartment in the Sodermalm district, just 5 minutes from the centre of the city (by taxi) and she has generously lent the place to us for the weekend - she is staying with her man in another part of town.
Our weekend started 24 hours ago at Heathrow Terminal 5. It was my first time through the new terminal and very impressive it was too - it seemed quite spacious and a lot less frenetic than any previous visit to Heathrow, which wasn't difficult.
It also made a change to be flying with an airline that wasn't Ryanair - in this case it was British Airways. More legroom, more hand luggage, free food and drinks - and not much more expensive than many Ryanair tickets bought over the years.
We arrived in Stockholm in bright sunshine but there is snow on the ground in the countryside and ice in the sea. We could have gone south to Carcassonne, where it has been 20 degrees plus this week, but we came north to Stockholm where it is just above freezing.
My first impressions are all good. The city seems incredibly clean and there are so few people too by comparison with London. We dropped our bags at Sandra's office and went off for a walk, a browse in the shops and a coffee - I love the blankets they put on the outside chairs in the cafes to keep the smokers warm.
Last night we met Mats for the first time and we all went out for supper together to a bustling grill restaurant in the city centre. I was expecting more pickled fish and elk stew, but apparently that lies in store for us today, when we are sailing out into the archipeligo and staying overnight on one the islands - I so have clothes for a city break rather than a country/sailing excursion, but I'm sure I'll cope.
Sandra has a lovely apartment in the Sodermalm district, just 5 minutes from the centre of the city (by taxi) and she has generously lent the place to us for the weekend - she is staying with her man in another part of town.
Our weekend started 24 hours ago at Heathrow Terminal 5. It was my first time through the new terminal and very impressive it was too - it seemed quite spacious and a lot less frenetic than any previous visit to Heathrow, which wasn't difficult.
It also made a change to be flying with an airline that wasn't Ryanair - in this case it was British Airways. More legroom, more hand luggage, free food and drinks - and not much more expensive than many Ryanair tickets bought over the years.
We arrived in Stockholm in bright sunshine but there is snow on the ground in the countryside and ice in the sea. We could have gone south to Carcassonne, where it has been 20 degrees plus this week, but we came north to Stockholm where it is just above freezing.
My first impressions are all good. The city seems incredibly clean and there are so few people too by comparison with London. We dropped our bags at Sandra's office and went off for a walk, a browse in the shops and a coffee - I love the blankets they put on the outside chairs in the cafes to keep the smokers warm.
Last night we met Mats for the first time and we all went out for supper together to a bustling grill restaurant in the city centre. I was expecting more pickled fish and elk stew, but apparently that lies in store for us today, when we are sailing out into the archipeligo and staying overnight on one the islands - I so have clothes for a city break rather than a country/sailing excursion, but I'm sure I'll cope.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
