Here's a picture of most of the group on game night, which turned into a dance party, then stage diving, people diving, and then on to further antics.
Teddy arrived in Stockholm late afternoon on Friday. Luckily he had slept most of the way there, so he freshened up and we headed out for a walk around Old Town and to have some dinner. That first night we went to an Italian place called Michelangelo's. It was quite good. It was so great to have Teddy there and catch up on our week.
My training was at the Grand Hotel, and Teddy and I decided to just stay there for our long weekend as well. It was a beautiful hotel in a perfect location to see Stockholm. Here's a night view.
On Saturday, Teddy and I had tickets to Stockholm's Beer and Whiskey festival. This was held a little bit out of the main city in Nacka Strand. It was similar to a trade show, but for beer, whiskey, wine, etc. Teddy and I had some fun trying all the different beers, and sampling some local food from some vendors there. In particular we had a reindeer kabob, which was really delicious. Here are a couple of shots from the festival.
In line to get in
Tasting some beer
One big beer barrel of fun!
Crowd shot
After checking out the festival and having a few beers, we decided to head back to the hotel to do some more exploring of Old Town. Teddy and I enjoyed exploring the palace, narrow streets, squares, shops and cafes as we walked through this area of Stockholm. I could imagine that this part of the city is very similar to what is was like centuries ago. It's almost like going back in time, and was just fantastic. We also noticed that there were pictures all over the place of the royal family. In particular of one of the daughters on her wedding day. They were EVERYWHERE. Well, we found out that she had just gotten married, and her wedding day was June 19, 2010 - the same day as Teddy and my wedding. :)
Palace on the right with the obelisk and church in the background of the square
Palace
Palace guard
One of the main squares in Old Town
Other side of the square
Trying out some Swedish hats
View across from Old Town
Front of the palace
We went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner and see if the concierge could recommend a place and get us reservations. So, Teddy goes up to the concierge and this is how this conversation goes:
Teddy: Hi, can you recommend a place for us for dinner? I really want some traditional Swedish food, like Swedish meatballs.
Concierge: (while rolling his eyes - and thinking this stupid American thinks all we eat is meatballs here) No problem, I recommend Den Gyldene Freden. Its (sigh) meatballs are quite good.
Teddy: Great! Thank you. (then he turns to me and says) This is that place we saw when we were walking around Old Town, and were calling it the Den of Golden Freedom.
Concierge: (rolling his eyes again) What time would you like to make reservations...
So, we went to the Den of Golden Freedom for dinner, like two idiots laughing about the name thinking that it can't be close to right and we're just trying to decipher Swedish in our own stupid way. When we got to the restaurant, we found out that it actually means The Gilded Peace - so we weren't too far off. Surprisingly enough. Teddy did, in fact, get the Swedish meatballs, which were delicious and I got the venison, which was equally good.
Here we are in the Den of Golden Freedom enjoying our traditional Swedish food
On Sunday we decided to head out to Djurgarden. Djurgarden used to be the King's hunting grounds, but it is now a very large park where there are many museums. I had found a 90 minute walk around the park in our travel book that we had planned to do. It was supposed to be around 3 miles. We did make various stops at the Vasa museum and Skansen the outdoor museum, but this "short" walk took us over 4 hours and was no where near 3 miles. After we were nearly done we saw a map that had the trail marked, and we walked about 10 miles that day. We were a little bit tired. But it was a beautiful place. The trees were starting to change color for the fall with bright reds, yellows and oranges.
View from the bridge on the way to Djurgarden
At the Vasa museum which houses a ship from the 16th century that was underwater for over 300 years before it was salvaged and restored at this museum. This ship capsized and sunk after sailing for less than a nautical mile on its maiden voyage. It was incredible to see it in person at the museum.
An exhibit at the museum discussing preservation with a demonstration of that by having bread from 2000 sealed in an air tight bag. It was a little gross.
Nordic Museum
Skansen the outdoor museum/zoo
This is where we decided this path had to be longer than 3 miles, the Manilla school
And we're still walking...
Skansen from across the river
That night we decided to explore the city central area to find a place for dinner. After walking around for a while we settled on the Restauran Prinsen. We had a delicious meal. Teddy had the cod and I had veal. We decided after to head back to the hotel for some dessert and a drink before bed. The hotel bar was just gorgeous, and they had a delicious chocolate creme brulee with fresh berries.
The hotel bar
Enjoying a drink and some dessert
Mmmmmm. Chocolate creme brulee
On Monday we decided to explore more of the city center, and tour guide Teddy mapped out a route to check out various parts of the city. He cracked me up with his commentary on the various stops on the tour.
An outdoor market selling fruits, vegatables, hats, purses, etc.
Konserthuset the location of the Nobel prize presentations
The GT office - look at all that signage
Church built by King Adolf Frederik a murdered Prime Minister is buried in the cemetery in the church yard
The old planetarium
View of the city from the park the planetarium was in
Leaves starting to change for fall
Stockholm Public Library
Stockholm School of Economics
19th Century church
After this walk we decided to do a short boat tour of the city. This was quite nice and took us around the various islands we had been walking around on.
That night for dinner we headed back to Old Town and went to Glenfiddich Warehouse No. 68 for dinner. It had a great selection of Swedish beers. We started with a reindeer appetizer and Teddy had Elk for dinner and I had the Cod. It was delicious. We enjoyed a few beers and then went back to the hotel to pack up for an early morning to head to the airport for our flight home.
Sunset walking between Old Town and Riddar-Holmen
Sunset walking back to the hotel
Teddy and I enjoying sunset
We just loved Stockholm. It was such a beautiful city with friendly people and I'm so glad that I got to see it with Teddy. Since my heritage is German and Swedish I always wanted to visit the countries that my family came from. I went to Germany after college, but never Sweden. I was so happy to have the opportunity to see where my grandparents families came from. It was a great trip.
We're headed home!
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