Well my friend has made it back to her home in Milan and it seems like she survived the somewhat chilly weekend in Stockholm. In the end I played tour guide to just her and her boyfriend, which is slightly easier than trying to coordinate a larger group of people. After some flight delays (for them) and some cancelled trains (for me) we managed to meet up and I got a chance to show them around.
Thankfully these two people are just like me, and we all agreed that there is no way you can say you truly experienced a country without having experienced its food. Somehow on their first night here they ended up eating something like kebabs, which although perfectly fine, can hardly be called Swedish. Understandably they were keen to try some local food, so I took them to a cosy place in Gamla Stan which serves very good food and equally good drinks (I’ve added a link to their website below), and between us we managed to eat meatballs, salmon and reindeer. Reasonably Swedish I think.
After lunch we walked around Gamla Stan and visited the Christmas market that is set up in Stortorget (a square near the royal palace). If visiting the market, or if you come across it anywhere else, I strongly suggest trying the Glögg, a hot, spiced wine drink (mulled wine I think it is called in English). Being sliiiiightly cold outside, we parked ourselves next to the Glögg stand and ordered a few to get warm. My only complaint is the tiny cups it’s served in....seriously, it’s -5°C outside, those cups should be at least five times bigger than they are.
We then walked past the palace and over the bridge to Kungsträdgården where we watched the ice-skaters in the ice-skating rink set up there and walked though another Christmas market. This one, unfortunately, had Christmas music playing on an endless loop...only so many times one can hear “Walking in a winter wonderland” before it starts making you homicidal.
The following day it was a little harder to get around, with slightly lower temperatures and snow. Although I’m glad my friends got to see Stockholm on such a perfect winter day, they weren’t exactly prepared for the cold and snow, and although I did warn them that it was cold and to come in warm clothes, I probably should have been a little more specific as to just how cold it was. So in the morning while they saw the royal palace, I went to a little bakery to get some Kanelbullar (Cinnamon buns) and Saffransbullar (Saffron bunns) for them to try.
They wanted to see the Stadshuset (Town Hall) but unfortunately it was closed.Thankfully they managed to see the Vasa museum, which really is something you can’t miss when visiting Stockholm. I’ve added a photo below, but my amateur camera doesn’t do it justice.
All in all, it was a great weekend. Traipsing through Stockholm was always going to be fun, but in the end it’s the company you keep that makes all the difference, and showing these two around (not that I did much) was a total pleasure.
Some (hopefully) helpful links:
Food in Gamla Stan:
Bakery:
Vasa museum:
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| Christmas market, Stortorget |
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| Ice-skating rink, Kungsträdgården |
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| Snowy Stockholm |
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| Vasa |
Oi Fernanda!!!
ReplyDeleteSou brasileiro também, estou cursando medicina veterinária aqui no Brasil e estou muito interessado em fazer o mestrado fora do país, se tu puder me dar umas dicas de como funciona..