Stockholm - Tour bus, Royal Palace, Gamla Stan, Skansen, cold

My second day in Stockholm started with a whisper and ended in a slightly louder whisper. 

The morning was a bit rough. The ikea duvet (which I've missed while living at home) and mattress were more comfortable then the afternoon before. Plus they have Archer season 6 here and I was on my second early morning/little sleep combo. So when I awoke at 8 and turned over in bed, it made the realization and internal debate on wasting my only full day in Stockholm a tough reality to deal with. I eventually and reluctantly made my start down the street by 11. 

I decided to go for the tour bus. If anyone reading this took a cursory glance at my other adventures you'll see that I am a big fan of the tour bus. It's an easy way to see all the highlights of a city and learn what all the buildings are. So I hopped on near my hostel and road the bus the entire loop before deciding and planning what to do today. I also managed to fall asleep on the bus for a few stops, the melodic classical elevator music was just too much for me. 

I decided, while shivering on the bus, that Skansen was a brilliant idea for my first stop. It's the world's first open air museum, a combination of Colonial Williamsburg, the zoo, and an amusement park all within one property. Since it was all outside it also meant dealing with the brisk cold that had rolled in that afternoon. 

As with all of Stockholm there was snow and ice on the ground. Only in Skansen there was the added difficulty of massive hills. Hills so steep I found myself thinking it would be easier to ski down this then try to walk down. 

The few buildings that were open were very interesting. It was all 18th century structures that had been moved from the city to the property. In each one was a re-enacter dressed up in colonial garb. The post office and school were underwhelming (been there seen that) but the church was something else. It was so well preserved that even the murals on the ceiling were still in color.

Finding my way out was not nearly as straight forward as finding my way in. I followed the exit signs and somehow ended up on a cliff above the entrance and bus stop. The upside was it provided a great view of the surrounding area. 

I got back on the bus and admired my surroundings. There were a lot of running groups, surprising for 23 degrees out, and people were skiing down the ramp of the royal palace. It was like someone said hey there's just enough snow here and then everyone joined in. 

I skipped the ABBA museum and the other museums. While seeing a really really old wooden ship is cool the sun was beginning to set and I was trying to think of how to maximize my time best. I still had to look at souveniers and find something to eat so I opted to go back to Gamla Stan (aka Old Town) and see the Royal Palace. 

I didn't even know, coming to Sweden, that they still had a king. But sure enough they do and he lives within spitting distance of where I was wandering the day before. It was a cool place that is comprised of a number of museums. I opted for the free one (the armory) since they were about to close. 

After that it was a quick look at the Royal church then a walk into the rest of old town. I stopped at a take away place and got a white hot chocolate. It was solid, a little too sugary for me, but most importantly it was hot. It felt good since it was so cold as the sun was setting.

Hot beverages are a funny thing here. They're part of a ritual called Fike which is you have a coffee and a pastry then shoot the shit. So when you order a hot drink 9 times out of 10 they'll ask you if you want something to eat too then give you a strange look like you've just grown a third eye while standing there in front of them. 

I popped into a few souveniers shops, there's one about every 100ft, but it was all the same obviously made in China garbage in each. By now I was growing tired and realized that I hadn't eaten anything since my three day old pb&j sandwich in the morning. I opened up four square on my phone and thought about what I wanted to eat. I wanted it to be something Swedish but I wasn't sure if I was up for something like salt cod, then I remembered - meatballs! I typed in meatballs into Foursquare and the first result (after the ad) was for the #1 rated place for Swedish meatballs in the city - Bakfickan - and it wasn't too far from where I was. 

On the snowy, uphill, walk over I thought is this even a good idea? What if it's crowded? What if I'm under dressed? And then I walked in and found out it was crowded. There was one seat left at the U-shaped bar and I had to squeeze through to get there. Every seat was a pre-shaped stool. The waitress handed me a menu and I took a cursory glance at it but I already knew what I wanted. The meatballs came quickly and in a little balanced stack.  I gently put my fork to one and it gave way fairly easily, releasing the tender moist meat beneath the thin crispy shell. I took a bite. The taste so familiar (thanks IKEA) but somehow so much richer. You could taste the blend of meats and spices and tell that they were so fresh. The lingonberries were real berries, not jelly, and were equally magical. It came with a dish of potato purée aka mashed potatoes and when combined became a transcendent experience of flavor. 

It could have also been that I was just really really hungry. 

After meatballs I remembered that there was one other thing missing from my travel itinerary - a trip to the supermarket! Again if you've ever read about my trips you'll know that the local supermarket is my favorite place to go and check out what's there. When I walked in I was immediately greeted by the Valentine's Day gifts. It seems that Stockholm has heard of the American Hallmark holiday and adopted it. 

A few purchases later and I made my way back to the hostel. As soon as I walked into my room I heard "Hey" and saw that it was one of my friends from the night before. She wanted to know if I had eaten dinner yet and I told her I had and how to get to the best meatballs in town (she went and agreed they were amazing). She told me that she would knock on my door when she got back and we could have a few drinks. 

I had laid down and was starting to fall asleep when I heard the knock. Sure enough there was Mary aka D.C. (since she is living in Washington D.C.) with a 6 pack. A few moments later Brazil joined us (he was with us the night before too) and a new guy from Holland sat with us too. We got two new Australian women who are teaching in London, the boy from Cork was back and joined by his friend from Liverpool. Another Brazilian (a girl) joined for a bit and a girl from Chester arrived so we invited her as well. I went for a quick beer run and learned from Holland that the country bans alchohol sales on Sunday for anything over 3.5% (which is absurdly weak). So I made sure to buy enough for everyone.

At 11pm we moved over to the cafe, per the request of the staff since it is quiet hours in the dorm starting at 11. There were 4 people sitting there already who were dead quiet sitting on their phones. Naturally they left as soon as we arrived. The staff had chips and candy out for us to snack on while finishing our beers. We talked about accents and travel and the cost of alcohol around the world. I heard stories about the distance from Sydney to New Zealand and expats in Thailand. At one point I agreed to a green card marriage with the New Zealand hostel worker who could provide me with his dual citizenship in exchange for mine. 

Eventually the night wound down and by 3:30am I found myself back in bed watching Archer and glad I made the decision to spend more to stay at the social hostel. No one knows each other's names but it doesn't really matter, we had an amazing night anyway.