Välkommen till Sverige! - En natt i Stockholm (Welcome to Sweden!- 1 Night in Stockholm.

The flight: My first time in Terminal 5 Heathrow. It was incredibly quiet considering it’s the summer holidays & a Friday. You’d expect it to be filled with Holiday makers/ Weekend tripers (I know not a real word!) Maybe it’s down to all the strike action of BA and the pending strike by BAA (who operate Heathrow). One thing can be said; it’s a very smooth flow through check in & security. Hardly any waiting and you don’t have to queue at specific desks for your flight etc. My flight was called and after having a look round & browsing duty free I made my way to the gate.
The flight felt like it only took half an hour. In no time we were on our decent into Arlanda, Stockholm. The route took us over Norwich the North sea flying over the top of Denmark, over Göthenburg & towards Stockholm. We arrived 5 minutes early, the sun had almost disappeared behind the forest of trees surrounding the airport. The airport was supprisingly quiet for the nations’ capital. The next step was to get to Stockholm Central. Using the Arlanda express (1/2 Price if you have your international NUS card Worth the extra £) 20 minutes and it gave me the chance to see some locals. Of course announcements are made out in Swedish first. A good test to see if anything has gone in from the small bit of self study I have done. A sense of joy as I recognise words like welcome, ticket, left (all in Swedish of course) Made me think maybe I will be ok language wise. What a false sense of security I got myself into. I get a taxi, show him the address of where my hotel for the evening is. Uh oh!! He doesn’t know where it is???? Asks the guy controlling the taxis’. I have no idea what he’s saying. I give the taxi driver a map I printed off. Still doesn’t help him. He has a vague idea. Driving towards the water (where you’d expect to find a yacht hotel really!) I spot the yacht first. Vänster I point out (left to you non-Swedish speakers) The taxi pulls up to this Yacht, he doesn’t believe it’s a hotel but the sign above the entrance clearly states it is. Tak to the taxi driver (thanks) and I go to check in.

Room 306, up some narrow stairs, with my heavy suitcase (which by the way reader is 31.2k) O well good work out for the arms!! A single bed cabin with a desk wardrobe wetroom/toilet and 2 windows looking out over Stockholm. I had a view of the Beautiful City Hall. It’s about 9.30 (local time) pitch black and unlike other European capital cities that I’ve visited, (or any city in fact) Stockholm isn’t lit up at night as much as others are. (Showing the countries green credentials already) I ventured out within a small area of the hotel. Passing a beautiful church and what I thought to be the royal palace, (turns out It was the ministry of justice)

Morning dawns. I get up at 6 to make sure I’m ready for a mad dash around Stockholm to go sightseeing. Breakfast spread included; smoked bacon & sausages, smoked ham & cheese, bread rolls, cereal, cucumber, peppers, Swedish bread (which is more like crackers but due to the cold climate out In Sweden they need bread that can be preserved for longer, during winter Fresh bread used to be a luxury) 8 and I get my map and head towards the royal palace, (Home to King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife Queen Silvia) On the point of the Monarchy, unlike Britain where we don’t tend to show pride in our Monarchy, Sweden seem to prefer theirs. They show pride and they like their tradition over here. People have raised the argument about becoming a republic but the people have turned it down many times. There are still banners up from the recent royal wedding of Princess Victoria and her personal trainer Daniel Westling. Yes postcards are available of the happy couple already!!!. Anyway I deviate!
My walk around Stockholm was very pleasant, you’d expect a capital city to be busy even as early as 8am however this was not the case. Hardly any cars or people out. You could tell who the tourists were because we were the ones awake and about so early. Shops didn’t start opening till around 9.30, in a capital city!! In London it would be hard to shut the shops. Anyway I started of walking round old government buildings, still in use today. Finding my way I walked up towards the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) you walk through and at the other side of the Riksdag is the Royal Palace, about twice the size of the Riksdag if not more. The Palace is a huge building in the landscape of Stockholm. The same style of architecture is used around this area of Stockholm (the Palace the Riksdag and the Royal Opera House) However this is where the similarity of building style ends in Stockholm. Each building has it’s character but I suppose that would be called the Scandinavian style of Architecture). I had enough time to go round a few of the churches and on my way back to my hotel I watched the changing of the guards ceremony at the palace. Quite different to that of Buckingham Palace. No big Marching parade or anything like that. The Barracks are within the palace grounds. Only a handful of soldiers will march with one leading. They walk round the Palace relieving each soldier on duty one by one. Continuing the circuit until all the new soldiers are in place. It’s a quiet affair apart from the commands being called. (which don’t sound as vicious as they do at Buckingham palace, yet I don’t understand that much Swedish so he could’ve been really harsh I suppose!) At this point the city was getting busy with the locals & tourist groups. The Museums at the palace were opening. The Tourist shops started to appear down old cobbled streets from where there was nothing earlier in the morning. The shops rest subtly in the city, not imposing in old town. However if you get to a high street like I did, you will find all the modern shops there including car dealerships. I counted to H&Ms within feet of eachother! Where would the world be without Mcdonalds, however Maxs is a rival to this. Surprisingly fast food seems to be cheap over here (just an observation) Adverts in the windows for £1.50 if you convert it. However Stockholm is expensive on other things. Postcards seem to retail between 40p-£1.10 each, unless you’re lucky and find that one shop that offers 10 for £1. Sorry folks but if postcards cost that much normally I won’t be sending many home!

Now I am currently making my way by coach to Jönköping. 4 hours compared to 2 by train. However the coach cost be almost 1/5 compared to the train. Surly the coach must be uncomfortable for someone as tall as you I hear you cry. Well you’d think but after a recommendation by a Swede I booked with ‘Bus 4 you’ rather than Swebus express like the University recommends. B4Y has comfy leather seats, which recline. People aren’t crowded in I’m sat on a seat on my own with 2 seats the other side of the Isle. Plenty of leg room. My knees touch nothing!!!!
Anyway I think you’re now up to date with everything so far. Till I next write

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