sunshine and weddings in stockholm

So on a whim Sophie and I decided to go to Stockholm. For some reason flights to Scandinavia are ridiculously cheap from Edinburgh. Of course, that means it is ridiculously expensive when you are there...the tricks they play! 

Sadly, I never saw this guy when we were there...but I did have an amazing time and wish it had been a whole lot longer!

Yum

Sophie and I left on the Friday after work, and after some last minute potentially lost wallet drama (Sophie...not me this time!) we made it to Stavska Airport...which is actually an hour and a half from Stockholm of course. So we boarded the bus and made our way there. Turns out you shouldn't always follow directions hostels give you because we ended up taking the subway for 2 mins when we could have walked but eventually made it to our hostel in the Old Town. It was around 11pm so we managed to find beds in our dorm and went to sleep. 

Ikea in Sweden! Still never been in one...

Coke with friends...

Saturday dawned a beautiful day (at 3am) so we got up early and had a short look around town. The hostel we were staying at, Castanea, was really central to everything and in a beautiful area. 

Cinnamon scroll and coffee for breakfast

Sophie outside our hostel

Sophie near the Royal Palace

Buildings near the harbour

Looking towards the Old Town

Outside the palace

In the courtyard beside our hostel

We took the advice of the lovely girl on hostel reception and took a ferry out to a island in the Archepilago of Stockholm. We went to the more touristy island of Vaxholm. 

On Vaxholm Island

Sweden!

On the ferry

Since things are rather expensive in Sweden we had bought ourselves a picnic lunch of bread, cheese and beetroot dip at the supermarket that morning. We enjoyed this deliciousness while getting some much needed sun in a local park. 

Main street in the town

Picnic lunch!

After that it was definitely time for me to enjoy some icecream before we headed back into the city. 

Sophie and a random arm...

Icecream!!! And pretty flowers.

True to our usual pattern of minor disasters we got off the ferry a stop too early. In this case it worked in our favour as they were doing some sort of flag ceremony involving military boats on the harbour. 

Dancing military ships

Stockholm harbour

Watching the flag ceremony

Sophie and I and a thumb

I dont know how this is doing this but its hilarious...

That morning the girl at our hostel had told us the youngest princess of Sweden was getting married that day, and we ended up right in the thick of it waiting for the bride and groom to come past in a horse drawn carriage.

Swedish military guy

Bride and Groom!! And annoying hat...

Buses carrying guests and military people

In the Old Town

Cute letterboxes

After all that waiting it turns out it was a short walk back to our hostel where we got ready for a night out. On the bus in the night before we had gone over a tall overbridge and seen a huge line for what looked like an outdoor concert or club underneath. Once again we weren't let down by hostel advice and headed out to Tradgarden, a summer outdoor club that was basically a hang out area outside under an overbridge. 

In the bleachers

One area of the club

Buildings built under the overbridge for the club

There were several different areas including a petonq ground next to the sports bar, an outdoor bar with bleachers and people playing Super Mario Brothers projected on the bridge, ping pong tables, outdoor couches, armchairs and other lounge furniture and bathrooms in shipping containers. In short, it was awesome. Drinks were rather expensive as they are in Sweden, but it was still something completely different than I have ever  been to before. We would have loved to have gone with a huge group of people and had a lot of money to spend!

Looking up at the bridge

Mario Bros!

Sophie and me

One of the bars

The next day we made friends with a couple of guys at the hostel and headed out to explore the old town and the district where all the artists used to live, however because it was a Sunday most things weren't open until 12 or 1pm. We did find a cute cafe and stayed there for a bit chatting about travel and life at home as you do with people you meet travelling! 

After that Sophie and I got a bit caught in a thunder storm so ducked in and out of shops on our way back to the hostel to grab out stuff to head to the airport.

Goodbye Stockholm!

Sharing a coke with Rasmus...?

Stockholm definitely impressed me way more than I thought it would, and I would take the opportunity to go again and see all the things I missed. Unfortunately it's not likely to happen anytime soon since I want to keep exploring new places. Maybe if I went on a ferry from another country, but we will see!