Monday, June 16, 2014

Travel Page: Stockholm, Sweden

I'm back! My apologies for the lack of blog posts over the last few weeks. I've been playing catch-up after my vacation. What a trip! We made it all the way from Stockholm to Venice in 13 days. It was a lot of go, go, go, but so worth it to see so many sights. I figured I'd spend the next few weeks posting recaps of my trip (in case any of you are planning a Swedish, French or Italian getaway soon). So, to begin: Stockholm, Sweden! We arrived after taking a red eye from New York...
I felt super thankful that I could rely on my Swedish friend Anna's 36-hour guide to Stockholm. She told us exactly what to do since we knew we'd only be in town for a short time. Here are my favorites:

**We stayed at the Elite Hotel Arcadia in Östermalm, a sleek and modern spot, located right next the metro. It was perfect for what we needed—the rooms are comfortable and spacious (with great wifi!). We dropped our bags, and headed out to explore. Despite the red eye, we decided we didn't have time to nap, and pushed through our jet lag. 

**Stockholm reminds me so much of Boston—it made me so homesick for Massachusetts while I was there! We lucked out with blue skies and 75 degree weather for the two days we were in town, which meant we could basically wander from one neighborhood to the next by foot. Östermalm has lots of adorable cobblestone streets with sweet little shops (like this candy spot!).

**After walking around all afternoon, we made our way to Gamla Stan (Stockholm's old town) and the Grand Hotel for dinner at Mathias Dahlgren's Matbaren. The food was incredible—you order medium-sized plates one course at a time until you are full. The ambiance was perfect—just what we needed to wind down our first night.

**A few more spots worth checking out: The Vasa Museum features an original 16th century warship that sank on her maiden voyage before it left Stockholm Harbour. It was pulled up in the 1960s from the bottom of the ocean and restored. The result is breathtaking. I could have spent hours in this museum just imagining life on that ship. The museum is located right next to Djurgården, a large park next to the water that was originally created as the King's private hunting grounds. It's spectacular—and the equivalent of walking out of city traffic into the peace and beauty of Central Park.

We were sad to spend such a short time in Stockholm, but happy to fit in as much as we could. After walking around Djurgården, we made a mad dash to the airport to catch our evening flight to Paris.

Have you spent any time in Stockholm? What are your favorite things to do there? 

Stay tuned for my Paris recap later this week!

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