Thursday, June 10, 2010

Stockholm, Sweden



Bern and I just spent a weekend in Stockholm, Sweden. We were there visiting a friend and his Swedish wife and we had a good time catching up. Sweden has many islands and Stockholm, the capital city is surrounded by water. It is a beautiful city, and it does not feel 'old', which you can sometimes feel with London. The currency used in Sweden is the Swedish Kronor (1 pound is roughly 11 kronors). The picture above is a dish of pickled herring, which is a traditional Swdeish dish. It was a little salty for my liking but otherwise very nice. We both felt that things were quite exepnsive in Sweden, even comparing to London.





These were souvenirs that I purchased. There are many souvenirs with Swedish reindeers and I thought the mit would really go with my hot red KitchenAid mixer (which I really miss by the way).





The streets of Stockholm itself is very pretty and very clean. You will find many design and furniture stores (but no IKEA in sight) and it seems like that is what they excel at. On the streets, there are also many well -groomed people (including the men). The Swedes are very stylish...







Gamla Stans means Old Town, which was my favourite part of the city. Coincidentally, we were there on the weekend of the Swedish national day. Also, Princess Stephanie is getting married and there is a month-long celebration. Hence, wherever we go, there are heaps of memorabilia on sale (including table wipe-sponges that has the princess and her partner printed on them- Strange!)



 




After walking about all day, we decided to have a drink at a local cafe. As you can see, many of the outdoor chairs are supplied with a warm fleece/donna for customer use when the weather gets cool. I have never seen this before...




A street in Gamla Stans



Chocolate and Candy store




Could not tell you what this building is- everything is in Swedish! But people here converse well in English too-so there is no problem getting about





Anyway, Bern and I had the relaxing weekend away from London. Looking forward to our next big trip which is in two weeks. We are off to the South of France and driving to Paris with some friends. The trip will be 9 days in total- cannot wait!

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