An Hour in Stockholm

I had about an hour between my arrival from Iceland and my train to Karlstad, so I went for a walk around Stockholm. My goal was to find Stadhuset, or the City Hall, where the Nobel Prize is awarded every year. Stadhuset is pretty much right behind the train station, but because I didn’t know that, I walked out the front of Stockholm Central and saw a lot of the city en route to Stadhuset. I didn’t have enough time to go into anything, but I will next time I go back. Here are some pictures from my walk.

From here I found the city center of Gamla Stan, where my first contact with a Swedish person happened. I had put everything in a locker at the train station, so I was walking around in street clothes, not looking like a tourist at all (an undercover tourist, as I like to say) so I think she thought I was a Swede. She was a very pretty 20-something who started speaking Swedish to me, and I think she was trying to ask where something was, but when she paused I meant to say “Jag talar inte svenska,” or, “i don’t speak swedish.” All that came out was “Uhhh.. me svenska…är inte…” or “my swedish…is not…” She smiled, nodded, and walked away. So much for all the practice…

My favorite thing about Stockholm was that every time you turned a corner, there was another beautiful building that was different than the last one. There are western, gothic, Greco-Roman, eastern, Russian, and Modern influences all mixed and mingled into one awesome city, which is also inhabited by the most beautiful people in the world. If you’ve been there and it’s not your favorite international city (or is at least in the top three) please tell me of a better place.

As some of you might know, one of the reasons I chose Sweden was for the music scene, in particular the metal scene (no, not ABBA). On Gamla Stan there is Old Town Stockholm, and in this area is a store called Sound Pollution, which featured multiple sections of different metal genres. Needless to say, it is my favorite record store on earth. I bought the new Opeth CD here to be able to say I bought an Opeth CD in their hometown. Now if I can go to an Opeth show in Stockholm, it really is the greatist city on earth.

Finally, after about 40 minutes of speedwalking, I was able to find Stadhuset, home of the Blue Room, which is where the Nobel Prize is awarded. I was too late for a tour this time, but I have a feeling I’ll be back.

Satisfied with my brief visit for now, I made my way back to Stockholm Central to figure out the train system and catch my train to Karlstad, which will be my next post, including a video tour of my room. But, I think that two posts in one day is good for now, so hopefully you enjoyed this post like the Iceland one, and I hope you’ll visit again.

To see my post about Iceland, CLICK HERE