We arrived at Arlanda Airport and decided to take the express train into the city centre. It's pretty expensive (who am I kidding? It was almost as expensive as British train fares!) but got us to the central station in about 15 minutes, rather than the cheaper but far longer coach or standard train journeys. I'd picked our hotel- Radisson Blu Royal Viking- carefully so we were right next to the central station. This was a perfect location since a lot of things were within walking distance and, when we did get the underground, we were just steps away from the station.
Tuesday
72 Hours in Stockholm pt I
As I mentioned in my last post, Rich and I spent a few days in Stockholm last week. We landed on the snowiest November day in forever so it was a lot of fun!
We arrived at Arlanda Airport and decided to take the express train into the city centre. It's pretty expensive (who am I kidding? It was almost as expensive as British train fares!) but got us to the central station in about 15 minutes, rather than the cheaper but far longer coach or standard train journeys. I'd picked our hotel- Radisson Blu Royal Viking- carefully so we were right next to the central station. This was a perfect location since a lot of things were within walking distance and, when we did get the underground, we were just steps away from the station.
The best thing about our hotel? It was directly opposite Lush. In fact, I could see the shop from our window! On the first night, we popped across the road to buy a bubble bar and then I had my traditional foreign city trip to McDonald's. Pure class. Afterwards, we just went for a little stroll in the snow but as it was pretty much a blizzard, we headed back early and chilled out in the hotel room watching the Antiques Roadshow. Not even Swedish Antiques Roadshow. Literally our own show with Swedish subtitles, on prime time TV.
For our first whole day, we started with a little shopping. Before I started this blog, I read a lot of Swedish fashion blogs, especially those who wore vintage. A lot shopped in Beyond Retro and I lived in the London stores but it was my dream to visit the Stockholm store. Finally, I got to live my dream! Not only that, but I found the cutest Christmas cardigan and I cannot wait to show it off!
Across the road from Beyond Retro was an interesting-looking building so we went down for a closer look. It was only a church with a graveyard, wasn't it? I swear, I have a gift for sniffing them out! It's called Adolf Friedrichs Church and it looked absolutely stunning with the blanket of snow lying over the headstones.
We headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (I didn't have my usual Local Legend burger here because it was a whisky burger!) and then got the underground over to Gamla Stan island, where the old town is. We had a stroll around the island and took the photos for the OOTD I linked above, then decided to climb up the big statue on the waterfront. I may or may not have fallen in the snow...
A word on the snow, because I was completely blown away by it. It's not cold! I mean, of course, it's a little cold but it's nothing like the snow we get here. It's more powdery and rather than melt when it makes contact with your skin, making you soggy and cold in the process, it just brushes right off. It's like slightly chilly white sand! The same goes for the temperature in general- even though there was a small blizzard going on, it didn't feel at all cold. I don't know if that's just because I was well wrapped up or if it's the lack of wind chill. There was one moment when we crossed a bridge with a strong breeze and oh my God, I thought my face was actually going to fall off from the cold. As soon as we reached ground again, however, I was perfectly comfortable again. It's the strangest sensation to be knee deep in snow but staying completely dry and warm!
To end our day, we visited a restaurant called Jensens Bofhus opposite the hotel (purely because my best friend's baby is called Jensen) and listened to some Abba, saw a bus emblazoned with an Ikea logo and then visited the hotel sky bar for a bedtime drink. Speaking of bedtime, the bed was so comfortable that I might as well have been sleeping on an actual cloud! I woke up fully refreshed and ready for a brand new day in Stockholm but that's a story for tomorrow!
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We arrived at Arlanda Airport and decided to take the express train into the city centre. It's pretty expensive (who am I kidding? It was almost as expensive as British train fares!) but got us to the central station in about 15 minutes, rather than the cheaper but far longer coach or standard train journeys. I'd picked our hotel- Radisson Blu Royal Viking- carefully so we were right next to the central station. This was a perfect location since a lot of things were within walking distance and, when we did get the underground, we were just steps away from the station.
OF COURSE YOU WENT TO LUSH! I'm off to Gothenburg tomorrow and it's not snowing, it's bloody RAINING. ARGH. ETC.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures, almost makes me wish for snow! ;-) I like taking pictures of graveyards too :-0
ReplyDeleteWow, so much snow! I'd love to visit Stockholm one day, looks fabulous!
ReplyDeleteLyndsay | Fizzy Peaches Travel & Lifestyle Blog
Stockholm looks amazing under all this snow! You ended up going at the perfect time! I mean, blizzard is not the best but it's not often that one can experience snow like that when you live in the UK. :P I follow a few vintage bloggers from Stockholm on Instagram and they always find amazing vintage pieces in their shops.
ReplyDeleteJulia x
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