That heading, by the way, means “Beautiful Stockholm”. It really is and we have been happy to have 5 days here to explore so much of it. Of course there could have been a lot more to see if we had the time.

As I write this on our last full day in Stockholm, it is 10:00 p.m. and fully light outside. Our hotel room looks out on the King’s Garden (Kungsträdgården) Park and it has been transformed into the Taste of Stockholm event which showcases a variety of foods from restaurants all over the city. There is live music going on which is quite loud! We are wondering how late it might continue seeing that it will be light for a good while longer and when it’s dark….well, Stockholm does have electricity. We have a flight at noon to Copenhagen tomorrow and are hoping to get enough rest for our day of travel. I will say that the music is quite good though. Interestingly enough, I would say it is very American in style and features genres from Dixieland to Blues to Funk and Soul. We’ll see how we feel about it as the night goes on…

Looking back on our day, it has also featured a variety of genres regarding neighborhoods, sightseeing spots, and interesting experiences. I’ll say that we have been impressed and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We started out this morning walking (about 16,000 steps and 8 miles recorded on our health app today!) to the city hall whose tall tower gives access to one of the best aerial views of the city. It’s also an interesting building in itself.

After that we walked to the train station in order to find the closest grocery store. We just wanted to see what a Swedish grocery store looked like! Other than distinct Scandinavian specialties it was quite similar to those in the US.

From there we trudged a good distance to a southern neighborhood called Södermalm (“South Town” aptly), on another island we hadn’t visited, where we had been told we would find an area of art and galleries. We’re always on the lookout for art to bring back home and remind us of our travels. We did find some great galleries but, a bit disappointingly, nothing really spoke to us. However it did turn out to be wonderful bohemian neighborhood full of life. We explored its streets for a while and then walked across several bridges to get to the old city (Gamla Stan) where we had visited the first day we were here. It is pretty touristy so we were passing by shops along the cobbled streets not really paying much attention this time. We didn’t want to bring something back that turned out to have been made in China. But, Ryan happened to notice out of the corner of his eye a sign in the window of one shop that said “Handmade Swedish Goods”. So, we cautiously entered and were surprised to find it had a really nice selection of items we hadn’t seen anywhere else. We actually found a framed piece of art showing a scene from this part of Stockholm made by a local artist. What’s also interesting is that the picture is made from dried flowers used in a way that features detail similar to that of inlaid  wood. We were quite pleased with ourselves! Also fun was that the shopkeeper was an American originally from Iowa. Many Swedish people speak English and some of them so well that they don’t even have an accent. We’ve gotten used to realizing that everyone here who sounds American is often not. So, we almost didn’t mention our thoughts about her sounding so American. But we did and, for the first time, we were right! It turns out she is married to a woman from Stockholm and she came here to be with her. It was an interesting story for us.

Leaving there we walked back out of Gamla Stan and across another bridge into the city center. We wanted to go to a big department store near our hotel called NK. We had heard that they had the best cinnamon rolls (kanelbullar) in the city and wanted to check them out for today’s fika. They turned out to be good but not really the VERY best.

Tired from our many hours of walking all over the city, we went back to the hotel for some R&R. For me that meant reading and for Ryan going to the sauna. It was a nice way to decompress for each of us until it was time to go to dinner. If you read yesterday’s post, you know that we found an amazing restaurant nearby that serves traditional Swedish dishes. We had loved the food so much last evening that we wanted to try some other things on the menu there for our last night in Stockholm. Our server from yesterday, Ronny, was there again tonight. He was so friendly and remembered us, including our names, which made us feel so welcome. Once again, the food was amazing and we had a great time. Ronny surprised us at the end of the meal (see photos) which was almost literally, the icing on the cake!

Today’s photos will illustrate what it was like for us and give you a further idea of why we think Stockholm is such a great city.

P.S. Sorry for writing so much! (and FYI, it’s 10:43 and the music at the festival in the park is still going on; it’s now a new band and their music is a bit more folk-like so much calmer)

Stockholm’s City Hall on Kungsholmen Island. It was built in the early 1900s and is made entirely of brick. It took 10 minutes to climb to the top of the tower up narrow stairways, brick ramps, and spiraling steps.

The grounds of the City Hall are quite nicely landscaped. The statue with the nice derriere is quite nicely manscaped!

The City Hall faces a freshwater harbor. Of course, being built on 14 islands means that much of Stockholm faces water. The neighborhood on the other side of the water is Södermalm where we would end up later in the day on the hunt for art.

One of many photos Ryan took from the top of the tower at City Hall. This one shows freshwater in the foreground, Gamla Stan (the Old City) in the center and then the beginning of the Baltic Sea in the distance.

Even though the grocery store we visited was just like those in the U.S., you wouldn’t be able to find the wide selection of pickled herrings they have here at your local Safeway.

We thought it was interesting to note that Stockholm has specific buses running around the city just to take people to Ikea!

We had to walk across 2 bridges to get to the southern neighborhood of the city known as Södermalm. In between the bridges is another island called Riddarholmen. The main building on the island is the Riddarholmen Church which features an interesting cast iron spire. It stands out all over the city. It was built in the late 1200s but stopped being used as a church in the 1800s. It then became a burial ground for Swedish monarchs.

We stopped on the island for some photo ops (how about this handsome subject) with the Södermalm neighborhood in the background.

Another view of Södermalm from Riddarholmen Island. We’re almost there – just one more bridge to go!

This is the street in Södermalm where many art galleries were located. There were also cafes, second hand stores, candy shops, a park, and a bowling alley! We really liked the feel of this area.

Near the park in Södermalm were lots and lots of flowers for sale. June is a good month for putting out your summer annuals here in Stockholm.

At the neighborhood park we came across these young children sailing their home made sailboats in the fountain pond. It was adorable.

At Bakfickan Restaurant where we had dinner for the second night in a row. Our server Ronny (that’s him in the background), who we had come to know, made us feel at home and surprised us with a dessert on the house. It was a delicious Pavlova with merengue, custard, and fresh strawberries, blackberries, and rhubarb on top. What a nice way to end our evening meal on our last day in Stockholm.

To end this post, let me tell you that at 11:21 p.m., it seems as if the festival music may have ended (unless they’re just taking an extended break!)