Whilst on a job near Stockholm I was lucky enough to get a few days off in between voting shows.

My hotel was in a small town called Södertälje, but thankfully the train station was only a 10min walk away.  The only downside was although it was down hill to the station; it was uphill on the way back!  A return ticket to Stockholm was 100SEK, and you could use it as many times as you liked within 24hours from when you bought it.

Like any capital city there are of course shops! But, since it is located in Scandinavia, everything was a tad on the expensive side…..

Fortunately there is more to Stockholm than shops.  Given that I only had three days to explore, and my only way of getting around was on foot (I didn’t fancy trying to work out the bus timetable!) I decided to stick to the city.

 

So, what is there to actually do in the city of Stockholm?

First stop, the Royal Palace.  You can buy a ticket that lets you into the state apartments, the treasury and the Kroner museum (or you can buy individual tickets), you don’t have to see them all in one day; the ticket is valid for up to a month (I believe).  They offer guided tours for both the state apartments and the treasury, and it’s worth tagging onto one since the guides tell you more than what you can read on the various plaques (especially in the treasury with the crown jewels!).

The number of rooms in the state apartments that you can visit depends on which ones are in use by the royal family (since, like our Queen, they live in the palace for a large part of the year).

Also like here in England, they do a changing of the guard show, twice a week (Wednesday’s and Saturday’s mornings), having not seen the English version I can’t compare, but definitely worth a look (or watch rather) if your in the area on either of those days.  Plus since it was lovely and sunny when I saw it, (despite being April), it made it all the more enjoyable.

Next up, a tour of the city – by boat! (It’s a city made up of small islands, like most of Sweden).  The sun was out, but the wind was up, and you can definitely feel the chill in the air when you’re sitting at the back of the boat in the open air section!  Now here is where it could get complicated, in front of you as you sit down is a set of headphones and some buttons, two change the volume level, two change the channel (and the language- very important!), the trick is, to find the with the language on that you understand, there are about 24 channels to choose from .  If you look around the boat, you’ll notice a chart on the wall that tells you which channel has which language on, (or you can try your luck, scroll through them all and hope you haven’t missed anything interesting by the time you find the correct one!).

There is more than one boat tour, (in fact there are about 20), all taking variety of routes to an assortment of places around Stockholm, (just check whether the tour you want is operating, as many of the routes are seasonal!).

If you happen to be in Stockholm over a weekend, then it’s worth dropping by the parliament building as they give free tours on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:30 in both English and Swedish.  This is your opportunity to see how similar (or dissimilar) the Swedish government works in comparison to ours.

A visit to the tourist information centre will give you heaps of attraction ideas to visit, but also (if your Bluetooth is turned on) a free walking tour of the city (although, by the time I found this, I had walked around most of the city anyway!).  The tour will take you up, down and through the narrow and cobbled streets, asking general knowledge questions and providing you with little tidbits of information about the different points it takes you to.
As I have yet to mention the shopping experience, I think it’s time I did!

The shops range from clothes to music, from department stores to (yes) souvenir shops (which like most capital cities, crop up every few hundred feet or so).   Depending on your quest (or spending limit), there is something for everyone, and on a sunny day (as it was when I was there), plenty of places selling ice cream (huge ones!) so if nothing else, that should shut everyone up!

All in all, Stockholm is a fairly attractive city, the natives are friendly, and most understand (thankfully) basic English.  But if you want to try your hand at the local lingo, here are a couple of words to get you started:

Hej = Hi
Tack = Thank you
nästa = Next

This is me, signing off
Ciao!

 

P.S. If you ever get offered a bun that looks like a chocolate covered UFO (see picture below), don't refuse - they are absolutely delicious!