My First Time Visiting Stockholm

My First Impressions of Traveling To Stockholm, Sweden

Hi Everyone!

This is probably my favorite blog post that I have written because it means that I went to Stockholm!!! For some reason I have always felt this urge to visit Sweden's capital, even before I thought of studying abroad in Malmö, so I made sure that this was one city that I HAD to visit before returning back home!

Day 1

We left for Stockholm from Copenhagen very early (7am), changed trains in Malmö (which we almost missed), and settled into our 5-hour train ride from Malmö Central to Stockholm Central. Luckily we were able to grab some snacks (the reason we almost missed our train) for the long journey before we (my mom and I) chatted and watched some previously downloaded Netflix! However, for those of you who are more time conscious than us, most long distance trains offer food, beverages (that you pay for), and bathrooms (usually free) that come in handy for long journeys!

Helpful Hint: I never knew until I finished studying abroad in England that you can download Netflix movies and TV shows completely free with a Netflix subscription. Downloading these shows and movies is incredibly helpful because you can watch your favorites while your device is on airplane mode (which it was for us); just make sure that whatever you want to watch is completely downloaded onto your device or it won't work!

Thankfully the train journey didn’t seem to take too long and soon we were standing in front of our hotel in the Norrmalm neighborhood. Even though we stayed in this neighborhood, I have also heard that the Vasastan neighborhood is just as great! Personally, I am glad that we stayed in Norrmalm because the main train station was just a block away, there were hundreds of restaurants on our doorstep, it was easy to walk around, and the main sites were just a few minutes walk away!

After we checked into our hotel we wanted to start exploring right away! We were able to go see Stockholm's City Hall (this is where the Nobel Prize banquet is held) in Kungsholmen before deciding that we wanted to really explore Stockholm's Old Town, Gamla Stan. Here we were able to see the Royal Palace and Storkyrkan (the oldest church in Stockholm), and later bought a few souvenirs for myself and my sister and dad back home! We finished the night by walking back to a restaurant near our hotel and going to sleep!

One thing that I will definitely miss about most of Europe (especially the cities) is how walkable everything is! In most of the U.S., except for major cities like New York City, it is almost impossible to get anywhere unless it is by car!

The View From My Hotel Room, Stockholm

Days 2 & 3

Days 2 and 3 pretty much consisted of the same things. Waking up very early and getting started on the day exploring Stockholm! However, on Day 2 we decided to change things up from our typical family traveling habits in that we decided to buy tickets from those very touristy red 'tour buses'. I don't know why we did this as we don't normally buy and/or like group tours like this but for some reason, my mom and I decided that this was best. Looking back, I am so happy that we choose to do it even though we looked unbelievably touristy! The bus was a great chance to 1) sit down after so much walking the day before, 2) had a chance to warm up from the cold temperatures outside (it was heated and/or air conditioned - depending on the time of year you go), 3) learned interesting facts about Stockholm that I probably wouldn't have heard, and 4) got a good understanding of where most things (e.g., the Palace, museums, buildings, neighborhoods, and restaurants) were in Stockholm. The bus also gave us a chance to figure out which exact stops would be most helpful to us since we were leaving the next day.

Once we knew which stops we would get off, we made our plan of attack - museums! In my family, I have been going to museums for as long as I can remember so it is now ingrained into me that nowhere is complete without going to a museum. Luckily, Stockholm has many different museums from which to choose though the VASA and the Nordic Museums were my personal favorite. We were able to spend many hours here before leaving to walk around the streets of Stockholm and have dinner at my favorite restaurant, Wagamamas!

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The VASA Museum focuses its attention on maritime adventures, specifically on the VASA ship that sunk off of Stockholm's coast in the 1600s. On the other hand, the Nordic Museum (Nordiska museet) has a variety of exhibits all focused on the Nordic region. Even though we were not able to visit all of the museums, I definitely want to come back and go to more!

Other popular museums include:

- The ABBA Museum

- The Nobel Museum

- Swedish History Museum

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Sadly, by the afternoon of Day 3, we had to check out of our hotel, walk over to the train station, head back to Copenhagen, send my mom off to the airport, and take the train back to Malmö.

Overall, I thought the city was absolutely beautiful and I am glad that even though I felt like a major tourist, I'm glad that we chose to go on the Red Bus tour because I think that we had an overall better picture of Stockholm than we probably would have. I am so happy that I had the chance to come and visit Stockholm and definitely want to come back and explore more of what Stockholm has to offer!

Happy Travels!