The Scandinavia of yesterday, Stockholm - Sweden
Wee! Just back from Stockholm, not sleeping at this wee hour but blogging instead. Yeah. My hobby. I left on thurs from Basal to Stockholm. Though it seems like its a 3 days travel, we were merely in Stockholm for 1 day, to be exact as the travelling time is crazy. It's my 1st time taking a European budget airline. Flight was delayed but not too bad on the whole.
My flight to Stockholm
It was evening when we touched down. Temp was a chilly 5 degrees. Winter in the Scandinavia region is earlier than most parts of Europe due to its high geographic position, and it's definitely colder than Switz. Our hotel was decent though it wasn't in the city area. The hotel staff was very friendly and helpful, room is okay and toilet is clean. Breakfast was excellent! We can't do much the first night as it was pretty late so we headed to the must-go place in each city - Hard Rock Cafe for our late dinner. The badgets on sale aren't very pretty, so I settled for a sweater instead, which is on sale =) Dinner this time wasn't as good as the one we had in Rome, and the excitement certainly waned for the 2nd time round in HRC.
My Veggie Burger Dinner, trying to feel less sinful
A slight drizzle on the 2nd day made us cold in the wind. Our only full day in Stockholm. I can't believe how little time we got for the capital of Scandinavia. Anw we went for a City cruise first, which lasted 110 minutes. I was totally captivated on the cruise, by the breathtaking scenery. My breath was literally taken away, not by any person or lover, but by the sights! Haa. It was really OMGggg for me. I can't believe there can be a city that's even nicer than Luzern in Switz or Venice! Yes. After much contemplation, I've decided that Venice is only 2nd place to Stockholm. It was a close fight between Venice and Stockholm to me, as both cities have its unique charm.
But eventually, I chose Stockholm over Venice as the nicest city(and Capital) in the world because of its unique architechure, unique landscape as it's made up of 24 islands which are connected by bridges, the clear water around the islands and lastly, it's magnificent archipelago which is a natural wonder of the world as the numerous islands were formed from ice 10000 years ago since the last Ice Age. How cool can that be! Venice, I feel, lost some of its beauty as it's too touristy as compared to the more serene Stockholm. And it's really a great pity we missed the archipalego tour around the islands, my biggest regret when leaving the city. Im very very sure I wanna go back in the next 2 years. Now I know why Siying chose to go Sweden for exchange, what a right choice. And Hannie, pls go Sweden instead of Venice.
Some of Stockholm's uniquely Swedish Buildings
While on the cruise - Great city sights
Autumn. Yellow fading Leaves. I feel like Im in 秋天的童话.
How can the trees and leaves be so beautiful!
Numerous Bridges connecting the different islands, and the sky changes perpetually
Bottom Right - Viking Ship
On the Cruise
We strolled to the Old Town after the cruise, saw the Royal Palace as well where the Royal family resides.
The Old Town - Pretty cool street to stroll on, nice sourvenir and wool shops, coupled with Swedish restaurants. Yeah we had lunch at one of the cafes and I had Swedish Meatballs! It was simple awesome! Even nicer than the Ikea ones. But I do miss the Ikea ones now =(
By late afternoon, we took metro to Central station, Droggninggantan to be exact, akin to Orchard Road. Damn crowded on a friday. I was damn excited when I saw my fav shop once I stepped out - H&M. Shopping time! A holiday isnt complete without a decent shopping in the city. As usual, 2 hrs is simple not enuff to shop around Stockholm. There are many shopping malls we did not cover. Still, despite the time constraint, I managed to get 2 goodies from H&M(tax claimable), one top from Topman(50% sale) and a Emilio shirt(50%, which I really liked). I did not know it can be so pleasurable to shop in Sweden =)Most famous Shopping area in Stockholm
After shopping, we searched high and low for Meatballs but to no avail sadly. Therefore we went back to the Old Town where we came from and had a meatball dinner in a fastfood place. It wasn't fantastish at all, as shown in the pics, it looked charred(in fact it is) and without gravy =(Top Left - The Oishi cum Fantastish Meatballs I had for lunch, in contrast with the substandard dinner
The day has ended swiftly. I just haven got enuff of Stockholm, or rather Sweden on the whole. I wanna goooo backk again! I wanna tour the Archipalago, jumped off at some random island to swim, to tan on the beach. I wanna visit Lund, visit the Wilderness in northern Sweden, see the rapids and mountains, wanna catch a glimpse of reindeer. When can I. I can do just anything to go back Sweden once again~
Forget about London, Spain, Scotland, Paris or Italy. Think Sweden, the formers are all overrated.
Take me with the Wind, Loving Scandinavia~
