Scenic Stockholm

We arrived in Stockholm late Saturday evening.

"Generator" Hostel is one of the best hostels I've been in. Highly recommend!

Our private room with private bathroom :)

After dropping our stuff off, we searched for something for dinner.  We settled on this tiny hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant:

Again, Melanie's Spanish skills came in handy! (The men spoke better Spanish than they did Swedish or English). 

Melanie and I decided to go out late Saturday night to explore the city. It was fairly easy to get around, and I'm glad we did it together because it helped me familiarize myself with the city. This was helpful because I ended up spending both days in Stockholm somewhat isolated from the rest of the girls....

This building served as a good landmark (several times!) to remember the way to Central Station. 

 On Sunday, I spent the day with Sarah, a girl in Koinonia who happened to be in Stockholm for the weekend for a Christian conference. I joined her and her friends for the day, and it was really neat to meet other international girls.

Claire, Sarah, Me at dinner at one of the restaurants in the Mall of Stockholm,

I had a little bit of difficulty following all of the conversations at dinner. At one point, in reply to Natalie, a girl from Germany, I said, "Oh, gotcha!". She said, "'Gotcha?' Is that an American thing?" Haha, I suppose it is!

Trying to figure out the kiosk thingy at the mall...

I left the mall area around 9ish...quite proud of myself for finding my way across a foreign city by myself! (I only cried twice) If there's one thing I've learned this semester, it's how to ask the right questions to the right people. I've discovered that public transportation is actually not out to trick me :)

Fun fact: 'Kort tag' means that the train is 'short'. In other words, it won't span the entire length of the platform. So standing in the middle of the platform is a must! (Learned this from two bundled up Swedish ladies in their mid-70s) And I thought figuring out "Stockholm C" was indeed "Stockholm Central" was impressive!

The next morning, the other girls had plans to take a horseback riding tour outside the city. Rather than set myself up for hives and a runny nose (I'm allergic to horses), I spent the day exploring the city:

I made my way to Gamla Stan, the "old town" of Stockholm, where the city was founded in 1252. The girls had visited it on Sunday, and highly recommended it! I was quite proud of myself for finding the way by myself without using the metro (Stockholm is expensive enough without train tickets!)

Gamla Stan consists of an island, so I had to cross a large "pedestrian only" bridge to get there. Immediately after crossing the river, I saw for myself why it is one of the largest and most preserved medieval cities in Europe! 

 It was really way too cold to take my gloves off and use my phone, so I didn't take many pictures. Honestly, though, it was nice to just walk around and soak up the history. Past the governmental buildings, I found myself in a very busy retail area:

Okay, this doesn't look busy. But I promise most of the roads were bursting with people ;)

SO many shops:

A lot of stores weren't open yet, so I did some window-shopping (probably better for my bank account!) Below left: I had forgotten that TinTin was a European comic! (Below left) There were lots of antique stores...this one (below right) I was honestly afraid to go in...there was hardly any room to walk!

 

I happened to walk by this tiny Anne Frank museum. It had free admission and opened at noon, so I decided to hang out around the area for a bit (thinking it was probably a good pre-Krakow experience to have). Further down the road, I noticed these construction workers "paving" the road (middle). The upkeep of these European cobblestone roads must be something else!

I am so glad I stayed for the museum. I love spontaneous hidden gems like this was!

Visiting this museum marked a first in that none of the exhibits were in English. Thankfully, the front desk had a translated manuscript of all of the text. Not quite the same, but an interesting experience nonetheless. 

Far right: 7/Eleven's are everywhere! 

Speaking of which, here's a picture of my early on-the-go breakfast Sunday morning:

At the 7-Eleven, I had so many different currencies in my wallet I had trouble finding the right change. The cashier had me dump out all my change and he separated each currency for me. He said in a thick Swedish accent, "You been traveling, I see?"

And on that note...stay tuned for Helsinki, Poland, and Shropshire