The only downside to the Christmas party was that it was the night
before my (really early) flight to Stockholm. I managed to get a few
hours of sleep before I had to catch a shuttle to the airport. The
flight itself was a quick hop over the Baltic Sea. I had the entire row
of seats on the plane to myself which was the first time that's ever
happened!
One bus ride and a large cup of coffee later and I was
ready to check out (and fall in love with!) the city. I dropped my bag
off at my hostel where the owner gave me a map and directions to the Old
Town and set off to eagerly explore. The weather was sunny (if not
warm) and the sights of Stockholm did not disappoint.
Gamla Stan
is Stockholm's Old Town, a union of winding cobblestone streets, rows of
shops and flats in shades of gold and red, climbing ivy, and whirlwind
activity. Västerlånggatan and Österlånggatan are the two main roads that
wind through the old town, framed by spindly trees and frescoed facades
. I could appreciate them, even though I couldn't pronounce them!
Situated within the Old Town is the Stockholm Cathedral, Storkyrkan,
which used to be a Catholic church and is now part of the Church of
Sweden.
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| Beautiful Stockholm |
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| Gamla Stan |
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| St. George and the Dragon in Storkyrkan |
The Royal Palace is also located in Gamla Stan, home to the Swedish
Royal family, over 1,000 elaborately bedecked rooms, and plenty of
interesting historical artifacts. I caught the changing of the guards in
front of the palace at noon, which was a pretty elaborate affair.
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| The Royal Palace |
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| The changing of the guards at noon |
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| Inside the palace |
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| Am I royalty yet? |
Neighboring the Old Town is the little islet of Riddarholmen, the
Knight's Islet. Riddarholmen is perhaps one of the easiest sights to
find in Stockholm thanks to the towering church, Riddarholmskyrkan,
which is a familiar silhouette on the Stockholm skyline. This was my
next destination. Unfortunately the church is closed between December
and February, so I couldn't go inside, but the outside is plenty
impressive.
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| Riddarholmskyrkan |
I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Moderna Museet before the end of the day. It was a smallish museum on
Skeppsholmen island, and it had some really fantastic displays. So far it's my favorite modern art museum that I've been to!
Back at the hostel I learned that I luckily and completely
coincidentally happened to be in Stockholm on St. Lucia's Day (December
13). St. Lucia's Day is one of the biggest Christmastime traditions in
Sweden. St. Lucia (whose name means 'light') was a Christian martyr who,
according to a legend, brought food to Christians hiding from
persecution in the catacombs of Rome. She wore candles on her head so
that she could carry as much as possible to the catacombs. Today, the
tradition is celebrated in churches and in homes with a young girl
dressing as St. Lucia with a wreath of candles on her head, bringing
food to the family and singing traditional songs. The hostel owner told
us we could see a public celebration of St. Lucia's Day in Skansen.
Skansen
is the world's first open-air museum, founded in 1891. It's like a
miniature little town recreated to past historical periods, complete
with plenty of animals. Me and a friend I made at the hostel decided we
couldn't miss the celebration that we so serendipitously had arrived in
Stockholm for, so on Sunday we headed to Skansen to witness our first
St. Lucia's Day. In Skansen, we were directed to a public hall where we
were packed in with crowds of people on wooden benches. A Swedish woman
gave a little presentation (in four different languages) to all of us,
and then the children came in, singing songs. The processed around the
hall, lead by the oldest girl who was dressed as St. Lucia with the
wreath of candles on her head. They were really cute (and amazingly well
harmonized)! After the celebration, there was plenty more to do in
Skansen such as wander the giant Christmas market, eat delicious
homemade waffles, watch a Swedish choir performance, and avoid all the
chickens and pigs running amok! It started to snow lightly in the
evening, and honestly, Stockholm in a gentle snow felt like something
from a fairytale!
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| St. Lucia and her entourage |
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| A Christmas market! |
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| A surprise Christmas choir |
I had just enough time after the Skansen to see one last sight
before heading back to the airport: the giant Vasa warship in the
Vasamuseet. Luckily, the museum was quite close to Skansen since they
are both located on the same island of Djurgården, so I was able to get
there very easily. The Vasa is a gigantic Swedish warship that was built
in the 17th century, but sank on its maiden voyage. It wasn't found
again until the 1950s where it was salvaged, restored, and given its
very own museum. The ship is really impressive, especially because so
much of it and its contents were preserved as it lay undisturbed under
the sea. The museum is also extremely nice and well put together; it's
often listed as one of the top sights to see in Stockholm.
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| The Vasa |
And so I was very, very pleasantly surprised by Stockholm and how
much I liked the city! It's definitely gained a spot as one of my top
five favorite cities!
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| I really liked the famous Stockholm elk! |
(P.S. - if you need another reason to like Stockholm as much as I do, just Google 'the King of Sweden wearing hats.')
