My Scandinavian adventure isn’t over. After a month break I’m back, this time in Sweden, with a little bit more knowledge on hygge, and better prepared for the Scandinavian winter.

Stockholm in the middle of March is still quite winter like. We didn’t get any snow storms or anything similar during our stay, but the cold winter rain and strong winds from Baltic Sea remind you that there is still some time till Spring will arrive on the 14 islands. After landing in Arlanda airport, we took the airport bus into the city of Stockholm and greeted our airbnb host at the bus stop. He walked us to our home for the next few days, a nice little flat on the second floor of a 100 year old building. It has a beautifully decorated living room, a charming kitchen and originally flooring from 1929.

After lunch we headed over to Gamla Stan, the old town area. Filled with boutique stores (and if you venture out of the main streets you’ll find an antique maps and prints store and a street for antiques!), it’s a great area for some souvenir shopping or general people watching. Here are some of my favorite shots of the streets of Gamla Stan!

The Moomins on display

The Moomins are the characters from the series created by Tove Jansson, a Swedish speaking Finnish illustrator and writer. You’ll find them on display around Gamla Stan!

We walked to the edges of Gamla Stan and caught a glimpse of what the neighboring islands look like.

Our next stop was Fotografiska, the photography museum on the other side of town that is open till 1AM! They had 3 amazing exhibits going on, and my favorite was Anja Niemi. It was surprising to have a museum with such well curated exhibits and I had a great time! After we finished at the museum we decided to have dinner at the restaurant on the 3rd floor. The menu is plant-based and you can add your choice of meat or fish. We opted for the 3 course meal and it was delicious! It was a great dining experience as well overlooking the Stockholm harbor and lights.

Next morning we headed to Cafe Pascal for a quick breakfast, then to the Stockholm Public Library - Stadsbiblioteket - not too far away. Designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund, the library features a rotunda filled will books.

Stadsbiblioteket

Sveavägen 73, 113 50 Stockholm, Sweden

We walked around the area and over to Ronnells antikvariat, a 2nd hand bookstore with both Swedish and English books. I ended up buying a Moomin book (the English version of course) from the bookstore!

Lunch was at the food market Ostermalms Saluhall. The actual food hall is under construction so we were actually in the temporary location on the same square. Nonetheless the hall reminds me a lot of the food market in Copenhagen and the food was great! I tried the fried herring and it was quite delicious!

After stopping by the postoffice for stamps, we headed over to Sibyllans for some tea shopping. Rows and rows of tin cans are on display, and there is wide variety of teas to pick from. I opted for the Sir Williams, Sibyllan’s classic mix of 7 teas.

On our way to our next stop we passed by the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

Svenskt Tenn is a Swedish interior design store founded in 1924. It has a few signature textiles including the elefant print. They have lots of beautifuI patterns and tapestries all around the store, so much that I could probably spend half a day here! It’s even got a tea room inside on the 2nd floor. We didn’t get to try their afternoon tea but you can enjoy a meal with a view of Nybroviken!

Since the weather wasn’t very nice out we decided to visit Moderna Museet for some indoor time. Modern art isn’t really my thing but the space is really nice with multiple floors and special exhibits. I think the museum is rearranging their collection so there was less on display than I expected. I actually enjoyed ArkDes, Sweden’s National Centre for Architecture and Design that shares the same building as Moderna Museet better.

Before our night activities we stopped by the Norrmalm district for some shopping, including Designtorget, a local Swedish store/ design studio. We headed to Bageri Petrus for some baked goodies, and then to a viewpoint up on a little hill called monteliusvägen right before sunset. The views of the city were still gorgeous despite the gloomy skies!

We grabbed a quick bite for dinner at Kalf & Hansen before hitting the Gamla Stan area for Pharmarium, located right in Stortorget. It’s the location of where the first pharmacy in Sweden first opened. With our reservation we got a table to the side of the bar, right next to the wall of apothecary cabinets. Their menu of signature drinks changes regularly, and the theme this time around is A Walk in the Woods. We got a chance to try a few of their drinks - Forest Floor, Fluffy Thunder and Wooden Ships. We had such a great time that we made a reservation to come back the next day.

Breakfast was at Johan & Nyström the next day, before we headed over to Skansen, the oldest open-air museum in the world. It’s a huge space that’s more like a farm, amusement park and zoo all together. One section of the space has buildings and farmsteads dated the early 1900’s or even before the museum opened (the museum space was founded in 1891), while the zoo focuses on Nordic animals. There is also a whole town quarter that showcases what life was like in Sweden in the old days.

We had made brunch reservation at the nearby Oaxen Krog & Slip, which is a refurbished shed right by the water. The meal was a true delight! And if you plan to visit Oaxen Krog for the fine dining experience make sure you book in advance! Slip offers the causal dining and was easier to book, but nonetheless it was a great meal!

After our late brunch, we headed to Vasa, the museum that houses the Swedish warship from 17th century. It sank into the Stockholm harbor shortly after taking off in 1628, and had been under water for 333 years before it was salvaged. The restoration process was long but the ship on display is 98% original! It’s a really fascinating display and it’s hard to believe that the ship is from 1628! The museum also has great exhibits on life onboard as well as the restoration process and research done. It’s a must see if you’re in Stockholm!

We stayed till the museum closes at 5PM, visited a department store before heading to Speceriet for our tapas style dinner. It’s a sister restaurant to Gastrologik, another famed Michelin star restaurant. While Speceriet is a casual spot with communal tables only, we had a great meal with a few dishes to share and wine pairings! Menu changes frequently as they use local produce, and our grilled squid was amazing!

And guess what? We did go back to Pharmarium after dinner for another drink! This time we got a seat at the bar and I tried the house Bloody Mary - highly recommended!

Our last day in Stockholm we were still greeted by some rainy weather, but that didn’t stop us from heading out and grabbing some breakfast at Vete Katten, a 1920’s styled cafe. Since it's almost Easter I also got a chance to try a semla, a Swedish-Finnish pastry made filled with milk and almond paste. It’s apparently a Easter pastry!

Our last touristy activity was a guided tour of city hall, which was my highlight of this trip! We had an awesome guide who took us through the halls. We walked through the main hall that is red but called The Blue Hall, where the Nobel Prize banquet is held on Dec 10th every year. There were also beautiful hallways, the council hall that is still in use today, and the golden room. The tower isn’t open in the winter but if you visit in the summer you can visit the tower as well.

Some interesting facts about this building - it’s actually not a perfect rectangle but a trapezoid!

We stopped by the gift shop on our way out and I conveniently mailed by postcard, and took some last shots of the courtyard before we ended our trip with a last meal at Gamla Stan and headed for the airport! Stockholm is definitely a city with a lot of charms and I hope to visit again soon!

Stockholm. March 2019