My Escape to Stockholm part 2 begins with a very long walk in what I deemed SNOW for the first time since I arrived in Europe! Before this, there had been a lot of ice and stuff which could be snow, but was not snow-y enough and thus, today was my first time seeing snow in Europe! Only like 3 weeks after it was actually Christmas. This winter has been the warmest winter ever on record, reportedly, since approximately 1700 or something like that. We have been told that usually the temperatures should be around -20 or less and instead we are only hitting probably -4 degrees and believe me, I am not complaining. I am cold enough as it is. Last year, the winter was actually one of the colder ones too which goes to show that the weather is really just as unpredictable here as it is in Australia. Except that here, it is all about snow which is considerably better than ours which seems to be sunny and rainy then sunny and then rain.
Another interesting thing people tell me is that actually -20 and -4 feel about the same but -4 feels worse when there is horrid cold wind (which we have been having on some days). -4 also feels the worst when it is "humid." I was not aware that you could have a humid cold, having only experienced a humid hot which is horrible but apparently it works the same way on the other end of the scale. Interesting. I don't believe I have experienced that quite yet but I could be wrong. Me being completely new and ignorant to this new world I live in of sub zero degree days. Either way, the days are only meant to get better from now on - each day will gradually get longer (in terms of day light) and so, I really have, survived the worst of it.
Well, that was a nice long rant about the weather. Always a great conversation starter, right? So anyway, back to my walk. I had planned out my Day 2 in Stockholm quite carefully thanks to Google Maps I was - A MACHINE! I was going to head over to the Urban Outfitters where I would see what this "General Pants but Cheap" place that people tell me about was all about. I would then go from there to an Island where the Vasa Museum - a ship which sank in like 1600 - is now located after it was recovered from the bottom of the ocean and end with the Skansen Museum which is a live open air museum, native animals of Sweden zoo and park which is meant to be Sweden in a nutshell. Like I said, it started with my first view of some snow in the courtyard of my hostel!
Also look how icey this punch buggy is!
I walked down a kinda nice shopping street which was all decorated apparently for Christmas and it made me feel quite special. In Europe, all the cities are decorated so pretty for the Christmas and New Year season with lights dangling everywhere and the trees are all covered in lights so it sparkles and you can see the shape. You can see an example in one of my blogs about Belgium Gent. Here, it was all about "The Red Carpet"
I found Urban Outfitters and I can tell you this, it was WONDERFUL! I could live there. I walked in and felt, instantly, ...euphoric? It was beautiful! Firstly, the entrance was completely made of wood and you guys know about what I think of wood haha. Next, the place had sale signs everywhere, and just, amazing clothes and books and lomo cameras and pretty interior design! It was a great store!
My big shopping trip around Urban Outfitters was enough to make me quite hungry and by now it was lunchtime. OH, what did I buy? I bought a few nice tops for under 20 bucks each and a few design books for super cheap. There is a cool book of nice typography which are fabric decals so you can put them on things (WIN), a cool book about printing techniques and project ideas, as well as the Clockwork Orange book because my sister was saying it is hard to read (and yes it is... I might just watch the move lol).
I had heard about a place called MAX and seen it everywhere. It is meant to be the Swedish Fast Food Restaurant and their response to Mcdonalds and is meant to be much better. From what I had seen from the outside, it really was. It looked like Burger King. And one more thing I must say here is that here in Europe - it is BURGER KING not Hungry Jacks. And if any of you guys know, I have always called Hungry Jacks its rightful name which is Burger King so I am quite stoked. Also, it seems to be more popular here than Mcdonalds. I see more Burger Kings than Mcdonalds for some reason. But Max is even more popular than that.
They have your unlimited refills, as well as unlimited tea and coffee, and instead of just chips you can also have other sides such as cheese and chilli balls, mozzarella sticks and calamari. Wowowow! I just to get the Dagens Lunch without knowing what it was, but I could see the picture, thinking it was maybe the "traditional swedish worker lunch" - like how they work out in the field all day and get their big lunch or something. I don't know if you understand what I mean. I can't explain it any more than that. So I thought it was, you know, something really authentic but no, it just means "Today's Lunch Special" apparently.
After I had satisfactorily clogged up my arteries with juicy fatty goodness, I proceeded to clear it a little bit with my long walk through the snow exploring Stockholm.
Then it was a long walk along the water to get to the island, and it was icey and I did slip - once - Like fall on your arse slip. Luckily it was fair quiet so not too many people saw me.
As I walked across the bridge, I turned around and took a quick Pano cause it was quite pretty
I then walked over to the Skansen museum, by now the sun was starting to go down and I found that I was half an hour too late and it was closed. It had closed at 3 and it was now 3:30. But the stuff I saw along the way was pretty great like this great building.
Here I stopped to read my letter!
Walking home as the sun sets
That night I had a "Meatball Experience" planned through the hostel where I would, well, learn to make meatballs and drink some Swedish beer. It was pretty cool and I met some nice people and afterwards we had a short trip to the Ice Bar. It was very interesting because it turns out it was colder outside than it was in the Ice Bar! That's when you know it is cold! I do believe an Ice Bar is more fitting in a place where it is hot haha
Meatballs, potato and lingonberry sauce
On my last day in Stockholm, I was meant to go on the Sauna Tour but as you guys should already know, it was cancelled. Yes! ... I mean, BOO! And so I had a whole day to kill. I went for a walk with a friend from the hostel to yet another different Island for a walk abouts before meeting up with another friend at the Vasa Museum. The Ship Was Awesome! And then we had dinner at Max! GO MAX.
This is a cat on the water
Sorry a lot of the photos are bit drained in colour, I think my camera needs a snow mode or I need to learn how to take photos in the snow with it cause it was so bright outside! And then inside the museum, flash was crappy but then they blurred without it. It was all very silly. So that's that! Finally finished with Stockholm.
Coming up in the next few blogs will be all about my time back in Uppsala and Orientation Week! WOOP
Peace out xo
