Stockholm (Sweden)

Another great trip!

This past Thursday morning, 5am, my roommate Darryl and I headed out to Stockholm!  After 15 hours of travelling, we finally made it to our hostel and hit our beds.  The hostel was really great - as it had just opened 2 months ago, everything is brand new, really modern, and it is headed by 2 late-twenties guys, who are actually really awesome to hang out with!

The next morning, we headed out to go check out the Vasa Museum.  This museum displays an almost intact 17th century ship that had sank in 1628 and was recovered in 1957 and finally lifted out of the water 4 years later.  This was definitely an great museum to check out!  The museum is kept pretty dark and tempered in order to maintain the ship intact.  Later on, we went to check out the Royal Palace - where the royal family is still established.  Great place to visit again!  We got to go see all the crowns and some of the apartments/suites.  For the rest of the afternoon, we walked around the city centre and in the old town to check out the sites.  Later on that night, heading back to our hostel, we met up with 3 awesome girls from the States who are currently on exchange in Italy.  After a few drinks, the 5 of us headed out for a night on the town.  Unfortunately, this night wasn't too successful as most bar require to be 23 years old to get in, and I was the only one!

Saturday, we headed back out to go visit the city a little more.  We first headed out to go check out The Globe - it's a huge sphere that can be see from pretty much anywhere in Stockholm.  They have this mini sphere on the side, that brings you up on the outside of the globe all the way to the top.  This was actually really cool!  That afternoon, we strolled some more around the city and visited a little bit more.  That evening, the 2 owners of the hostel invited our little group of North Americans to their apartment for a house party with their friends and to the bar.  Definitely a great time!!  Getting to hang out with the locals was really a great experience, and made the trip that much better!  The Swedes are really welcoming and friendly.

Heading to Scandinavia was a bit of an adjustment.  First off, being a EU country, they still use the Swedish Kronor - a really odd currency.  It is also considered as one of the most expensive cities in the world.  The store hours are also very different - during the week everything is open ~10-7, and Saturdays everything closes at 3pm, including the liquor store!  The metro system in Stockholm is definitely the cheaper way to travel - that is if you can figure it out!  It is such a complicated system - but once you get to know it, it gets a lot easier.  Swedish is really key if you plan on visiting!  Most people do speak English, or at least some - but EVERYTHING is in Swedish (signs, menus, ...).  More than once we weren't too sure what we had ordered.

Stockholm was really beautiful, and the snow made it great - but according to the locals, summer is the best time to visit, it it apparently just stunning!!

Next stop: Marrakech!