Jeff: Stockholm

The next morning we got up nice and early and headed into Stockholm to a park up near the University. We parked up and got the bikes out and headed into the centre, stopping on the way for a nice vegan breakfast. As we were out and treating ourselves I have vegan pancakes while Rich had oven baked oats and a smoothie each. Once we were stuffed we carried on cycling into the city centre loving the bike lanes and the relaxed vibe the city was giving. We explored the city stopping at City Hall, Parliament Square, the Royal palace, the Cathedral, the old town, the harbour (where we ended up being pulled into an old tower and being told about the history of it and how it used to lift guns from ships before it burnt down), the castle and past some of the many museums in the city. The city is very beautiful with lots of old buildings with great architecture and where new buildings were built they appear to blend really well and there are lovely views across the water from most places. We loved cycling around the city as it was so easy with millions of bike lanes but it didn’t have the hurried pace that many capital cities.

There are probably too many museums to choose from in the city and we would love to come back sometime and do more of them but we decided that as we are in Stockholm we should do the ABBA museum. It was an interesting museum that gave their history with some interactive elements, including the opportunity to get on stage with some holograms (which we chose not to do but did watch some other people doing it). It then almost ends abruptly with very little about the break up of the band and goes on to display what each person has done since. We quickly passed through the shop before heading onto the bikes and heading for some late lunch/early dinner at a buffet vegan restaurant across town. The issue with Stockholm is there is a lot of water to cross so while places may look close on a map if you have to cross water it can take a long time to get there. We got there and tucked into the buffet which had loads of options to choose from including some pasta, curry, Mexican choices, salad and soup. We also had some tea and relaxed after a long day of cycling. Feeling very full after all the food we headed back to the centre for another cycle around and headed into a nearby park which was great fun to cycle as it had some big hills. As we cycled into the park and up the first big hill we turned the corner to stumble upon three deer (a mother deer and two babies) who were eating the grass. They didn’t seem worried about us but soon trundled into the wood when we cycled slowly past. We carried on around the park and past a very large hare who was bouncing around and got to the top for some great views of the city before riding back down towards the exit of the park and on route we again saw the deer and then the sign saying no cycling – whoops! This park is near the centre of town so it was really weird to see deer this close to a city centre next we headed right into the centre to see if we could see inside the cathedral as it had been in service earlier but it was now closing so we decided to head back to the van for the evening. We decided to stay where we were for the evening as even though it is a little noisier than where we were last night it was a great base to explore from tomorrow.

The next morning we headed back into the city, stopping again for breakfast at the café (both having baked oats this time), before we went to look at the food hall which dates back to the 1800’s. It was a beautiful hall with lovely looking restaurants and shops selling most things from fish, fruit and vegetables to fine delicacies like caviar and chocolates. Afterwards we headed across town and through a beautiful park to the technology museum which Rich wanted to do. This was a huge museum and we ended up spending three hours in there playing around with all the different areas. The issue was it was badly designed so you never knew where you were or where you had been and could walk around in circles. We have no idea if we managed to look at it all as it was a real warren of exhibits. Another problem is while it is very interactive this means you put your stuff down to play and then, if you are Rich, you walk away and later have to go back and try and find your things. He managed to lose our locker key (luckily they have spares and could open our locker for us) and our water bottle (which we did find again fairly quickly).

After that we needed some sunlight so we got back on the bikes and headed through another park to see some palaces before heading back towards the van. On the way back we went via Haga park where again there were palaces but also some interesting buildings including a gold looking circus tent which was the parks museum (although it is only open on the weekend for a few hours so we couldn’t go in). Also in the park we took some interesting little routes around the lake in the centre, one of which almost saw Rich in the lake as his back wheels slipped on a root and took him close to the edge.

Once we finished in the park we followed the route back to the van which didn’t take long and packed up to head out of town and a bit further north where we plan to stay for the night before travelling north over the next few days. There was soo much to do in the city and we probably haven’t covered half of what we want to do so I think we will head back another time and do some more exploring of the city.