After another round of the hotel breakfast we ventured out in the sleet/rain. It was only light but everything was slushy. We were going to use the morning to take pics around the old town but the weather was pretty miserable. We took the opportunity to head in the opposite direction to the hipster hangout, Södermalm. Last time I came here, hipsters were about but it hadn’t got quite as serious.   My foray into Södermalm last time around was mostly to visit Designtroget, the store of all things Swedish and well designed – which now has outlets in Normalm – and to check out the patterns at textile design house, 10 Swedish designers, a lesser known collective in the same vein as Finnish powerhouse marrimekko. I had wandered along the main strip and veered off on occasion to check out an interesting quirky store. The area has boomed in the intervening years with cafes full of mismatched old lounges and dining chairs that you would find strolling down Brunswick St in Melbourne or King St Newton and shops with names like Grandfather, selling camera gear from the 1950s and heavyweights like Bradley Wiget’s getting a foothold in the capital of cool with a shopfront full of really old (1950s) televisions. One thing you notice in Swe3den is how much people like their music. Not just here in hipster central but right throughout Stockholm, there are a plethora of record stores and plenty of extremely high end stereo equipments for sale. Kids walk around here with Bang and Oulefsen headphones.Ne3edles to say there was some quite interesting record shops in this part of town too. We even found a theatre advertising a Swedish season of the Priscilla Queen of the Desert stage show.

To get some respite from the biting cold winds and dizzle, we grabbed a coffee in yet another Saluhall. After that it was back out into the cold and off down the road to 10 Swedish designers, who isn’t have anything new that really interested me. The fabric I bought four years ago was still available so that gives you a pretty good indication. I then spied out the corner of my eye, a tiny little shoe shop that was having a Rea (sale) – a word I learnt last time I visited (and an important Swedish word to know. And there they were – a  really fubnky pair of winter boots, that fortuitously adjusted by lacing up the back and came in my perfect size. They were made for me (and they left the store with  me too. There are only a couple of downsides – they are quite heavy so add a bit of extra weight to my pack and the top half is suede so,  as I have to follow the rules, I need to find some spray top protect them first.  The boots are definitely still worth it even given these minor inconveniences.  (I Need Love – Luka Bloom. This is off the Triple J Best Covers of all Time CD but I actually can’t imagine anyone else singing it. The dulcet tones of this Irish crooner were made for it.)

Next stop the hotel to drop off my boots and pick up Dan’s camera for a wander around Gamla Stan. It really is a very pretty old town and I highly recommend Sweden as a destination, especially Stockholm. Even if you don’t stay in the old town, be sure to visit, camera in hand. After wandering through the laneways once more, and discovering a few new ones, we headed into town to see if we could find a replacement neck warmer for Dan – old faithful disappeared between the restaurant and pub the previous night, and a slightly more stylish beanie for me. The neck warmer purchase was a success. I still couldn’t find a beanie at a price I was happy with. Remember the last one was two Yuan.

As we walked through the city centre, we came across a Theatre opening or something. There were black limousines parked in the square and important looking people in ballgowns getting out of cars. I surmised it was probably some event being attended by Sweden’s Royals. We took some more photos of the Christmas lights, grabbed another coffee and headed back to the Christmas Market to buy a body wash puff – the only place I had seen one for sale on my trip so far – and sample some more Gloom. Liquored up, we decided to grab some dinner at the Café across the square. Really a lunch café, the meals were substantial enough for dinner and were very reasonably priced. I had a salmon pie (which was more like a salmon quiche) and Dan had the lasagne. Both came with salad. We ate in the vaulted cellar downstairs which was a wonderful experience. Some of these cellars are bars – others house the kitchen of the restaurant. There are mostly wrought iron spiral staircases that take you down deep under the old town into a rabbit warren of rooms that I suspect often takes you under the laneways and squares- this cellar in particular seemed larger than the restaurant upstairs. There was plaster and paint flaking off the jagged brickwork but this was a natural phenomenon and looked natural unlike the fake brick wall treated to look like a Brooklyn loft in the premises of a certain Tex Mex joint in the Canberra Centre (even that description may not be specific enough. It was a younger crowd in here and slightly less touristy. Next to us were a group of what I’m pretty sure were Irish international students, behind us were three girls who I am pretty sure were part of some sort of knitting club and in the corner there were a girl and a guy on what I am pretty sure from the body language and conversation style, was a first date. We were enjoying the ambience of the place so much that we decided to indulge with another cup of Gloog and some dessert – I had blueberry pie. After dinner we took a short pit stop at the cool little sci-fi store Dan had discovered just a few doors down from our hotel. Lucky we still have such a long way to travel or I’m pretty sure some purchases may have been made. After dinner, we settled in for a good sleep before we left for Denmark the next day

Christmas themed activities – 6  War museums and model shops – 1.5 (because a sci-fi shop is almost a model shop.)

The hotel puts on a quite tasty Scandi breakfast buffet each day – cereals, breads, meats, cheeses, boiled eggs (and my fave salmon paste and gherkins) with coffee, tea an juices. It was pretty tasty for a three star hotel breakfast and included in the room rate. After loading up, we decided to wander into the main part of town. The girl on the plane had raved about the impressive Christmas display at NK, Sweden’s main department store. Dan had also discovered a model shop not far from there.

First though, as it would be a while yet before the shops opened, we decided to just wander around town to see what we could find. There had been new snow overnight so everything looked like it had a light sprinkling of icing sugar over the top of it – just like it does in fairytales involving snow covered castles, although these were mainly churches and 500 year old apartment buildings. We took some photos as we wandered through the old town although because of the closeness of the buildings here, the snow had really only settled on the rooves.

When you walk towards Normalm, the retail centre of Stockholm, you walk through Sweden’s magnificent Parliament building. One of the multitudes of royal palaces is to your right as you approach the parliament building. This isn’t a palace that the Royals live in and the parliament building itself is actually more impressive. And what was more impressive to us is that it is a building that you walk through when you go from one end of the city to the other – unlike our own Parliament House which sits on its own on a hill, largely disconnected from the city below it.

We wandered throughout the city centre, Normalm, with its main thoroughfare decorated for the yuletide season. We stopped to take photos of churches and interesting building while we waited for the retail outlets to open. Despite the fact that the daylight only lasts from 9:30am until 2:30pm in Stockholm, most retail outlets don’t open until 10 or 11am. With opening time fast approaching, we headed to Dan’s Holy Grail, the model shop he had found in Stockholm. I gave him 20 minutes in there while I looked in a povo mall nearby. One of the most prevalent stores throughout Stockholm was there – the3 enticingly named Indiska but rather than a store inspired by the two well loved music genres, it is actually a fashion chain store whose wares are a bit of a cross between modern interpretations of Indian and Scandinavian fashion. Which is quite a bit different.  20 minutes clearly wasn’t enough but I have to admit there was some pretty cool stuff in there – like X files toys. I don’t know how many of you have been in a model shop before but they are a bit like comic stores – mostly filled with men – and the guys behind the counter usually looks like the comic book shop guy from the Simpsons. This place was no different although because it is Stockholm in winter, he wasn’t wearing slides.

From here we headed to NK to see the Christmas display – while it was very Swedish (read understated and quirky) it wasn’t as impressive as I was expecting. It is kind of a pity that we will arrive in London after Christmas as I bet the windows at Harrods and Marks and Spencer would be pretty awesome. We were pretty cold by then so we decided to use the facilities at NK – which were pretty luxurious for the 8 SEK, and grab a coffee.

From here we headed out towards the waterfront. We had decided that Skagen, the Swedish historical park and zoo (with the largest Christmas market in Stockholm) might be a good place to spend the afternoon. There was actually some blue sky and sunshine peeking through the clouds, which made the journey there so much more enjoyable. It was still snowing lightly while we were walking around in the morning but when the sun came out some of the snow began to melt slightly and then refreeze when the temperature dropped. We had to walk pretty slowly to avoid sliding over which would have branded us easily as tourists (if Dan wasn’t already walking around with his big camera around his neck.

Skagen is pretty good value – it cost us the equivalent of $20 each and we spent the best part of four hours walking around. There is something here for everyone, a labyrinth of artisan workshops where you can spend time watching glass blowers and the like at work, a collection of houses from all periods of history that have been brought here and fitted out as an open air museum and the zoo, which is where we spent the most time.

I saw my first ever wolverine (and now can’t get the Dave Graney track out of my head – Dan pointed out that perhaps I could be thinking of Hugh Jackman instead, although I’m not sure that is quite what he had in mind when pointing out the movie may be a more well known reference. We also saw the hugest owl either of us had ever seen (and caught the feeding time of a couple of other fairly impressive specimens. We also saw wolves, peacocks, Sweden’s version of bison, long extinct in the wild but being re-released following a successful breeding program, elk and a quick glimpse of a seal as he darted around his rather mucky tank. It was a bit cold for him to be out up top today. Despite (to my mind) Sweden’s favourite sons singing about them – I didn’t see a single penguin or polar bear in the Scandinavian animals zoo. I did see sheep and cows though. We wandered back down the hill in search of the Christmas Markets – they looked really impressive. Unfortunately they were all closed. What Lonely Planet had failed to point out was that the Christmas Markets were only open on the weekend. It didn’t really matter – the market in the old town was kind of perfect and there are many more to go, I am sure. (Penguins and Polar Bears – Millencolin – of course while we’re in Sweden, my Swedish punk heroes are in Australia playing the warped Tour)

We stepped into the restaurant at Skagen for a hot chocolate to warm up. The wind and walking around in the snow had made me cold. My feet were actually cold for the first time on the trip. After that we walked back into town to find the Ostermalms Saluhall, with a pit stop in a design store to pick up a Swedish decoration for our tree – a little angel. We are collecting a decoration in each place we strop, then we are intending to find a small tree in Berlin and decorate it with them. There are Saluhalls littered throughout Stockholm – essentially a big market hall where you can buy your produce and also sit and have a meal. We found a nice little counter with some friendly staff and ordered some lunch. I had fish soup – just the glorious warming winter food I was after. It came with complimentary bread and with aioli to stir in. A tomato based soup with huge amounts of fresh fish, it was glorious. Dan had a hamburger, although it wasn’t something sandwiched between two pieces of bread. It was a massive hamburger patty, served with a huge amount of mashed potato (they love their mash here) and ligonberries and freshly pickled cucumbers. I got the cucumbers and they were perfect – pickled yet still crunchy. I might have to learn how to make it.

After a sojourn in the hotel, where Dan slept and I tried to fight jetlag with downloading my photos and doing facebook quizzes, we headed out for dinner. The girl in the hotel recommended a Swedish style restaurant but they looked incredibly full so we chose somewhere else. I wanted to try the Kortbuller (meatballs – the ones ikea sell frozen). They were OK but the sauce didn’t taste that much better than the ikea version. The ligonberries and pickles though were superb. Dan went a bit less traditional and had a steak which was served with mash and asparagus. The wine list was quite lofty and like all lists I have seen wherever I travel, included a good selection of Australian and NZ wines. With no Swedish wines to speak of, I chose a French Pinot Noir. Not as layered and textured, nor as spicy as its ANZAC cousins. After dinner we decided to hit one of the bars – we watched Norway play Argentina in Handball on the telly and Dan had a beer that was his least favourite so far. I had a local apple cider which was even sweeter than the non-alcoholic version you get in the supermarket at home. After dinner, it was time for sleep.

Christmas themed activities – 6  War museums and model shops – 1

Pretty much the only way to Stockholm from the airport is the express train. While convenient, it is by no means cheap. A single fare is about $50. For two of us that probably cost more than the flight. Fortunately there was a cheap deal Thursday – Sunday that allowed us to get into town at virtually two for the price of one. It got us there in about 20 minutes but as it was now about 2:30pm it was already getting pretty dark. Last time I came to Scandinavia, there was snow in Helsinki and none in Stockholm. This time it was the reverse. The snow was all over the footpaths and the sides of the roads and there was black ice everywhere so we had to be pretty careful walking to the hotel with our packs. I got us moving in the right direction and I got us across the water to Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town but I couldn’t for the life of me remember which direction I needed to head in to get to Vasterlanggatan, the street where our hotel was – eventually we found it and then proceeded to walk straight past the non-descript entrance.

Eventually we made it to our destination, the Lord Nelson Hotel., the skinniest hotel in Sweden. The hotel is about one room’s width plus corridor across. Last time I stayed here it was in a single room and that was quite cramped so I had prepared Dan for a tiny little room. In fact the room was quite spacious by hotel standards, although the bathroom was tiny – about the size of a Hong Kong hostel bathroom, except much more poorly laid out. Essentially, the shower, which had a shower curtain, was half the width of a normal shower. The first night, before I had worked out how the nifty tap system worked I had a lukewarm shower with no pressure, which made the whole bathroom situation terrible. The tap system was kind of one hemisphere of a cylinder attached on the flat side horizontal against the wall. The ends of the cylinder turned – one for heat, one for pressure. It turns out that if you pressed in the buttons on the parts you turned, you could increase the heat and pressure, making it a quite pleasant, if still tiny shower. What the lord Nelson has in spades is charm – it is nautically themed, helpful staff and location, right in the middle of the old town, one of the prettiest I have seen in the parts of Europe I have visited. What it doesn’t have is a laundry.

My travel agent laughed at me several years ago when I planned my hotel choices based on being able to access washing facilities every seven or eight days. Well here we were in Stockholm on day eight, where we would spend the next three days, with no laundry. And apparently no Laundromats. In Sweden, all apartment blocks are built with a basement that includes washing facilities so all you can find is drycleaners. The hotel provides a laundry service but given washing a pair of socks costs almost as much as what I paid for them at Aldi in the first place, I needed to explore other options. Essentially this amounted to washing my smalls and thermals in the tiny sink without a plug and constructing a Chinese laundry in the hotel room.  (I wanna be your dog – The Stooges – a song with what has to be one of the world’s most copied guitar riffs.  I remember seeing I gay at Big Day Out a couple of years ago – could have done without the closeup shots on the big screen. The years had not been kind to this punk legend. Although he is one of the few icons of his time still with us.)

Domestic chores, we decided to go for a wander through Gamla Stan. It is a labyrinth of little cobblestone lanes, twisting and weaving through the 15^th century townhouses. People still lived in the tops of many of them -0 we could clearly see someone’s kitchen across the narrow lane next to our hotel window. The street level floors though now house restaurants, specialty stores and purveyors of touristy souvenir tatt, as you’d expect. Every now and then, as you walk along, you get a voyeur’s peek at normal life here – some of the laneways  opened out into an apartment block courtyard, some of them with locked iron gates decorated with a Christmas wreath. Others just open. As you walked through the alcove into the courtyard though, you felt conscious that you were invading a private space, a refuge from the hoards of tourists that come through here each day. Today was a perfect example of that – a Sunday, there were so many people about that I took the hotel’s pickpocket warning seriously, clutching my bag close in the tight packed streets. There is always a surprise when you turn a corner her, an apartment courtyard, a communal square or the Christmas market!!

Our first proper, open Christmas market. It was gorgeous – little red huts selling Christmas decorations, delicacies and gifts. And of course the traditional Swedish Christmas drink – Glogg. And here it is alcoholic – 25 per cent in fact. And to Dan’s glee it comes with Pfefferkuchen – a traditional spiced Christmas biscuit from this part of the world. I make them at home but nowhere near as successfully as these. I might hiver to try harder next year as I think Dan enjoyed the biscuits more than the Glogg! The Glogg was pretty tasty though – spicy and sweet, with cardamom pods floating in it. After sipping our glogg, we decided to head back to the hotel to chill out for a bit before we headed out for dinner. One of the disadvantages of the sun setting at 2:30pm in the afternoon is that by 6pm you feel like it’s about midnight. It doesn’t help with the jetlag adjustment either. I was hoping to go to a jazz club in Stockholm but by the time most of them opened, I was ready for bed.

When we went back out, we decided to just wander down the street until we found something that wasn’t too expensive – a tough ask in Gamla Stan. We came across an Italian restaurant that looked vaguely affordable. There was a compulsory coat check – 8 SEK or about $1.50. I’m not sure what it is about Gamla Stan and bad art in restaurants but it seemed to be a theme – here there was a rip off of the Sistine chapel murals, painted very poorly, out of perspective and proportion. I know the Swedes aren’t prudes or anything but if you are going to paint David’s penis rather than a fig leaf, at least don’t make it shaped like a cigar. It looked like it was about to fall off at any moment.  I ordered a pasta with salmon , tomato and blue cheese – the house special pasta and Dan had Carbonara. Dan had his first taste of Swedish beer and I just had water. We were calculating on dividing the price by four. The exchange rate was actually closer to one to six so this meal ended up costing about $60. After dinner we collected our coats, went for a bit more of a wander and headed back to the hotel to sleep.

Christmas themed activities – 4  War museums and model shops – 0