Stockholm Syndrome

After the beautiful quiet of Copenhagen, Matteo and I were greeted in Stockholm with drunken Swedes in sailor caps, dancing and drinking in the back of a truck. We looked over at each other and smiled. This was our kind of town! Turns out that it's tradition to celebrate high school graduation in this way.
The weather in Stockholm was not as favorable for us as Copenhagen though. It was quite cold and rainy, so much so that I was forced to buy boots on my second day. Matteo and I tried to make the most of our time, walking and exploring outdoors as much as we could. We spent an entire day at the Vasa Museum, mostly in part to avoid the freezing rain, but it was a cool museum to check out. Matteo and I are practically experts on the Vasa ship now after all those hours so if you have any questions about this sunken then recovered Swedish ship, go ahead and ask us!

During our strolls we chanced upon a couple of Swedish celebrities. Our first was a Swedish pop singer named Dorian/Damian or something. We were in Skansen, Stockholm's open air museum and came across him rehearsing for a show. Our other Swedish celebrity sighting was the KING of Sweden. It was their national day and he came down a street, waving.

Matteo and I found that we really preferred the old Gamla Stan area of the city, where we literally stumbled upon some interesting cafes, bars and restaurants.

One night we walked past a very interesting jazz bar that looked like something out of NYC's Lower East Side. We came back after dinner and ended up dancing up a jazzy storm together amid a crowd of mostly really old people. Matteo and I were the first to start dancing and by the end of the night, most of the crowd had joined us!

On another late night, we were walking past a tiny, nondescript alley. I just happened to glance into it and noticed a lone candle blowing in the wind. I called Matteo over and we decided to check out the source of the candle. It was a no-name, packed restaurant! A secret restaurant that was popular with locals! Jackpot!!! We came back the next night for dinner and entered into the underground section of the restaurant. It was mostly candlelit and very charming, though we saw a big group of Frenchmen and Aussies. We struck up a conversation with the Aussies and I asked how they had heard of the restaurant. "We just happened to walk by." Awesome, the restaurant was still a secret! After dinner, we decided to walk past the bar. Then we noticed another door. Oh no... We walked out the door and saw the main entrance! We had gone in through the back door! So the restaurant wasn't exactly as secret as we thought but still, WE found it secretly and we're proud of this gem of a find!

We spent our last night in Stockholm with a group of Swedes in their home, singing ABBA songs. Really. We did! It was probably the best thing we did in Stockholm. The only decent video I have of us isn't that great, but you get to see Matteo really into it and I think that's pretty awesome. Our rendition of "Mamma Mia" was probably our best but we didn't have the camera set up for that. Too bad because we really rocked that song.

It was a great trip and I'm really glad that I got the chance to catch up with my friend, Matteo. Ciao Ca-so! Non andare via! See you soon!

Pictures from our Copenhagen/Stockholm trip are also now posted on my site.

© Connie Hum 2009