Day 23: Stockholm

Anders had to go back to work today, so he was able to drop us off at the bus depot in time to catch the 8am bus to Stockholm.  It was a packed affair, but we got good seats and it was an uneventful trip into the capital.

Town Hall, Stockholm

The weather was so kind to us – the sun was shining warmly but not too hot so our jackets were quickly rolled up and stuffed to the bottom of our bags.  We got our bearings and headed off to the market square and looked for the famous Food Hall.  There wasn’t any clear signs where it might be, so we asked a couple of people, but they thought we were looking for the market. 

Eventually we found a young girl who knew the way – yeah, just on the other side of the square, so we went downstairs and had a bit of a look around.

The Square, Stockholm

It was smaller than I had been lead to believe, but none-the-less there was some pretty good looking tucker there – if one was preparing a Swedish gourmet meal – heaps of different fish and meats as well as vegies, breads and a wide variety of other foods and sweets.  There was an espresso machine there, so we lined up for coffee and chatted to the guy there, but there was nowhere to sit, so we bought a couple of pastries and headed outside to the sunshine.  We were disappointed with our coffee, pretty weak affairs.

Aaah - what to buy??!!

The farmer's market out in the square was full of yummy fresh fruits and heaps of kantarella, supposedly from Sweden.  Tho' this info was met with scepticism by Anders, who believed they probably came from the eastern states of Europe.

Kantarella as well as berries and stone fruits

Just missed getting close to seeing the palace guards marching over for their turn of duty

Options for transport in Stockholm

So next on the list was the Nordisk Museet where there was a weaving exhibition.  I promised Karina I wouldn’t spend the rest of the day there – but we did spend plenty of time to look at the pieces celebrating the history of weaving in Sweden.  Contemporary weavers had woven pieces that were inspired by items from the expansive collection of woven textiles within the museum.  It was great to see another piece of Elisabet Jansson’s work – a rya rug from her earlier research.

Weaving Exhibition

By then it was lunch time and the museum café didn’t appeal, so we checked out the eateries by the bridge, but they didn’t have anything vego, so we went to the kiosk and I had chips and Karina had fish ‘n chips – top notch tucker!!

They're a bit like bikes, shall we go for a paddle? 

The Cafe

Note the big bowls of hot chocolate - mmmmmmmmmm!!!

We then strolled back over the river and went to Gamla Stan – which is the old part of Stockholm.  It consists of a warren of narrow streets lined with old buildings not much more than 3 or 4 floors high.  The Palace is there, so we cruised past the guards catching one in a photographic pose.  We found some nice empty streets but also got caught up in the stream of tourists in the souvenir section where we also spent some money.  And I found the best hot chocolate place again, so we had cake as well!

On duty outside a Palace gate

Strolling through the narrow streets in Gamla Stan

Soon the day had gone and we found our way back to a rather crowded bus heading back to Örebro – loaded with exhausted shoppers, grandparents and sugared up kids.