Stunning Stockholm!

A few months ago, I was getting antsy - I didn't have any trips past August on my calendar. I get a little stir crazy when I don't have anything planned, so I started checking out flights. There are some great low-cost air carriers here in Europe, and I found (what I thought was) a great deal - 90 euros round trip to Stockholm! I booked it immediately, and then made the rest of my arrangements. A lesson that I need to learn - if something seems to good to be true, well, most likely it probably is!! :) The way these low cost carriers work is that they often fly into kind of distant aiports - in this case, the flight went into Skavsta, which is about an hour and 30 minutes away from the actual city. Oh well, live and learn. :) I still got there, and it was still amazing!

So... I didn't know much about Stockholm before planning this trip. It's kind of a hidden jewel of Europe. But, I think it's made its way into my top 3 cities in Europe so far. Here are a few things that I like about Stockholm:

* Most of Europe is beautiful because of its architecture, not necessarily the natural beauty of the area - Stockholm has both - beautiful buildings and amazing nature. The city is actually made up of 14 islands, so there is water everywhere.
* Stockholm is a real running city. There are footpaths everywhere! It's possible to run for miles and miles and still see something interesting constantly! And, people wear REAL running shoes. I have to admit, I'm a bit of a running footwear snob after working for Nike Running for 2 1/2 years. You should see what people wear here!
* The people are SO friendly! And they are genuinely pretty happy. I have never heard so much spontaneous singing in my life! People just walk around happy - it's really uplifting!
* The Smorgasbord is a Swedish thing - and I love to eat. What a treat!

Those are just a few things. The only bummer of the trip is that I went by myself. I think that half the fun of travelling is sharing new experiences with someone else. This is probably going to be the last trip I take by myself - eating solo is not so fun. :(

So, without further ado, a picture collage of my trip. Here are some beautiful shots of the city. Remember how there are footpaths everywhere? Well, my first morning, I took footpaths all the way to the City Hall (which is also the location of the annual Nobel Prize Banquet). Along the way, I took a lot of beautiful shots of the city. Check these out:


Beautiful architecture across the waterway


For being so water-logged, the citizens have got transportation figured out... it's easy to walk or take public transit everywhere, but bridges are available from one island to another.


Trying to get the essence of the city... water, boats, and beautiful buildings

The first thing that I did was take a tour of the City Hall. There is a tower there that you can climb for great views of the city, and I did that too. I think it's always nice to start a trip with the "bird's eye view" for perspective, and this was no different. So, in case you don't know, here is something I learned in Stockholm... the origin of the Nobel Prize. In the early 1900's, Mr. Nobel was faced with a dilemma - lots of money (he invented dynomite) and no kids. So, he decided to form the Nobel Prize Foundation to honor individuals worthy of the award each year. The prizes are in several categories - medicine, peace, economics, ect. Because Nobel was from Sweden, the awards are giving out in Stockholm each year (with the exception of the Peace Prize - that one is given out in Oslo), and then they have a huge banquet in the City Hall. It's amazing to imagine 1200 people in the room pictured below!!


The "Blue Hall" in the City Hall... it was originally supposed to be painted blue, but a change in plans left it as the natural brick color.


KP with the city in the background - NOTE - I am wearing a scarf! It was FREEZING!!!

So, after the amazing sites, I decided to move onto something a little more artsy. I think the biggest development in my life since moving to Europe is figuring out what my art "style" is. I've enjoyed viewing lots of classical paintings - definitely like those. Modern art - hmmm... not quite my thing. I don't really "get" it (that could be because I work in excel all day...). But, the one thing that I found that I truly like is sculpture. After visiting the Rodin museum in Paris, I was so inspired. In my research about Stockholm, I found that this city was the home to another sculptor that was inspired by Rodin. He, like Rodin, had changed his house into a museum with a sculpture garden, so I decided that I HAD to check it out. It did not disappoint. Here is Millesgarten:


Milles wanted all of his sculptures to be put high on pedestals for the nighttime effect - this was pretty cool even during the day.


Pegasus and Man - it seems almost unreal, but they have to be connected somehow!


Poseidon

That evening, I had a nice dinner at the Opera house. My favorite tour guide, Rick Steves, recommended it for people travelling solo. Basically, everyone sits at a large U-shaped bar, and so no one feels lonely. It was perfect, the food was great, and the service was outstanding. The Swedish guy next to me didn't speak much English, but we exchanged a few words and I had a nice night.

On Sunday morning, I woke up and decided that sightseeing was going to be secondary that day. Being such a beautiful city with so many footpaths, this girl needed to RUN! I ran 7 miles, all over the place, and just felt so AT PEACE. I didn't pass a ton of people, as it was about 7:30 am, but I didn't mind. Running in nature is my own personal zen. I couldn't think of a better way to start the day. And that was actually the BEST part of my day. Being in such an amazing place, that says something! :)

My first sight-seeing stop was the Vasa Musuem. Now, the Vasa was a warship that was built in the 1600's. Unfortunately, it was so overbuilt that it was top-heavy and sank on its maiden voyage. The ship wasn't uncovered until the 1950's, and is now preserved in its very own musuem. It was pretty cool to see the boat, and also a film on how the preservation occured. Fascinating!


The Vasa - the only boat from this time actually still in one piece!

Now, after this, it was dilemma time. Both the sights and the shops were only open from 10 to 5 - so I had to make a decision - see the sights or shop at the amazing shops? My logic was this - I can only see these things while I'm in Stockholm, and I can shop anywhere, so I better see the sights. This will be THE LAST time that I go to something that I'm not super interested in just because someone says it's "a must". Nothing that does not sound interesting is a must. So, rather than giving my credit card a workout on all the cool housewares, etc, in Stockholm (which was probably a good thing in some ways), I spent the rest of the day at the Nordic Museum (marginally interesting... learned a lot about Swedish life and customs) and at the Skansen museum, which is basically a re-created old Swedish town complete with people in costumes. Rick Steves gave this a 3 diamond rating - his highest - I would only give this rating to people that have overly hyper children that need to run around for a few hours. I thought it was BOR-ING! Realizing this early on, I decided to cut my losses and still get some shopping in. I went to the amazing NK department store, which is kind of like the Harrod's of Stockholm, and just walked around wide-eyed. They have so many interesting things there!!


The Nordic Musuem - beautiful on the outside... not so interesting on the inside.


The architecture inside, however, was breath-taking... reminded me a little of St. Paul's Cathedral in London for its simple beauty.



Skansen, my own personal prison for a few hours...

After these adventures, I was exhausted. I had made reservations for a smorgasbord at the Grand Hotel for 7:30 that evening, so I decided I better rest up before filling up. I took a well-deserved nap, and then headed out for my smorgasbord. Holy cow!! I haven't eaten that much in a long time... basically, you start out with cold fish - herring, salmon, etc. Next are many kinds of salads, followed by cold meats, then hot meats, then cheese and desserts. Oh my goodness! I had to try a little of everything, and there was really very little that I didn't like. I walked about a mile back to my hotel after that, just to let my poor tummy digest!! That was a great last meal in the city.

The next morning, I decided to get one more beautiful run in before heading back to Amsterdam. I enjoyed running so much there - it reminded me of Portland with the beautiful landscape and the rolling hills. I didn't really realize how flat Amsterdam was until I ran on hilly terrain!! :) Now I understand why my bundidos are not quite as toned as they once were - not to fear, I turned on the hill trainer on the treadmill this morning! :)

So, what's next for KP? No major trips planned for now until October. Sean will arrive on October 12th for a week in Italy. I can't wait. Between now and then, I have a lot of events going on in Amsterdam - I'm running my first road race in Europe this weekend - it's a 10 miler called the Dam to Dam.

Portland alert - I have officially booked a trip home for November - I'll be in town the 22nd to the 30th. Mark your calendars!! :)

Miss you all!! xoxoxo