AUGUST 11, 2017
Summer Vacation in Sweden
Hi everyone! Lisa and I are about to head out to Sweden for our summer vacation. For some of our past vacations, I have used a blog as a way to share some photos and some of our impressions during our trips (for example, our trip to Italy in 2012 and our family trip to Europe in 2009).
So here we are again, and I have set up this blog (this time hosting it myself) to keep you up to date during our vacation, if you are at all interested. Please feel free to check it daily and post any comments you have. If there is anything in particular you would like to see or hear about, let me know. You can see our itinerary and a rough map of where we will be going over on the right hand side (or the bottom of the page if you are looking at this on your mobile device).
So, why Sweden? Short answer: flights were cheap! As usual when looking for summer vacation ideas, I go to Google Flights, punch in some random dates during the summer, and use the map feature to see where in the world we could go for relatively cheap airfare. This time around, Stockholm showed up as one of those places. Scandinavia has always been on our places-to-go list, so why not now?
We’re flying WOW airlines. It’s an Icelandic low cost carrier, and all their flights go through Reykjavik. So we’ve got a leg YYZ to KEF, then a leg from KEF to ARN. As a low cost airline, you have to pay for almost everything. Checked bags, carry on bags (unless purse-sized or small knapsack), seat selection, bottle of water….. Everything. And for the bags and seats, you pay for each leg of the trip individually. Still, even with those fees, I got the flights for $750 per person, including taxes. That’s pretty good.
There have been some bad reviews of WOW online, but mostly from people complaining how you have to pay for everything, how there is no entertainment, and how they are pretty strict with their baggage size and weight limits. Well, the airline is pretty up front about that so not really a valid reason to complain in my view. The good reviews have noted the better legroom, and friendly service. Well, guess we’ll just see for ourselves how it is. We’re pretty easy-going flyers overall – don’t need a lot of the extra frills. Get me from A to B on time and in one piece and I’m mostly happy! ?
See you in Sweden!!
AUGUST 15, 2017
Day 2 – Stockholm
I’ve skipped straight to day 2.
First day was our arrival day. Flights were uneventful, and spent a nice hour and a half in Reykjavik’s airport for the transfer to the Stockholm flight. Arrived right on time, caught the Arlanda express train to downtown Stockholm, and navigated the few short blocks from Central Station to our hotel on foot. We were too early to check in, so we left our bags at the hotel and went for a bit of a walk in the general vicinity of our hotel, before returning for a short nap. After, we went on 1 hour self-guided walking tour of the old part of the city – Gamla Stan. I didn’t take my camera with me – too tired – so no pictures from day 1.
For today, we took a couple guided tours of the city – one on a bus, and one on a boat. Got a good overview of the main part of the city, and some of the history. After the bus/boat tours, we took another run at Gamla Stan. Visited the Medeltidsmuseet (Medieval Museum of Stockholm) and the Nobel Museum. Between the two museums we did some more ambling around the random streets of Gamla Stan, and then went for a nice dinner at a restaurant on the island (best meal so far – meals yesterday had us wondering if we were in for some bad food for the whole trip!!).
While I took some photos, I wouldn’t call any of them particularly interesting. Best one is the Crow-geon. That’s what we called the bird which you find all over the waterfront area here. It looks kind of like a cross between a crow and a pigeon – hence, a Crow-geon! Hope for some better pics tomorrow.
AUGUST 16, 2017
Day 3 – Stockholm Museums
A few museums today.
First up was the Historika Museet, the Swedish history museum. A short tube ride from the hotel (which in itself was a bit of a “museum” ride, as according to the audio from one of our tours yesterday the Stockholm subway system is itself an art gallery as all of the stations have interesting artwork. According to Lisa, that means they have different tiling in each station), the museum houses some interesting exhibits on the history of Sweden (so the museum is aptly named) as well as some general exhibits on interpreting history. Well presented museum.
Next up was Nordiska Museet, which houses exhibits on the cultural and ethnograpy of Sweden. Wait, what??? Two history of Sweden museums?? Thankfully, they were different enough. Spent a good two hours in each museum.
Third (not counting subway), and last museum of the day, was Skansen, an outdoor museum housed over multiple acres on the top of a hill on Djurgarden island. This museum, established in 1891, contains a gathering of historical buildings from across Sweden (more Swedish history!!) and is supposed to show what it was like to live long ago in Sweden. If the comparison is Black Creek Pioneer village, Lisa and I both felt that Skansen was a fail. (You didn’t miss much Claire!). But it was a nice walk around in the open air, despite the occasional rain shower and cooler temps. Surprisingly few people there.
Final stop of the day was at a restaurant near the water and just a stones throw from Skansen. Oaxen Krog is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in Stockholm, and it lived up to its billing. Great food in a casual, hip atmosphere. Thoroughly enjoyed it. In case you are wondering, we shared some deep fried cod, grilled Swedish char, and some vegetable side dishes, followed up by a rhubarb and ice cream (me) and raspberry and ice cream (Lisa) dessert. If you’re in Stockholm, try this place.
Some pics from today below.
AUGUST 17, 2017
Day 4 – Stockholm to Uppsala
Today we departed Stockholm and hit the Swedish highways.
After breakfast we packed up our suitcases and trundled down to the car rental agency, right next to Stockholm Central Station. To my great disappointment, our rental car was NOT a Volvo. C’mon. We’re in Sweden! Everyone drives Volvo’s (well, actually they don’t. There are plenty of Volvo’s on the road, but plenty of other brands too). We ended up with a Kia Optima wagon. Never seen one of these on Toronto streets. Not bad looking. And red. And all the bells and whistles, including navigation (though didn’t really need it, as I have my phone and google maps with me).
We headed out of downtown Stockholm, with our first stop being a short 20 minute drive away – the Royal Palace of Sweden, where the King and Queen actually live, Drottningholm Palace. The Palace evokes thoughts of Versailles when one first sees it, but it fairly quickly becomes apparent that it is not. Quite beautiful on the outside, and in a beautiful setting on Lake Mälaren (which is the same lake Stockholm is on). But is much smaller, less ostentatious, and the garden, while large, is nowhere near as large. Nice place to visit though!
We then headed off to Uppsala, but not in a direct fashion. Because Uppsala is only about an hour away from Stockholm we thought we’d make a detour to visit the easternmost tip of lower Sweden and dip our toes in the Baltic. Kapellskar was our destination, but it turned out to be a bit of a bust. It’s really just a ferry terminal for ferries to Helsinki and Tallin. Nothing much else there. We did dip our hands in the water there at a small beach however. And just up the road there was a small village we popped into – Graddo – which also was’t much overall. So we headed on straight from there to Uppsala.
Arrived in Uppsala around 4pm, got ourselves checked in to our hotel, and walked down to the center of town, with a short visit to Uppsala’s most visible landmark – the Uppsala Domkyrka (church) on the way. Had a quick walk around the main part of downtown Uppsala (not really there of much interest or architectural import that we could see) before having dinner and heading back to the hotel.
That’s it. Pics as usual following.
AUGUST 18, 2017
Day 5 – Uppsala to Örebro
On the road again today.
Today we drove from Uppsala to Örebro. It’s really only a two hour drive, but we took some side trips. Such are the joys of having a rental car rather than relying on the point-to-point train systems. (BTW – with respect to the car, I mentioned that our Kia Optima has all the bells and whistles. Well today, I was really loving the adaptive cruise control. Next to being completely self-driving, adaptive cruise control makes highway driving a joy. If you’ve never tried it, wait till you do.)
One of our side trips was to Anundshög, a site containing an old burial mound (a Tumulus) and an arranged collection of stones in the shape of two ships – Stone Ships. It was pissing rain the whole time we were there, but that meant we had the place to ourselves. Well, other than the assorted teen groups that were also there. But we managed to stay out of their way.
The second side trip was to Engelbergs Bruk, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, containing one of the first Swedish ironworks. The rain had let up by the time we arrived, but the side trip here was not nearly as enjoyable, even though it was dry. There was absolutely no-one else at this site, very little information was available, and on top of that none of the buildings there were open – a bunch of them had “Private” signs in front of them. So all in all, this side trip was not worth it. We shall no longer be fooled by UNESCO heritage sites!!
In between the side trips, we stopped for lunch in Västerås, and visited the cathedral (Västerås domkyrka) there, which is celebrating its 500th anniversary this year. Beautiful cathedral with an interesting exhibit on the Reformation.
On our eventual arrival in Örebro, we did a tour of the area around the Castle, which is built in the middle of the Svartån River in the centre of Örebro. Impressive looking from outside, apparently the inside is very utilitarian (little remains of the original interior) so we’ll be skipping that tour tomorrow. There is an outdoor art exhibit currently going on in the town, and there were a number of interesting installations around the Castle and the nearby park in which we partook (see if you can spot Lisa in one of the pics I took for one of the installations below). Added some modern to the history we have been focusing on so far. Of the smaller sized Swedish towns we visited so far (ok, so its only Uppsala and Västerås for comparison), Örebro is definitely the nicest.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow we’re off to Gothenburg. Today’s pics below.
AUGUST 19, 2017
Day 6 – No Post
Sorry all. No post today. Just got back from dinner cruise on boat around Göteborg islands. Too tired to post – and there weren’t many photos as we were on the road most of today – so just going straight to bed. Promise to post some photos from our full day tomorrow in Göteborg!
AUGUST 20, 2017
Day 6 Do-over – Örebro to Göteborg
All rested up now. So I’ll do a do-over for day 6.
Today (well, technically yesterday) we drove from Örebro to Göteborg with a short detour to Sjötorp.
Sjötorp is a tiny little village located on Lake Vänern, the largest lake in Sweden. Why did we go there you ask? Because it was a nice mostly-sunny day, the drive to Göteborg was long, and the village was the site of one of the locks along the waterway bridging the North and Baltic seas. And we weren’t the only ones that wanted to go to Sjötorp – it was a hopping little village! Seems its a popular spot for the caravaners to stop too. The locks were pretty, and we were there when one of the lake steamers was going through (see pics below).
It was a short stop, then we were on the highway to Göteborg (by the way, are you impressed with all my properly placed umlats in my town names? It’s a fair bit of work getting them all correct – spellcheck doesn’t do it so I have to do it manually. So be impressed).
We arrived in Göteborg with a bit of time to spare before our pre-booked dinner cruise. So we had a bit of a walk around the main part of Göteborg before heading to the docks where we boarded our boat. About 10 minutes before boarding, a very menacing looking cloud was coming our way (the weather has been very mixed the last couple days with scattered showers interspersed with sunshine). We managed to board about 10 seconds after the heavens opened, but many in line behind us got a good soaking before boarding.
The dinner cruise was a four hour cruise around one of the large islands that make up Göteborg area. We had prebooked our meal – the captain’s seafood platter (see pic below) – and got a seat at a table against one of the windows. The first part of the cruise was fairly boring, as the views were mainly of industrial areas. Once we got past that, it was a little nicer. But overall, the 4 hours was about 1 hour too long, and the last hour or so was in the dark so not much to see other than lights. And the commentary that was part of the “guided tour” was very difficult to hear over all the Swedish conversations happening around the cabin/dining room. So that cruise gets about 2 out of 5 stars.
Got back to the hotel around 11pm, just before another torrential downpour, and then called it a night (hence my no-blog post yesterday). Now you’re all caught up to yesterday!
AUGUST 21, 2017
Day 7 – Göteborg
Two posts in one day! Lucky you!
We had a full day in Göteborg today. We visited a few museums and did a little walk around some more parts of the city.
First museum on the agenda was the Göteborgs konstmuseum – The Göteborg Museum of Fine Art. The museum is located up the hill from our hotel, in amongst the many university buildings here. When we arrived, just before opening hour, the main square in front of the entrance to the museum was fully taken up with a stage and a bunch of people setting up. Here in Göteborg, this week has been their CultureFest. All over the city, most of the squares and public spaces have been taken over by tents and stalls with all kinds of performances, activities, food and such. In fact, last night I had trouble sleeping due to the music and people on the streets until late at night.
Well, with the stage obscuring the entrance to the museum, we ended up making a grand circle around the museum (and many streets on either side) before we came around and found the secret entrance to the museum, beside the stage.
The museum itself was ok, nothing special. And it wasn’t a large museum. We spent about an hour going through the galleries, and visiting the gift shop. Then we were on the next museum.
Walking back to the center of town (and through and past some of the CultureFest festivities) we arrived at the Göteborgs Stadsmuseum – The Göteborg City Museum. Again, it was as fairly small museum (though housed in a huge building that used to be the Swedish East India Company offices) that had a history of the origins of Göteborg and how it has changed through the ages. Not bad, and worth the visit (and free! So was the Konstmuseum. Both of them were supposed to have admission fees, but for some reason they were free today. No idea why. Maybe part of CultureFest?).
After a little Fika at the museum coffee shop (Fika is a Swedish tradition of coffee and pastry), we walked some more through the streets of the city, and through one of the oldest areas on town – Haga. It was late afternoon on Sunday so most of the shops were closed. But that meant less people, and the walk was nice.
That was pretty much it. (I won’t mention that we went to an English pub for dinner. Who goes to an English pub in Sweden??). Tomorrow we leave Göteborg on our way back north again.
AUGUST 21, 2017
Day 8 – Göteborg to Vadstena
Second to last leg of our journey today.
Left Göteborg at 9am sharp and hit the highway on our way to Vadstena.
Today I discovered a new bell and whistle on the Optima – Lane Keep Assist. It will automatically steer the car to keep it in the lane. But don’t take you hands off the wheel – the car doesn’t like that and lets you know! Fun!
Our first stop on the way to our destination was the town of Gränna. It is a tiny little village on the shores of Lake Vättern, the second largest lake in Sweden, and the sixth largest in Europe! Gränna is a tourist town, no doubt about it. Known as the birthplace of the candy cane, it milks this for all its worth. I had expected hordes of tourists, but it was relatively quiet when we arrived. We had a short stroll along the main street, and then down to the harbour (where there is a ferry that goes to a small island in the lake just off shore). Picked up some candy cane, and then were on our way.
Next stop was an even smaller spot, a church in the middle of the farmer’s fields, where the largest Rune Stone in Sweden – the Rök Stone – is located. Again, no tourist hordes, so had the rock almost all to ourselves. Weather today was lovely and sunny, with puffy clouds, so it was a great spot to be. The inscription in the stone, like other Rune stones, is a memorial to dead family members. Just this one is really long. Like four sides of the stone long. Apparently very unusual. I guess Varinn, the inscriptor, was feeling particularly wordy.
After the Rune, it was some windy, narrow country roads on the trip into Vadstena. Our hotel in Vadstena is a part of a former convent complex, set up by the saint Birgitta Birgersdotter (look her up). The hotel is spread out among various buildings, with the main building holding the reception and the dining room. I would say it is the nicest hotel we have stayed in during our visit in Sweden. You can actually turn around in the bathroom!
We spent the afternoon with a visit to Birgitta’s museum and a visit to the Vadstena Slott (Castle), which unfortunately was closing just as we arrived. But the viking lad manning the ticket desk let us in for free to have a 5 minute look around before he closed her down.
We then strolled back through the main shopping street of the town (which is comprised of two blocks essentially), and had a drink at a outdoor patio. The place was extremely quiet, with very few people on the streets. Again, surprised with lack of tourists.
Back at the hotel, we had a very nice dinner in the mostly empty dining room, and then called it a day! And now I’m updating the blog. Enjoy!
AUGUST 22, 2017
Day 9 – Vadstena to Stockholm
Last day today before heading home.
Left Vadstena after a nice breakfast at the Klosterhotel (breakfast is usually included at all hotels in Sweden. Pretty common in Europe actually). The breakfast hall was located in the same convent building as the Brigitta museum we visited yesterday. Vaulted ceilings, wooden chairs and tables. Felt like we might have been monks/nuns having our daily breakfast (other than the sumptuous spread of assorted breads, cheeses, meats, cereal’s, bacon, eggs, coffee, tea, and pastries. I guess the first four on this list might have been served for breakfast in the 1300’s).
We were driving back to Stockholm today, with one quick stop at the seaside village of Trosa. Trosa is a tiny little village, and quite sleepy when we arrived. Not much happening, but we had a nice stroll down the river to the harbour and back. I was surprised to read (when I was checking the spelling of the name for this blog) that Trosa is one of the top four wealthiest communities in Sweden. Benny and Bjorn have places near here (if you have to ask who Benny and Bjorn are, you must be young).
After that, we made our way back to Stockholm and dropped off the Optima at the Avis office near Central Station. We hoofed our way back to the Queens Hotel (same place we stayed earlier, and in fact got the same room – with the tiny bathroom and toilet practically underneath the sink), dropped off our bags, and headed out to Gamla Stan to do some tourist shopping. A few trinkets later, we had a walk over the bridge to Södermalm (South Island) for some more sightseeing of the streets of Stockholm. Södermalm has some older buildings, and some modern shopping areas, but is mostly residential areas made up of modern (60’s and 70’s) apartment blocks. It was a good walk, and near the end we were rewarded with a great view of Stockholm from the height of Södermalm above the city.
And that’s it! Tomorrow, we’re back on the Arlanda Express train to the airport in the morning for the flight back home (again, via Reykjavik). Hope you enjoyed the blog, following along with us, and some of the photos. See you all on our next adventure!
