I love Stockholm

I usually forget to take photos when I'm out and about, but here's a smattering of pictures from my Stockholm excursion. This photo represents my overall impression of the city. Beautiful buildings. Lots of boats. Lots of water.

We spent five nights at Hotel Stureplan, which is located within walking distance of all sorts of shops, restaurants, and museums. Our room looked like this (photo borrowed from Historic Hotels of Sweden). Loved it. The only funny glitch occurred when we attempted to store some dirty clothes in what we assumed was a laundry bag provided in the bathroom. The next day the bag was empty and our socks were missing. We inquired, and the hotel clerk apologetically informed us that bag is for "other garbage" that doesn't go in the regular wastebasket, and our clothes had been thrown away. Oops. Silly us.

The weather was beautiful. We took a boat tour, visited the Photography Museum and the Modern Museum (which turned out to feature mostly photography as well), and the very interesting Vasa, a warship that sank in 1628 after sailing for just 20 minutes. Stockholm has 75 museums, and there were many others I'd have loved to see. Too little time.

At the Royal Palace a group of guards marched by and nearly ran us over when they suddenly did a 180 and marched up the staircase next to us.

We also visited Skansen, an outdoor museum that replicates a 19th-century Swedish town. Native Scandinavian animals also live there, eating mice and admiring their own reflections.

[Stop reading this sentence right now if you're a vegetarian: I ate reindeer at a restaurant a few days later and it was delicious. I highly recommend dining at Nalen.]

But by far my favorite part of the trip was browsing in the dozens of shops, admiring the furniture and housewares. Don't worry; I left a few things in the stores for you. But it was super painful and took enormous self control not to buy everything in sight. Though I don't know how I could have carried a sofa onto the plane anyhow. Along with a few future Christmas presents for people, here are some items that had to come home with me.

You'll notice I became obsessed with fish.

I'm going to bake stuff in this dish and eat cheese and crackers off this tray.


Here's an irresistible mug from the Marimekko shop.

And a piece of fabric purchased at Åhléns department store.

If you're headed to Stockholm, here's a list of my favorite shops:
Ohlssons fabric store
Åhléns department store (home section)
Nordiska Kompaniet department store (home section)
Nordiska Galleriet
Design Torget
Svenskt Tenn (Josef Frank galore)
Lagerhaus (affordable gifts here!)

I need to go back!