Swede as in Stockholm

Day 10
From Tallinn we made our way back to Stockholm via the overnight ferry. Being a Friday night it was a lot busier this time but we kept a low profile and tried to get a decent night’s sleep this time.

Our hostel in Stockholm was located in Gamla Stan (Old Town) and just around the corner from the Kungliga Slottet (new Royal Palace). We spent our only full day in the Swedish capital exploring the many streets and side streets of Gamla Stan before making the trek around to the park Djurgården.







We made our way back toward the Central Station area and to the world famous Absolut Ice Bar. There are five Absolut Ice Bars in the world and Stockholm is not only the original but also the only one open all year round. We made our reservation and returned an hour or so later to get kitted up in sweet blue Eskimo-style coats with gloves!

The entry price included a drink, served in a glass made of ice, which was some kind of concoction involving Absolut Peach and Blue Curacao. Everything in the bar, including the bar, was made of ice. There were various ice sculptures in the room and even an ice-couch covered with reindeer skin.









In the evening we chilled out, albeit not at five degrees under, back at the hostel common room.

Day 11
Our overnight train to Kiruna in the northern part of Sweden wasn’t until tea-time so it left us the morning and early part of the afternoon to fit in a few more activities.

We returned to Djurgården and to Skansen, an open air museum that is Sweden’s most popular attraction. At Skansen you can see examples of old Swedish folk buildings and houses, and people dressed in traditional costumes go about their daily life as it would have been then. As well as aspects of Sami culture, Sami people being the indigenous people of Sweden, there is even a zoo that houses a number of species of Scandinavian animals including reindeer, elks, wolves and bears.







Our night train left Stockholm at 5pm and was due to arrive in Kiruna at 10am the following morning. We had reserved two beds in the slightly crammed six-berth carriage. We’ve learnt from previous experience on long-haul train journeys that getting a decent night’s sleep in a seat just doesn’t work out.

That said if you end up getting someone in your carriage with a horrendous snoring problem then you may as well have not bothered paying the extra! We didn’t endure that problem but instead an old Swedish lady with a farting problem in her sleep. Our Lonely Planet guide book warns travelers of the increased danger of gassing on overnight trains – we didn’t realise this is what they meant!