Carrie's Adventures

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Stockholm, Sweden

So the first thought when you get to Sweden is I need to find the IKEA… Despite the fact that the IKEA is only one train stop away, I decided to leave that for a later trip and spent my afternoon wandering through the streets. Like any other city it seems, there is an old section of town which has government buildings and historical landmarks, while the new section of town has all of the commerce and business aspects to it. Stockholm is no different ~ what is cool about it however is that the city seems to be comprised of a number of islands that are all connected by bridges, gaining it’s reputation as the Venice of the North. Reminds me of Vancouver in that regard ~ I wonder if they have the same traffic issues…

The other surprising thing we observed was that for the most part, people in Stockholm speak English very well. So well in fact their accent is barely detectible. They are also a very friendly bunch. As Ehrin was looking for the Post Office, we found that people were very helpful in offering directions and the like.

In the business area, there is a local market ~ full of fruit and flowers.


Stockholm Market Posted by Hello


Another view of the Market Posted by Hello

The other required stop was currency exchange and the Souvenir shop for some postcards. We walked into the shop to find it full of stuff moose, Swedish flags, shirts, postcards and the like. However the ambiance was complete with the musical selection ~ yep, you’ve got it ~ ABBA. I thought immediately of Liz and our many roadtrip adventures where each morning sees me getting out of the tent, bad hair, looking for tea, listening to the The Dancing Queen. I was somewhat surprised to learn that there is NO museum for ABBA ~ rather a corner of the Music Museum which is dedicated to the band. While looking online to see if there was such a museum, I was shocked to discover the number of avid ABBA supporters and the amount of ‘memorabilia’ they own. I will need to check it out one day ~ just to say I had been there.

We wandered into Old Town ~ missed the Royal Palace ~ that will be next time, but fell in love again with the streets. The entrance to Old Town has big archways and are quite beautiful, with the small bridge leading to it.


Entrance to Old Town Posted by Hello

Further along, the streets became narrow and cobblestoned ~ and the colours of the buildings were gorgeous.


The streets in Old Town Posted by Hello


Old Town ~ and all of that cobblestone! Posted by Hello

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