Sworway

After a long day of traveling by train and bus we made it to Stockholm. We took the subway from the central station and found that our Airbnb was very close to the subway stop. It was getting a little late and after traveling all day all we could muster the energy for that evening was to get dinner and to plan out the rest of our time in Sweden.

July 10 - Galma Stan

After breakfast, our first stop was Stockholm’s old town, Galma Stan. Most of Stockholm is a collection of different small islands and Galma Stan is the most central and houses many old buildings and tourist spots. We explored an old German church and walked the cobblestone streets before heading to the royal palace. We were able to walk through the courtyard from one side to the other and see the royal chapel for free but we opted out of the treasury since it cost more krona then we wanted to pay. From the other side of the palace we could get a good view of the parliament building and the surrounding waterways.

Swedish Parliament

We took the subway a few stops and found a tasty taco bar for lunch. We headed back to the city and spent the rest of the day walking around and enjoying the weather. It’s easy to walk across bridges around the city and see different views ion the harbor and the city. We made our way back to the subway to make dinner at home. Rarely have we gone out after dinner on this trip but we wanted to check out the local BrewDog bar and stayed a while playing Smash Up and ended up staying out past sunset, quite the accomplishment when you are this far north.

July 11 - Vasa and Nobel

The morning of the 11th was a little gloomy and rainy so we decided to hit up the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is an old, royal Swedish ship that was built very ornately to show the power and might of the Swedish king. Unfortunately, it caught a bad wind, blew over, and sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. It remained at the bottom of the Stockholm harbor for over 300 years before being recovered and restored in the 1960s. Now the ship is the centerpiece of a museum about 17th century ships, life during that time, and the Vasa itself.

Top deck of the Vasa

We headed from Vasa to get lunch at Omnipollos Hatt, a brewpub that had some interesting and delicious pizza. One of the things they are know for, according to the bartender, is freezing one of their beers in a slushy maker and pouring some on the top of a glass of that same beer. Obviously we had to try and they had a delicious and interesting cookie IPA in the freezer that day.

Yummmm

We were happy to find that the Nobel Museum was free after 5 pm on Tuesdays so we killed a little time walking around Galma Stan before heading there. The Museum was a very cool collection of memorabilia and information about the Nobel Prize and Alfred Nobel himself. It was fascinating to see how commonplace and impactful some older Nobel laureates works are to our society today and it speaks to how important the prize is.

July 12 - Hammarby Sjöstad

In Stockholm there is a neighborhood, Hammarby Sjöstad, that was designed and built as sustainably as possible. The island was intended to be used for an Olympic village in 2012 but since the Olympics went to London they had to come up with another idea. The buildings have green roofs, there is very good stormwater management, lots of parks and green space, and friendly habitats to local animals. We got lunch and explored this neighborhood most of the day on Wednesday. It was a little difficult to get around since they are currently doing construction work on the streetcar but we made our way to the waterfront and checked out a cool brewery in an old light bulb factory, Nya Carnegiebryggeriet. Included in our public transit pass were a few ferries and lucky for us there was a stop just outside the brewery we were at in Hammarby Sjöstad. We hopped on the ferry and got to see Stockholm from the water along the way.

View from the ferry

On the ferry!

Once ashore we walked through the King’s Garden park one last time before heading home to pack up to leave the next day.

July 13 - Across the Fjords!

We left early for Stockholm Central Station to catch our train to Oslo. It was a long train ride but we didn’t have to change trains or get diverted on a bus like we did coming from Copenhagen. The train took us through the beautiful Swedish and Norwegian countryside and we could see lakes, hills, and fjords all along the way. Once in Oslo we found our Airbnb, checked in, and found a delicious burger joint, Troys Burger. The neighborhood we are staying in has a lot of cool restaurants and bars. We checked out a couple of breweries, Crowbar and Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri before returning home to plan the next day. We only had one full day in Oslo so we needed to make it count.

July 14 - Oslo

We got breakfast from a neat coffee shop, Supreme Roastworks, and headed into town. Along the way we stopped at an indoor market just as they were opening to check it out. From there we found the parliament building and the royal palace down the street. We’ve found that so many palaces have huge, beautiful gardens surrounding them that are open to the public. Norway’s was no different.
We headed from the palace to Oslo City Hall. The building is very art deco and featured some cool murals on the inside. The style reminded me of the Cincinnati Museum Center. Unlike Cincinnati, the outside of city hall had wood carvings depicting different Norse stories and gods. City hall overlooks the harbor so we made our way down there and found lunch at a food cart along the way.

Not too far from city hall is an old fortress and castle which we explored after lunch. From up the hill we got an impressive view of the harbor and surrounding Olsofjord. We headed from one side of the harbor to the other and enjoyed some beers at the Beer Palace. We chatted with the bartender for a long time about our trip, Oslo, and beer. She was nice enough to give us a few good sized tastes of some other beers they had that we didn't order.
From the Beer Palace we walked around a bit more before grabbing dinner at another food cart. The final thing we had on the agenda was to walk on the roof of the Oslo Opera House. The opera house is uniquely designed so you can climb up along the side of the building and onto the roof without going inside at all. We made the climb up for a stunning view before heading home for the evening.

On top of the Oslo Opera House

Our time in Norway was short, I would definitely like to visit again and explore outside of the city. Hiking through the hills and fjords sounds like an incredible experience, but it will have to wait until next time. Tomorrow we fly to Scotland!