Adventures in Europe: Stockholm, Sweden

The train ride to Stockholm was much more of adventure than I would have ever dreamed.  We were never entirely sure what exactly was going on, but we do know that there had been flooding in the part of central Sweden we were passing through, and somehow this was impacting the trip.  At one point we were told we would have to get off the train and bus to the next station, because the tracks were flooded.  This ended up not being true, but we certainly slowed down significantly as we passed fields of water, and the train may have been running with fewer cars than normal.  Regardless of the reasons, however, the train was packed, with people standing in the aisles and in front of the doors.  It was somewhat chaotic, especially for those of us who had declined to pay extra for an assigned seat.  Needless to say, the train also ran significantly behind schedule, and we arrived well after 22:00.

Despite the confusion though, we were able to enjoy the natural beauty outside, particularly the region around the border between Norway and Sweden, where we passed gorgeous lakes, coniferous forest, and small mountains.

Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, Andrea got off the train with a bad cold, and we spent Monday in "rest" mode, limiting our touring to the neighborhood around our hostel, and, importantly, doing laundry.  We were staying just off Drottninggatan, Stockholm's major pedestrian shopping street, and we visited Hotorget square, where there's a farmer's market and an underground fish and seafood market, where we ate lunch.

We were to catch our next cruiseferry, the Princess Anastasia, on Tuesday but we had the morning and afternoon to sight see.  We went to the port first anyhow, because we could lock up our bags there, and then bus to the old city from there.

The old city, or Gamla Stan, hosts Sweden's parliament building, main palace, and all sorts of old buildings, including one which hosts the Nobel museum.  Luckily, we got inside the museum just as it began to pour rain.  The museum was tremendous, and we were in it for well over an hour.

Afterwards, we ate lunch at an Indian place called Hurry Curry, and then walked around and saw some of the out door sights, such as the palace.

Then we caught the bus back to the port to board our ship and begin the next stage in our northern European adventure.