Stunning Stockholm

Josie has been fascinated by Sweden.  She really REALLY wants to go to the Ice Hotel in the northern part of Sweden.  We even looked into giving a trip there to her for her 12th birthday but getting there is very pricey.  The hotel itself is also way overpriced.  I did a bit of research on it and we could stay nearby and just visit the hotel and see it because really who truly wants to sleep in a

room of ice!  It is a pretty unique concept.  The entire hotel is built every winter and then it all melts and they do it again each year.  There aren't that many rooms available and there is clearly just a finite days out of the year that the hotel is open.  But to get there and

stay would be really expensive.  So, we opted for a trip to Stockholm instead.
Because the kids and Marty get the American holidays off of work and school it has been our best bet for a long weekend getaway.  The flights are cheap because no one else in Europe has the long weekend and it is the perfect time to explore one city.  Last year it was Athens for MLK, Jr. Day and Rome for Memorial Day.
In preparation for the trip Josie did a ton of research on where to stay and what to do while we were there.  She had a long list of sites and museums to visit.  It made all the difference in our family dynamic for her to be the driving force instead of me.

During her 4th grade year in Seattle her teacher did a really cool school project that involved the students getting into groups of two or three and then planning a trip to Scandinavia.  They were given an allotment of money for their trip.  Each morning they would roll a dice or some other game to see what their fate for the day would be.  One student found some money on the train, another lost their passport and had to take an entire day of their imaginary trip to get it replaced.  Ever since this school project Josie has loved Sweden and even routed for them in the World Cup even though we were living in Germany who was also playing the World Cup.

We found a flight that left late on Friday night meaning the kids could go to school for the full day on Friday and Marty could do his Friday morning (in Seattle) radio show.  Our flight left Berlin around 9:30 PM arriving in Stockholm just after 11:00.  We get to the hotel and are all comfortably in bed in our beautiful, luxurious hotel room (Josie has pretty high standards- ha!!  unlike her mother who could care less about how nice a hotel room is...)
Saturday morning we wake up and fill up on the enormous breakfast buffet. One of Josie's highest priorities was to stay in a hotel with a good breakfast.  She nailed it!!  This place had everything and it all was SO so tasty. 

We knew Stockholm would be pricey so we really filled up at breakfast and tucked away a couple of rolls for later in the day.  I had also brought some snacks from Berlin to tide us over in between breakfast and dinner.
We started the day off by heading to the Technical Museum.  She has read up on this place and it was the number one thing on her list.  We arrive shortly after it opened and ended up spending the majority of the day there.  There were all different types of rooms to explore and hands on experiments and things to do.  The kids were engaged and happy for hours! 

Late in the afternoon we decide it was time to move on.  We had just a bit of time left in the day to squeeze in a trip to the Medieval Museum.  Josie picked out this place specifically for Benjamin as she thought he would love it.  By the time we got there we just had 20 minutes before it closed.  But in true Riemer fashion, we blew through it and saw quite a bit in just 20 minutes.  It was free entrance so that helped as well.  After the medieval museum we realize it is dinner time.  We had eaten the rolls but the kids never once asked for a snack or treat.  Amazing.  We look up different restaurants and all agree on a highly rated burger place, even though Josie is a vegetarian. 

We ended up at Barrels Burgers and Beer and it was downright DELICIOUS.  Benjamin and I got regular beef burgers which were much better than your average burger.  Josie and Marty got the veggie burgers.  I'm not typically a huge fan of veggie burgers, neither are Marty or Josie but these were the BEST veggie burgers any of us have ever had!!  It was chickpea based with a ton of spinach and herbs.  It was crunchy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside.  The buns on all our burgers must've been homemade.  So SO good.  We just got free tap water along with a side of regular fries and side of green bean fries (also delicious) and the bill was 60 Euro!!!  Wowsa!  Dinner in Sweden was twice the price, easily, of Berlin. 
The next day was our big sightseeing day.  We got up and happily filled our stomachs with the tasty breakfast filling up on all the goodies we didn't have room for the first day.  We decided to buy a group sightseeing/hop on hop off boat and bus card.  We normally don't do this as it seems a waste of money but their public transportation is not cheap and there were so many museums and things that Josie wanted to see.  For once this type of option made sense.

We get to the first hop on hop off bus and hit our first item on the list.  We sadly had mixed this up and got off at the wrong place but no bother, it was a beautiful view of City Hall even if we didn't have the free pass to go inside the ballroom to view the Blue Room where the Nobel Prize winners dine each year after winning. 

Our next stop (after riding on the top deck of the hop on hop off bus for a bit, was at the Royal Palace.  This was on the top of Josie's must sees and she wanted to be there for the changing of the guard ceremony.  The kids throughout this entire trip were really fantastic.  They walked over 8 miles each day and we hit over half a dozen museums and other historical sites.  They were engaged and curious every step of the way.  I was really impressed.  At the Royal Palace they both grabbed audio guides and went through the palace learning about the past kings and queens and their families.  There was even a queen Josephine.  I had a great photo of them with their audio guides and our Josie with a photo of Queen Josephine but very sadly while in Stockholm I accidentally deleted ALL of my photos!  All of them from the past 4 months. The last time I downloaded them was BEFORE our Rome trip at the end of May.  That is why this post has taken so long as I was hoping that Marty could somehow recover them.  Sadly, I think they are lost.  Sniff, Sniff... they were just pictures :-(
After touring the Palace I really had to use the bathroom... what's new, but this time it helped because we didn't know it was time for the changing of the guard but the bathroom was right by where the ceremony takes place.  So we all got to pee and see the ceremony. 

After the Palace I really wanted to go to this one street where a photo has been taken and is basically the stereotypical postcard for Stockholm.  And it just so happened to be a few minutes walk from where we were standing. We find the street but the lighting is terrible for a good photo. 

But right behind it was the Nobel Prize museum which was really super cool and informative.  Again, the kids learned a ton and were so eager to learn.   After solving a treasure hunt about the Nobel Prize and the museum they each received medal chocolate coins. 
After the Nobel Prize Museum we hopped on our first boat and it was gorgeous.  Really just a small water taxi and being in and around water reminded how much I miss water all around us while living in Berlin.  There are lakes here but it is different.  Actually a lot of Stockholm reminded me of Seattle. 

We toured a bit on the boat and then got off at the Vasa Museum. 
This museum was also on Josie's list.  It houses the world's only 17th century preserved war ship.  It sank off the shore of Stockholm back in 1628 and in the early 60's they dug it out and restored it.  I can't remember exactly but something like 98% of the boat you saw reconstructed in the museum is original.  It really was something to behold.  And at the risk of repeating myself AGAIN, the kids were so into learning about this sunken war ship. 

After the museum and just a few steps away was Stockholm's token amusement park the GronaLund. 

Our Stockholm Pass gave us free entrance into the park but much like the Puyallup Fair the entrance fee doesn't get you on any rides.  We decided to splurge and all go on this super high swinging ride.  The view from the top was really breathtaking!  It was so cool to see Stockholm from up in the air. It was cheapest to buy a package of tickets so the kids had enough to go on one roller coaster and one kiddie ride.  Josie was a great sport to go on this baby bumper car ride with Benjamin with their final tickets.  She had to struggle to get the strap over her head as she was really just too big for it.

After the rides we were hungry for dinner and because we were all still raving about our delicious burgers from the previous night and because we were in the same area we decided to go back to the same place for dinner a second night in a row.  I know that is so taboo to be a new place and go to the same place twice but we end up doing this more than I'd like to admit.  Thankfully the second night was just as good, if not better, as the first.

Reading, as always, these days
He is finishing about a book
a week. 

Our third and final morning was Monday. We still had a few more things we wanted to see and do and since our flight didn't leave until 3:30, thankfully we had some time. Skyview was first on our list.  Our Stockholm passes were good for 24 hours and since our first place was a misfire at the City Hall our tickets weren't stamped until our second place (the Royal Palace) and by the time we had gotten there the day before it was well passed noon. This served us well on our final day as we still could use our Stockholm passes until past noon on Monday.  The view from the big glass ball was pretty spectacular too.

 After Skyview we still had a bit of time.  We didn't really have time to get to a museum and really enjoy it so we opted to go to the famed Skansen Museum and walk around a bit. 

 I was also impressed with the kids this trip not only at their curiosity and level of engagement and everything we did but also on the last day since we had to check out of our hotel and didn't want to have to waste time going back to the hotel before heading to the airport we carried our 3 day packs around with us the entire day.  Each one carrying their own pack.

Never thought I'd see this day!  Neither of them complained about it either.  Amazing.
Skansen was just OK.  We didn't see much but then again we didn't have much time either.  We ended up at the airport with time to spare and all reveled in our whirlwind trip to Stockholm.  Marty and I talked about how neither of us had Sweden on our list of must see places while living in Europe and most likely we would have never come over to Stockholm from Seattle but we are both so so happy that Josie had her sights set on this city as we both thoroughly enjoyed getting to know it.
So long Stockholm.....