2012.10.02 - Day 12 (Stockholm, Sweden)

On Tuesday, I had a bit more of renewed energy and got myself out of the house to walk around and explore the city some more. I also braved my first travel haircut of the trip. Not being able to find a reasonably priced place, I settled for a place at the train station...something I was hesitant to do, but I think the haircut turned out ok :-). After some internal debate, I decided to purchase a 3-day “Stockholm Card” which gave access to over 80 Stockholm museums / activities as well as unlimited free public transportation. I hesitated because at 750 SEK (~$115), it wasn’t cheap. In addition, I bought a 3-day bike pass which allowed me to use bicycles located at bike stations all over the city. 

As a side note, I found Stockholm to be one of the most bike friendly cities I’ve probably ever been in only second to Amsterdam. Every street has a separate bike lane that is clearly marked and for the most part vehicles and pedestrians respect bicyclists. Also, for tourists, they have these unmanned bicycle stations where you can swipe a card to unlock a bike and then use and return at any of the other numerous stations across the city. I noticed Oslo had something similar, but it seemed to be on a larger scale in Stockholm.

Riddarholmen Church - one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm and where the Swedish monarchs are buried; Unfortunately, I couldn't go in as it was closed for the season to tourists

Views of Stockholm and its canals

More pics of Stockholm and its canals

Seeing I made my decision to purchase the Stockholm card later in the day and with the season changing to winter hours meaning museums closed earlier, I only went to one museum that day which was aptly named the NationalMuseum (and no, I didn’t make a mistake…I purposely didn’t put a space in between National and Museum b/c that’s how it’s spelled in Swedish). I didn’t stay very long as it was a run of the mill art museum with nothing that stood out in my mind (although I’m not much of an art person).

NationalMuseum

At night, I met up with an old friend, Vidar, who I had met several years ago when I was on vacation in Melbourne, Australia. Vidar, who is originally from Norway, lived in Australia for several years before moving to Stockholm to finish some architecture schooling. We met out for some dinner in the city center and then he proceeded to take me to two bars/restaurants that had great views of the city.