Stockholm

Yes, I went to Stockholm with a dear friend of mine. It has been maybe 20 years since my last visit so I thought I ought to give the city another chance. I think that along with Tallinn, Stockholm is the most visited city by Finns as it is easy to reach by boat. It's just two nights at the boat and one day roaming the city streets. I'm quite amazed that I only managed to take one picture during the whole trip. I guess it had to be quite an extraordinary situation, then. You'll see. For more touristic pictures of Stockholm, use Google.

First a few words about the boat trips. I pretty much hate cruises. It seems that there are lots of people who pay for cruises just to get completely wasted and act like complete idiots. I did this when I was 18 or 19 but apparently not everyone gets too old for that. My first impression after getting on the boat was some young lads making stupid remarks of me and my friend and I was sure that the whole trip was doomed. Luckily, they were the only idiots I had to encounter this time. Maybe because we stayed away from the places where alcohol was served. However, the dry overpriced cheese sandwich that I had in the cafeteria in the evening didn't really cheer me up.

But Stockholm, it was beautiful. Even though we had to wake up at six am to get out of the boat, I was really happy. Visiting new places usually has that effect on me. We had breakfast in a cute little cafe called Gilda's Rum. It was colorful and rather kitsch. Very good start for a morning (although not for a vegan, I had the third cheese sandwich of the trip).

We started the day by walking around Södermalm and marveling all the cute hipster places we came by. Once again we concluded that Finland is really lacking color. The sun was shining and life was easy. We headed to Hornstull for a vegan and feminist oasis called Femtopia. There we had midday cafe lattes and some delicious chocolate cake. My only picture taken in Stockholm was from their toilet. Here it is:

This is what Stockholm looks like.

After our doses of caffeine, we headed towards the old town. It had its charm but it's pretty much taken over by souvenir shops selling exactly the same things. And of course the sci-fi book store where I could spend a fortune in. We also had a great and late buffet lunch in a vegetarian restaurant called Hermitage, after which we took a free walking tour around the old town. I can highly recommend doing that. After the tour, I realized having a long list of things to see or do in Stockholm so I guess I will need to go there again in not so distant future.