Trip #3: Stockholm

To get to where we were staying the first night we had to:

1. Take a bus from UEA to the airport at 3am
2. Ryan Air flight to Skavsta Airport at 8:40am
3. Take bus from airport to Central Station (that got stuck in the snow for about 10 mins on the way)
4. Train from central station towards Marsta (get off after 2 stops)
5. Take 2 rights, go through the woods, up the stairs (before the tunnel), turn to the right and go up to the 7th floor

Now the last step might seem  a little strange, and that's because we decided on this trip to try something new and "coach surf" for a night. "Coach Surfing" is a social networking site that connects people all over the world and, if you want to, you can host people in your home/apartment for free. People have profiles and if you're hosting someone you have to get certified and meet with a coach surfing representative to make sure you're sane and you can also read reviews. We found a woman that seemed really nice and willing to have all four of us (which not many people were willing to do!)

Snowy forests on the bus ride into the city

Colin and I on the train to the apartment

Where our bus momentarily got stuck

We got to her apartment easily and were very proud of ourselves for following the candyland directions correctly. However, when we opened the door we were immediately greeted by two cats jumping around. I am personally not a fan of cats, I think they're creepy and if you're going to have an animal out of a cage, get a dog. Unfortunately for my friend Liz, her dislike for cats runs even deeper. She is about one step short of being dangerously allergic. So, we put our backpacks down and left nearly immediately to get some touristy stuff in as well as some cat-free air. 

That first night we walked around and tried to get our bearings of the city. I once again had the pressure on and was the fearless leader, so I valiantly led us in circles around the Museum we wanted to go in to a few times before we finally went inside. After the museum we walked around a bit more and then found a pub to warm up and get dinner at. I tried malt wine which is actually delicious! We were pretty exhausted from a long day of travel and wanted to get up early the next morning so after hanging out at the pub for a bit we made our way back to the apartment.

 Some pictures from our walks:

Buildings in Old Town

When we arrived back at the apartment, we were immediately attacked by a third cat! Just Liz's luck. Thankfully in the train terminal we stopped at a convenience store and she got some Claritin, so we didn't have to start planning her funeral. However the problem with these cats (and with cats in general) is that they had no boundaries, so their fur/etc. was over everything, making it very difficult for Liz to breathe. We ended up spending some quality time chasing the cats out of our room then closing the door to confine ourselves to a cat-free zone.

Colin attempting to get the cat out of our room

The next morning we woke up early and made our way to a clean environment! We found our hostel really easily and who is the first person I see when I walk through the door? Matthias!! It was so nice to see a familiar face. We had known we were both going to be in Stockholm/ staying at the same hostel but it was lucky that him and his friends were starting the day the same time as us.

Leading the way to the hostel

We set our bags down and then were going to go to the Medieval museum but it didn't open until noon so I went to a church while the gang went to a cafe to get some breakfast. After that, we met back up with Matthias and his friends and watched the changing of the guards at the royal palace. Matthias and I stood on a huge snow pile so we had the perfect view of the entire thing! It was freezing, but definitely worth it.

Our awesome viewing spot

Following the changing of the guards we went to the Royal Armory where we got to hold replicas of 15th century swords. We then made our way to the Vasa Museum that has a ship that sank in 1622 but they just gained the technology in the 60's to bring it up out of the water. It was an amazing museum that not only had the huge ship but a lot of other great artifacts and information about Stockholm and the time period of the 1600s. After the Vasa we took the tram back to central city, stopped in another cool church and then headed back to the hostel to shower/ get ready for the night.

In front of a replica of the ship

Saturday night we went to a Medieval Pub in Old Town (Gamla Stan) which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. All the workers dressed up in medieval garb and the whole place was decorated like it was an old tavern in the Viking period. The food was delicious and it was great company too! A perfect way to end the weekend!

The group at the medieval pub

Reunited!

Sunday we had to make a sprinting finish to the bus leaving Stockholm to get to the airport but we made it in time and all was well! Another successful adventure!

Cheers.