Stockholm

It’s taken a little while, now that we’re home, to complete this report and finalise this trip.  Part of the reason is the terrible tragedy in Eastern Ukraine where Malysian Airlines MH17 was shot down  by rocket fire with the terrible loss of 298 lives.  We were completely rocked by the news and both of us in tears as we watched the reports, partly because we had flown across western Ukraine, enroute from Stockholm to Doha, only a matter of 12 hours before this terrible tragedy.  Added to that, we have flown Malaysian a number of times and found them extremely good, but they don’t fly in or out of Stockholm.

As for Stockholm itself, we can only say, it is one of our favourite cities.  It is clean, safe, friendly and well laid out, with a rail system that works extremely well and lots of restaurants and bars with good food and friendly staff.  It is however, an expensive place to stay – accommodation is not cheap and the food and drinks are relatively expensive.  However, the city is lovely, buildings are well laid out and there are lots of parks and trees for public outdoor living.  It’s very easy to get around on the trains with a rail pass and many streets are pedestrian friendly, particularly in the old town, Gamla Stan.  Our apartment was in Gamla Stan, only 200 meters from the station and we had plenty of space, a good comfortable bed, washer and dryer and a large sitting room.  Our only problem, again, was carting suitcases up to the third floor.

Gamla Stan is the site of the old original, walled city, the Parliament and the Palace.  These buildings are quite spectacular and look out over the harbour, which itself is fantastic.  Newer areas on the mainland, have some wonderful buildings as well, but the harbour is the gem of the city.  Much of the city is built around the harbour and it’s very busy with water ferries, day-cruise boats and a little further out, cruise ships and Baltic Sea ferries from Finland and the Baltic states.

Added to all of this, of course, is the fact that we were there for a wedding, so we now have family living in the city (suburbs), so it’s highly likely that we’ll go back again.  My nephew Simon, married his Swedish Princess and they have a gorgeous daughter, Willow, who won everybody’s heart.  The wedding was held in a beautiful old church at Nykopping, about 100km south of Stockholm and the reception in an old converted barn, not far away.  Guests were bussed from Stockholm to the Mercure Hotel at Nykopping and we had a wonderful time at the wedding and reception,  with guests from 14 different countries.  Kim’s family are lovely people and were very friendly and inclusive and spent a lot of time ensuring all the guests had a great time.  One of the guests was a bit of a highlight, but we won’t go into that here – not appropriate.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit Stockholm, take it – it’s a really wonderful place.