November 12, 2007

Gamla Stan

I explored central Stockholm for the first time over the weekend and now I'm enchanted. I was a bit nervous to finally go into the city because I had such high expectations of it and I was afraid of being let down. Fortunately, I like what I see so far!

Everyone who visits Stockholm heads to Gamla Stan island first, which is the old town and the original part of the city. It's full of wonderful medieval architecture, has a labyrinth of winding cobbled streets lined with shops and cafes, and is home to the royal palace and the Nobel Museum. I spent about 4 hours walking around and probably didn't even cover half the stuff to see. It was -1 degrees, which didn't feel to bad in the beginning but walking by the waterfront you get blasts of biting wind so it was pretty brutal. I stumbled upon Tyska Kyrkan, which is the German church and the oldest German Protestant church in the world, so I'm told. The church grounds were milling with people and kids checking out the bazaar going on that weekend and there were stands for buying cider and fresh waffles. I ate a nice hot waffle to warm me up, and then found another building that was part of the church that was selling Christmas handicrafts and pastries. I decided to rest for a bit in the dining hall and warm up with my yummy apple cake and tea while reading more on the area and writing postcards. All rejuvinated, I found the Nobel museum but I had missed the last English tour of the day and instead checked out the huge royal palace.

By 3:30pm it was already dark and I considered hopping on the metro from the island but I saw everyone walking towards the central city on a pedestrian road. It turned out that this road was Drottninggatan (Queen's Street), which is the famous pedestrian street lined with shops and department stores. It was a great walk, especially at night with all the colourful lights, but I had to stop in a store every other minute because I was so freezing cold!

I can't wait to walk around in the springtime when the weather is warmer and the sun is out until 11pm. For now, I'll need to bust out my boots and arctic jacket.

Posted by mich at November 12, 2007 7:24 AM
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