Stockholm

So, my travels continue. The city I really wanted to visit; Stockholm. A few months ago I discussed going there with my friends in Finland but I decided to go in January instead. However, my friend Sterre also really wanted to see this city so we agreed to go together. I booked a night on the cruise ship Viking Line that would depart from Helsinki harbour and arrive in Stockholm the next day. I got to the ship, spend more than 2 hours on board when it was announced we had to leave the ship. There was a technical problem which meant we couldn't depart that very evening. I had to arrange accommodation for 1 night and I decided to book a flight for the next morning instead. I had to do a Covid-19 test as a second proof I was allowed to enter the country (I didn't even get checked) and had a validity of max. 48 hours. I stayed in a hostel at the airport for 1 night so I would be at the airport on time. My flight left at 7:45, so I had to be there early. The flight went very smoothly compared to the cruise ship, and once I arrived in Stockholm (which basically took about 30 minutes), Sterre arrived 1 hour later. First impression? Nobody was wearing facemasks.

Some differences...
In the beginning I kept saying Finland and Helsinki instead of Sweden and Stockholm - I was still in this mindset where I thought I still lived in Helsinki. Took me a few days to get used to. There is also a big difference between Swedes and Finns: the Finnish population is very introverted, they don't really care about how others appear or act, and they won't look you in the eye (at least not the real Finns), whereas the Swedes looked us in the eye, sometimes very judgy, and there was this rushed atmosphere. The cities also differ. Of course Helsinki looks quite similar to Stockholm because Sweden has ruled there a few hundred years ago and brought their designs with them. But Stockholm is very different though, I don't even know how to describe it (but you can take a look at the pictures :D). The city, or at least the old town (Gamla Stan in Swedish), is quite comparable to Tallinn, Estonia in my opinion. It looks cozy but because almost everybody is rushed I got the feeling of a mixed atmosphere. Everything was also still decorated in Christmas spirit even though it was mid-January. The weather was also very very different than Helsinki. I was used to a lot of snow and early dark days but in Stockholm that was very different. Absolutely no snow, above 0 degrees but it still gets dark quite early (around 3:30pm). There are a lot of similar stores in the city as to the ones in Helsinki, and also some familiar Dutch things: Staatsloterij, COOP supermarket, and MediaMarkt (originally German). In Finland, the Swedish language is the second main language used, therefore most information provided anywhere is also provided in Swedish. However, in Stockholm I heard a very different type of language. Of course in the city itself they speak more with accents whereas in Finland it is comparable when Dutch people try to speak English or German - they miss the real way of talking which is logical because it is not their mother tongue. It's funny, also because as a Dutch person I could sometimes understand the words as it is very similar to German and Dutch.

Activities
I don't even know how to write this, we saw so much. I think I will just leave it at the pictures. Though it is fun to mention that we visited the ABBA museum which is just a must when you're in Stockholm and was absolutely the best museum ever. I even got to perform on stage with them. We went to this location where we had an amazing view over the city; SkyView. We basically stood in some kind of ball made of glass which went all the way to the top of the world's largest spherical building (85 meters high) - the Avicii Arena. We tried some real Swedish pastries: a chocolate ball and semla bun - very sweet but delicious. There are 100 metro stations in Stockholm of which 90 are uniquely decorated with art. And I saw so many beautiful buildings, on each corner there was something wonderful to see hence the reason for the overload of pictures.

History
I am very interested in a city's history as this creates the actual city, the culture, the language, the surroundings and the people. We visited the National Museum of Stockholm which I found very interesting. I couldn't read into much detail but here some general history. Stockholm is established in 1252 by Birger Jarl. The name would mean wooden block (stock) and island (holm) which refers to the current old town. Long time ago, Denmark and Sweden have been in conflict for long time but it was liberated in 1523 by Gustav I Vasa. Nowadays, there is still a royal family in Stockholm. The King's name? Gustav XVI (think about that). In 1436, Stockholm became the capital city of Sweden. In 20th century, Stockholm became famous for its architecture and modernity. The type of architectural designs that can be seen in the city are often called neoclassicism. Fun fact: Sweden was able to remain neutral during the first and second world war, I didn't know that and surprised me.

Funny things
The weirdest thing in Stockholm that I will not forget about soon is the Covid-19 test I did in order to travel to my next destination. I had booked an appointment and assumed it would be the same as the tests they do either in the Netherlands or Finland. In Finland they only use a cotton swape in the nose, not in mouth. BUT here in Stockholm, I had to spit in a tube and that's it. I couldn't believe this would be accurate, but I don't mind because I just needed a travel certificate and I didn't have any other symptoms. Other thing, on the day of arrival I had 2 meetings about my internship. In the last meeting I had a first introductory session with my coach and my internet connection was so bad I was constantly put out of the meeting. Also on our day of arrival we had a delay when on the train from the airport to the central station. The man working on the train came to everyone in person to tell what the situation was and he did that like 3 times at least. And everywhere are Dutch people, wherever you go. Drives me crazy.

In total I stayed 6 days; I arrived on Thursday 13 January and left Wednesday 19 January. We had enough time to explore the city, actually too much time I think for just the touristic things. We learned some basic words. Sterre had already learned a bit, so she could teach me a bit and correct me (most of the time ;P). In the beginning it was getting used to constantly being with someone again because I have been on my own the last weeks. It was sometimes adapting but that is something that is always necessary when you go together. But it was very nice to have company again, I really needed it after these weeks on my own. We had a very nice time, saw a lot of highlights, it is a beautiful city, and I am sure I want to visit it again in the future. Tack for reading about my experiences in this great city. Ses snart! Hejdå! Pronounced heytho.