Sweden

My first thought on Stockholm was surprise at just how big this city is. In fact, it very much has a feel like so many other cultural capitals like London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. Stochholm is in fact smaller than it feels. It may just be because the city is spread out over so manty islands, canals and along the Baltic.

Prices here are almost just as expensive as the rest of Scandinavia, but you can find pockets of affordability. Like today, I enjoyed a meal of Swedish meatballs with ligonberries. I stopped into an upscale chocolate shop as well and enjoyed some very good and very rich dark hot chocolate.


The main attraction here is the museum housing the famous 1620s warship, the Vasa. It was built at the height of Swedish military power. It was considered to be the mightiest ship of it's time with over 60 cannons spread over two gundecks. The problem was the ship had some serious engineering issues and miscalculations and was too top-heavy. It sunk in just twenty minutes into it's inaugural voyage and sat at the bottom of the Baltic for over 300 years before being rediscovered in the 1950s. The wooden ship was in a remarkable state of preservation and has since been raised and is now displaced and preserved in a Stockholm museum. 95% of the original is intact and it's an amazing site.


The hostel I am staying at is a bit more high-tech than your usual hostel. The lobby has iMac computers everywhere to use. The basement rooms have sidewalk skylights looking up to the streets above. The rooms are keypad entry. There a couches and cushions everywhere...definitely a very comfortable place.