He was in a small town called Orebro earlier in the week so I didn’t fly out until Wednesday night to meet him in Stockholm.
Wednesday night we had drinks with his coworkers in the hotel bar. Surprisingly, this group of men from all over the world had something in common. They all have kids and seemed so excited to welcome Jim into that new club called Parenthood. Of course, they spent the evening telling Jim about sleepless nights and business trips that ended with their wives throwing the kids at them as soon as they opened the door.
Thursday was pretty much a wasted day as Jim had to work and we were staying at a Hotel near the airport. At about 3:30, he was done for the day and we headed into Stockholm to check into our hotel.
We stayed at the Hotel Stureplan which was right in the middle of a trendy, restaurant filled neighborhood. The area felt really vibrant and was great for people watching. The TGIFriday’s even had a Deejay and the red carpet and velvet ropes at the entrance with a line out the door. .
That night, one of Jim’s coworkers from the States took us to dinner in the Old Town area called Gramla Stan. The restaurant was really good. I’ll have to look up the name and add it to the blog later. It was a great place for fresh fish.
The next day, Jim had some meetings and did work from the hotel room so I was on my own. I decided to simply wander the streets to get a feel for the city and do a little bit of shopping along the way.
On Saturday, we decided to take one of the boats to an island in the archipelago. It was another gorgeous day so was perfect for a boat trip. Although we were so lucky with the weather, the Swedish couple we met on the boat assured us that it normally isn’t so sunny and warm. It had actually been in the 40s the week earlier.
It was about a 90 minute ride to the island, Grinda. After baking on the boat for so long, we were excited to go for a little swim once we got to Grinda. However, that was before we felt the water.
The island was pretty undeveloped with only a few restaurants, a camping ground and cabins scattered throughout the woods. We spent the afternoon walking along the paths that snaked around the island hoping to find the perfect place for a dip that was never going to happen after feeling the cold, cold water.
For my birthday dinner we went to a trendy Asian fusion place that was near our hotel and always seemed busy. We went to dinner pretty early so we were able to snag an outside table. Dinner was really good and I’d definitely recommend the place. (Again, I’ll have to add the name of the restaurant at a later date as I am typing furiously trying to get up to date on my blog at 4am before flying home to the States.)
On Sunday, our flight wasn’t until 5:00 so we had time to visit the Vasa museum. I had already seen it 10 years ago when I was visiting a friend who lived in Stockholm but I knew Jim would love it. The museum is done really well. The Vasa Ship was a 17th century war ship that was intended for use in the war against Poland. However, the ship never made it out of the harbor. Two large gusts of wind blew this very top heavy ship over and it sunk to the bottom of the harbor where it stayed for hundreds of years.
The ship was very well preserved due to the low salt content of the water In the Stockholm harbor so is almost completely all original. I’d highly recommend it to anyone visiting Stockholm.
We stopped for some quick Thai and made a few clothing purchases before catching the plane back to Bonn.
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