Stockholm Syndrome

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I arrived in Stockholm the day following the summer solstice to spend a week with my parents seeing Scandinavia. I was more than a little tired when I arrived in Stockholm after flying from Milwaukee to Detroit to Amsterdam to Stockholm, but I was not too tired to somehow find humor in the giant murals of Annika Sorenstam and Bjorn Borg painted on the walls of the airport just outside the baggage claim. I don't really know why this is funny; I only know that it is.

My first impression of Sweden as we were riding from the Stockholm airport to the city was that Sweden looks very similar to northern Minnesota. Maybe that's why there are so many people of Swedish Heritage living in the Northwoods.

After we arrived at our accommodation in Stockholm we took to the streets to see the sights of the Swedish capital. It was very strange. There was almost no one around. We walked for maybe ten minutes or so down to Gamla Stan and the restaurants and bars were all but deserted. This was kind of off putting, as this was by far the least lively capital city I had ever seen. Later on we realized that this was due to the fact that many Stockholm residents take to the countryside for Midsummer celebrations. As the days went on in Stockholm the streets grew more and more crowded and became busier with activity.

While in Stockholm we visited the typical tourist sites. We took in the Vasa museum to see the wonderfully preserved warship that sank in the 1600's outside of Stockholm. We visited the museums in the Stockholm Palace. We took a boat ride around the islands of Stockholm, we visited Skansen, we ate Swedish Meatballs, we saw The Nordic Museum, The Nobel Museum, and toured Stockholm's City Hall where the Nobel Prizes are awarded each year.

In doing all these things and seeing all the sights of Stockholm the one thing that always seemed to stick out to me was how expensive everything was. I had heard that Sweden was expensive in the past but I guess I always thought that was exaggerated somehow. Now I know it to be true. Even very simple lunches seemed to cost in excess of $150 for three people while we were in Stockholm. I know a big part of this is the current weakness of the US Dollar in the global market but even so this seemed to be almost beyond belief. From what we heard when we were in Stockholm apparently the cost of living in Oslo is even more prohibitive to foreign tourists than it is in Stockholm or Copenhagen. Either way I was glad I was there with my parents so they could foot the bill for almost everything while we were there. Without them I am pretty sure I would have been sleeping under a bridge after just a few days in Stockholm.

After spending four days or so seeing the sights in Stockholm we made our way to the passenger ship terminal and found the Viking Line ship bound overnight for Helsinki.

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Comments

[Brad]

HA
I like your picture tags.......ha....you're right, that dragon does not look happy