Stockholm

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We arrived in Stockholm at 7am and took the bus to our hotel. We were too early to check in, so we left our bags in the luggage room, had breakfast, and headed back to the train station to reserve our overnight tickets. The night trains are great because you don’t waste any of your day traveling, however you arrive at your destination so early that you don’t have anything to do. We had to reserve our seats and the office didn’t open until 10am so we walked back to at least secure our seats on the next train.
Apparently everyone had the same idea and it was over an hour before our number was called. We were all exhausted and ended up sleeping in the waiting area while we waited.

The woman we spoke to was extremely nice and was able to reserve the rest of our overnight tickets so we wouldn’t have to be hanging around the train station each morning before our overnights. The woman in Copenhagen told us it was impossible to book an overnight on a train in another country, but evidently she was just being lazy. Whatever the case, this woman in Stockholm was able to not only reserve our spots on the remaining overnights, but she reserved us rooms instead of individual seats. We were ecstatic to know that we would now have beds and a private room - no more smelly people and feeling absolutely exhausted the next day!! We also had a change in plans. Originally we were supposed to have an afternoon train to Oslo and an overnight to Bergen, but she suggested we change our plans slightly. It was good advice and so instead we gained the entire next day in Stockholm (instead of leaving on a 2pm train). Plus, the connection between Oslo and Bergen is supposed to be exceptionally scenic so we wouldn’t miss out and be asleep for the ride. We were all satisfied with our changes and headed back to the hotel to check in. This time our room was available and we all collapsed into bed and slept.

We woke up, showered, and dressed in time for dinner (I know, long nap!!) We walked back into town to try a restaurant that we’d read about in our guide book. Seating was outside on a hill overlooking the water with lots of trees and plants. It had a really great view and amazing food. It was all vegetarian and a buffet. We had tons of great things like: couscous, quinoa, fresh bread, curry…. It was delicious and although we all ate as much as we could, we didn’t leave feeling bloated and stuffed. The difference between eating burgers and fries and eating this food was huge.

We left the restaurant and walked through the Old Town. It was already getting late and many of the stores were closed. We walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

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