Sweden: Day II (Stockholm)

Saturday, June 4^th:

            Today I slept in late as I did not get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. My internal clock was still way off, but it did not matter as I was going to meet my girlfriend Jen at the Stockholm-Arlanda airport! I took the Arlanda Express (after wandering around T-Centraalen for a good half-hour) and met her at her terminal. We brought her stuff back onto the Arlanda Express and back to our hotel. Jen and I both agree that while our hotel was adequate, the room was pretty small and the hotel reminded us of a tiny cruise ship cruising through the hills of the Vanadislunden Park.

Storskyrkan - The Cathedral of Stockholm, from a nearby plaza:

            After Jen took a nap—long morning that resulted in a ridiculous experience at a Turkish airport—we decided to walk down to Gamla Stan (Old Town) to try to find some dinner. I also wanted to show Jen the sights down there, so we strolled around on the old skinny roads for a little while. We settled on an outdoor restaurant called Restaurang Kaffegillet right outside the main door to Storkyrkan, the Cathedral of Stockholm. It was a very cool location and our first taste of Swedish food, as I ordered a delicious Reindeer Roast with steamed vegetables and blackcurrant jam, and Jen enjoyed Broiled Herring served cold with baked potatoes and veggies. After our dinner we wandered around back to downtown Stockholm and stumbled upon another couple massive churches and a free festival with music run by Volvo in the Kungsträd Park. Inside this park we also snagged a local treat called a “lickrit” that was basically a massive melon-flavored sour straw.

Absolut Ice Bar Stockholm:

            Jen and I walked back to the hotel to get ready for our first night out in Stockholm. We had heard about the Stockholm Absolut Ice Bar, so we headed there for a late-night adventure. This bar is the first year-round icebar in the world. The bar is created entirely from ice—the walls, the bar, the seats, the glasses you drink from, are all made from ice by professional ice sculptors. The room is kept at -5 degrees Celsius (about 23 degrees Fahrenheit) all year, and visitors are required to wear a warm cape and gloves inside (trust me, you would want to anyways). As the bar is sponsored by Absolut Vodka, each of the ten or so drinks on the menu contain Absolut Vodka (and decent amounts of it for such a small serving ice-glass) and different fruit juices and sodas. We stayed at this bar until it closed—bars in Stockholm close at 1am—and walked back to the hotel for some sleep before a long day of sightseeing ahead. I should also note, it was still fairly light out when we walked home, and the birds were chirping as if it was morning.

Jen and I at the Original Absolut Ice Bar: