Stockholm - My First European Trip

Sweden is the first European country i'd visited since i came to UK 3 months ago..
This marks the starting point of my Euro trip.

Well to be precise, i went to Stockholm only, n no other parts of Sweden.
This trip was not even in the plan 1 month ago when ppl r bz planning for the France trip.

Giri & his friend Seelan came up wif this plan with some simple reasons:
(1) Seelan is a medical doctor in London n he wanna take a break n go for a trip
(2) Stockholm is 1 of the destination tht Ryanair flies to from Glasgow's Prestwick Airport
(3) The ticket's price is reasonable, timing is good, so let's go to Stockholm!

I hv to admit, when i agreed to join this trip, i din't know what to expect from Stockholm.
Then i asked Su, who had studied in Stockholm for a few months, n did some googling.
Answers i got was: Beautiful sceneries, and a lot of museums.

Ok, let me show u how it goes...
Our flight was delayed for 1 hr n we were kinda scared tht we can't reach Stockholm in time to take the bus which will bring us to the city. We reached Skavsta airport around 1o something n by the time we reached the bus station in Stockholm, it was almost midnight. We took a cab which cost us 120 kronor n the driver doesn't speak English... Giri: Is tht the Royal Palace? Driver: Errr....King house.. Ok, at least we know we r goin the right direction.

Hostel was quite nice, kitchen with complete equipments, plenty of clean washrooms, free internet, nice receptionists... Cool.

The next morning while waiting for Seelan to join us, we prepared pasta for lunch. Pasta were provided by the hostel, Free! But only pasta, not the sauce n any other materials.

After Seelan had arrived, we went out to explore this Scandinavian capital city. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, and it is made up of 14 islands. We stayed in Gamla Stan, the Old Town of Stockholm which is a tiny island between the city areas. We walked north to the city center exploring, n planning our journey for the following days.
V booked a bike tour for the next morning, n bought a Stockholm card tht would allow us to gain free access to most attractions & free transportation.

The next morning, we picked up a bike at the shop n follow our tour guide around the city, we cycled along the coastline, to the parliament buildings, prime minister's office, Nordic museum, Royal Garden..... It was nice to cycle around the city safely, n it's fun to cycle after not cycling for so long, but my butt felt terribly sore after tht tour..
The city is very cyclist friendly, the people here cycle a lot, and they even hv special lanes & traffic lights for cyclists. So i feel quite secured cycling around the city.
We spent the remaining day chilling & walking around the city again, coz our initial plan to meet up with Giri's friend din't work out.

The 3rd day is a bz day. We hv a tight schedule as we planned to optimise the use of our Stockholm card by visiting as many interesting places as possible in tht day itself.

We started with the Royal Palace, which is the nearest attraction to our hostel. Well yesteday our tour guide told us that the current ruler of Sweden is not a descendant of the Vikings, he is actually the decendant of one of Napolean's General... Two hundred years ago, the Swedish royal family was without a heir so they asked a Dutch prince to claim the throne but the tragically he fell frm the horse n died on his way. The Swedish royal family then turned to Napolean's Generals n this guy accepted the offer n he was crowned the King of Sweden. Mm, well it's not a dream to become a king isn't it?
The Royal Palace doesn't look nice from outside... It is basically a symmetrical squarish building, nothing spectacular for a Royal Palace, although the royal family were not living here anymore. The original Royal Palace looked better n more like a proper castle, but it was burnt down in the 17th century, n the current Royal Palace was built on the same site.
Our next stop is the City Hall, the local administrative center and the venue of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. We were led by a sweet Swedish tour guide, bringing us from hall to hall, explaining the history and stories of each halls.
The Nobel Prize winner will pass through this entrance of honour to the banquetting halls.The Golden Hall, as told by its name, is covered with gold mosaics, and this hall serves as the dance floor when the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony takes place.After a tour in the City Hall, we 'climbed' up to the top of the city hall tower
Next, we went to the Army Museum. Ntg worth mentioning here. Then next the Historical Museum, where the Viking's history is exhibited. Photo taking is prohibited, but we sneakily took a few photos, some not quite clear, without flash of course. Below is a picture of a Viking warrior, ready to smash his enemy's head with his hammer.
Our next stop is the highly rated Vasa Museum, the world's only 17th century warship tht is so well preserved. How did they manage to preserve such an old vessel? Well, it might be a tragic to the Swedish during tht time, but it sure sounds a bit funny today... The Vasa was supposed to be one of the mightiest warship built tht time, but it was badly proportioned, the body was too narrow, causing it to be unstable and thus when they set sail and fired a salute, the ship heeled over and sank, after sailing only for about 1 km. This ship was very new and it sank near the shore, which made it possible to salvage the ship in one piece after 300 years...
After spending 1 hour plus in this museum, we head to another museum, the other recommended attraction, the Skansen Open-air Museum. Unfortunately, we din't know that the cultural village section would be closed at 5, so we can only visit the Scandinavian animals.
Me feeding the little moose with a maple leafWe tried to use a leaf as bait to attract this red squirrel, if only we hv any nuts or fruits...
The playful bears, they seem to hv endless energy.

A snow owl, looks cool as always.

Shy lynx, it's not ez to spot one as they tend to hide themselves from ppl's view.
Wolfs are actually shy creatures, n they tend to keep away from human (of course when they r not desperately hungry), this is wat i've learnt from BBC's animal shows.
Last of all, we tried to get to the Kaknäs Tower, a TV & radio transmission tower, to get a good night view of Stockholm. We were so unlucky tht the tower was booked by some 'idiot' tht night, n we hv to go bck in disappointment, in rain.
On the final day, we manage to c the changing of the guards in front of the Royal Palace
After that, we went to the city center to hunt for some souvenirs, we hv planty of time to kill b4 our flight...

From my 4 days experience, i found Stockholm as a clean, friendly, safe & beautiful city.. U don c rubbish on the floor anywhere, ppl here speak perfect English n r willing to help, n i've seen ladies jogging at night alone around quiet places... We don c gangsters or drunken ppl lingering around. N of course the city is surrounded by water, making it uniquely beautiful in a way.