June 5–9, 2017 · Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm

A wonderful city—and five very busy days

While in Stockholm, we did not rest. Each day we boarded the T-Bana at Hagsätra station and rode into the city, usually getting off at Slussen or Gamla Stan. Stockholm was easy to explore on foot and by public transit, and we packed a lot into our five-day stay.

In Gamla Stan: Margaret/Peggy, Booi/Sheri, Michelle, Neva, and Cora.

Our Stockholm routine

Hagsätra to the city each day

Stockholm is well suited for walking and public transportation. Several times a day we walked to the market in Hagsätra, buying groceries from the ICA Supermarket or MatDax.

As I recall, the stores did not provide paper or plastic grocery bags and expected customers to bring their own. We mostly ate at the rental home and carried snacks with us on our trips through Stockholm.

That daily routine—T-Bana rides, neighborhood grocery shopping, making meals at the apartment, then heading back into the city—made Stockholm feel a little less like a hotel stay and a little more like temporarily living there.

Life at the rental

Groceries, sandwiches & Swedish stores

The ordinary details—food, markets, and making meals—became part of the travel memories too.

Photo quality: the small BMP images are retained for fast display. Clicking a photo opens the corresponding high-resolution JPG when an exact match exists in the archive. The two grocery-store candy images link to the full high-resolution Stockholm gallery because the uploaded archive does not contain an unambiguous one-to-one JPG match for those thumbnails.

Neva helping prepare sandwiches in the Stockholm rental apartment — Neva helping prepare sandwiches in our rental apartment.

Food sold in tubes at MatDax in Hagsätra — Food in tubes at MatDax. We found Swedish grocery packaging interesting—fish, ketchup, cheese, and more.

David beside a large wall of candy in a Stockholm-area grocery store — David with one of the impressive walls of candy.

Wall of candy at ICA Supermarket in Hagsätra — Another candy wall at the ICA Supermarket in Hagsätra.

Old Stockholm

Gamla Stan & the waterfront

Much of our Stockholm time centered on the Old Town and the surrounding historic city.

Most of our day trips during our five-day stay were centered around Gamla Stan, Stockholm's Old Town.

I found Stockholm to be a beautiful city with amazing old architecture, palaces, cobbled and hilly streets, and wonderful views of the water and the surrounding archipelago.

We spent a lot of time simply walking through the area, moving between Gamla Stan, the palace district, the waterfront, and nearby attractions.

Margaret Peggy Blackford, Sheri Booi Blackford, Michelle, Neva, and Cora in Gamla Stan — Gamla Stan: Margaret/Peggy, Booi/Sheri, Michelle, Neva, and Cora.

Blackford family near Slottet and Gamla Stan in Stockholm — Near Slottet, just outside Gamla Stan: Booi/Sheri, Cora, Margaret/Peggy, and Neva.

Kungliga slottet

The Royal Palace

We spent most of one day exploring the Royal Palace and its collections.

Royal Palace in Stockholm — The Royal Palace — Kungliga slottet.

Bret and Michelle at the Royal Palace in Stockholm — Bret and Michelle at the Royal Palace.

Neva in the Royal Armoury at Stockholm's Royal Palace — Neva in the Royal Armoury.

Storkyrkan

The Old Cathedral & the phone booths

Storkyrkan is next to the Royal Palace. The phone booth photos were taken just outside the church.

Storkyrkan, the old cathedral beside Stockholm's Royal Palace — Storkyrkan, Stockholm's old cathedral.

Cora in the phone booth outside Storkyrkan — Cora in the phone booth outside the church.

Neva in the phone booth outside Storkyrkan — Neva in the phone booth.

Vasamuseet

The Vasa Museum

The Vasa Museum was awesome. The museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged: the 64-gun warship Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.

The Vasa ship at Vasamuseet in Stockholm — The remarkably preserved Vasa at Vasamuseet.

Skansen

The open-air museum

Skansen is an open-air museum and was also quite awesome. Here are the kids—Neva, Cora, and David—taking a rest.

And is that not a beautiful view?!

Stockholm by water

Ferry to Drottningholm Palace

Stockholm is an archipelago, so travel by boat is often part of getting around.

We needed to take a boat to visit the royal residence at Drottningholm Palace (Drottningholms slott).

The ferry trip itself was part of the experience and gave us another view of Stockholm and its waterways before reaching the palace.

Blackford family aboard the ferry to Drottningholm Palace — Taking the ferry to Drottningholm Palace.

Stockholm and Drottningholm Palace during the family trip — Drottningholm Palace and the Stockholm waterways.

An evening adventure

Shopping with Aunt Booi

Not every memorable Stockholm moment involved a palace or museum.

One evening Cora and Neva went shopping with their aunt Booi.

Unfortunately, Cora did not buy the fire pajama pants.

Cora and Neva shopping in Stockholm with their aunt Booi, including fire pajama pants — Shopping with Booi—and the fire pajama pants that got away.

One of our few restaurant meals

Polpette

Most meals were at the rental, but we did have a nice dinner just outside Gamla Stan.

One of the only meals we ate out was at a nice restaurant just outside Gamla Stan: Polpette, located at Drottninggatan 6, 111 51 Stockholm.

Although it was a very nice restaurant, it was the only establishment in Sweden where we were actually expected to tip.

Another GREAT thing about Sweden: tipping is generally not expected in the same way we were accustomed to in the United States.

Cora at Polpette restaurant in Stockholm — Cora at Polpette in Stockholm.

More Stockholm photos

The original Sweden 2017 site also includes a larger Stockholm photo page with many additional family photos from these five days.

The original page also referenced miscellaneous Stockholm photos and videos on Flickr.

Open the full Stockholm photo page →

Preserved from the original page

Miscellaneous Stockholm photos on Flickr

These Flickr photographs were part of the original Stockholm page and are retained here. Click any photo to open its Flickr page.

Stockholm and Drottningholm photo on Flickr