I arrived into Stockholm on an early train on a Friday after spending time in Sweden’s far north exploring Norway’s Narvik and the Abisko National Park. I was promptly met by Marcus, a friend from University and we also travelled across the United States together. Marcus had recently decided to settle in Stockholm, I had a pretty good hunch why, but I wanted to see for myself to be sure. I would spend 12 days staying with him getting to know the city, while our friend from London would join us for the last five days.
That first weekend we were looking for a place to watch the All Blacks game against Australia and as a result of a Swedish guy we met who played rugby and had invited us to join him and his friends at a local pub that was screening the match we ended up joining him the next day and playing in a semi-professional rugby 10s tournament. I dotted down a couple times and the team notched up a win so a pretty good weekend on the whole. We couldn’t help but notice, true to form, even the Swedish women's rugby team was full of blondes.
Stockholm is a labyrinthine of waterways and alleyways around the old town, with beautiful historic buildings, especially around the Stortorget area of Gamlastan. Make you give yourself enough time to wander the streets, or ride a bike through the alleyways to become accustom with Stockholm’s hidden gems.
One of the most interesting attractions is the Vasa Museum which is one of Sweden’s most frequented attractions. The Vasa is a 64-gun Swedish military ship that was built in 1626, but sank in Stockholm Harbour ten mins into its maiden voyage in 1628 due to poor stability calculations. 333 years later it was rediscovered and raised it virtually intact; making it the only virtually intact 17th century ship salvaged of its kind. If you are ever in Stockholm, I highly recommended you be one of the nearly two million who visit it annually as it was fantastic.
