Gamle Stan and Ice in Summer

Stockholm's Cathedral

On our first evening in Stockholm, we took John and Cherie over to Gamle Stan (literally Old Town) for dinner and a bit of wandering through the old narrow streets. We started pit hungry so we stopped at the first restaurant we reached, a nice Italian with outdoor seating, an Anerol spritz, and some good pasta. Fully refreshed we wandered across the peninsula looking at all the other restaurants. As we reached the end we walked up one block for the walk back to our hotel.

Typical narrow streets in Gamle Stan

Government buildings

This street is filled with shops. A lot are tourist-oriented, but several have some nice Swedish crafts to entice the tourist. We did buy a couple of things for presents. We seldom purchase anything for ourselves any more when we travel because we live in such a small condo and have little room for trinkets. What we do buy every place we go is ornaments for our Christmas tree. Decorating the tree always brings back great memories.

Who imagined Russian cars were popular enough for a poster

One of the portals to Gamle Stan

Our second evening was a bit more exciting. We started with a search for a nearby dinner restaurant finally settling Weindao, an Asian restaurant. I had sushi, Linda had Pad Thai, John had a rice dish, and Cherie had Chow Mein, so they do cover the Asian waterfront. Following dinner we moved on to Stockholm’s Ice Bar for an alternative summer experience. There are other ice bars in Scandinavia, but this is the only one that is open year round. They provide winter capes and gloves, one drink and a stay limited to 45 minutes for about about $20 per person. After suiting up, we entered through a double door into an area surrounded by 20,000 metric tons of river ice. At 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the room stays frozen without additional refurbishing other that the nightly washing down. They do rebuild it once a year with new designs.

Glasses made of ice

On our throne

Our bartender was dressed in jeans and a jacket with gloves to protect the hands as he prepared drinks into ice glasses. We had a variety of drink choices, each with a Nordic name mixed with some Nordic liquor or flavoring. We could sit on a Viking throne or in a Viking longboat or show our face through a hole to look like an ice covered Viking. Several of the panels talked about the ice or life during Viking times. One panel focused on the power women had during that time as leaders, both political and economic. It sounded much more equitable than today.

Ancient runes

At the bar

We met a small group of people who had come to Sweden for a wedding. From Stockholm, they were headed north to visit an ice hotel before joining the wedding party. It turned out we had a mutual friend in Vancouver and two of them had lived and worked in Portland for a time. Another has a house in Windsor, so we may see them again.

Lots of reading material

Take a seat in the Viking ship

The trip is soon over. Tomorrow we leave the Briggs for Uppsala and its cathedral north of here and then to southern Sweden to search for some of my family roots. Briggs have one more day in Stockholm before heading back home.