Sweet Swedish Stockholm – The people who created IKEA, Skype, and H&M

Besides the IKEA store, I really did not know much about Sweden before visiting. I landed late on Sunday night with a bit of a cold from Paris and hung-over from one too many glasses of red wine. While I waited for the baggage to come off the belt I converted my Euros to Krons and was ready to get out of there. A short walk takes me to the Arlanda Express which is one of the most impressive airport to city trains I’ve taken so far. The train reached speeds of 240km/hr which you would not know from how stable and quiet the train ran.

For my week in Stockholm I stayed near Gamla Stan, which is the old city of Stockholm with beautiful cobblestone walkways and little shops. I even found a coffee shop for my daily dose of caffeine. Surprisingly my barista is actually Australian and splits his time between Melbourne and Stockholm. Looking out onto the street everyday as I enjoy my double shot latte, I feels like living in Barbie’s world with a herd of beautiful blond haired blue/green eyed people speeding past on their push bikes. The large number of cyclists and the focus on eco-friendly sustainable solutions really impressed me. My favourite Swedish invention is the one developed by the local university that converts energy from water waves into energy.

It was great to meet up with friends and learn about the research they were doing, play some beach volleyball (man made courts), and eat crayfish for the first time. One of my favourite evenings was in a restaurant called the five houses with two great friends.  The restaurant was underground and had five different chambers. My dinner consisted of reindeer steak and elk carpaccio for the first time. Both were incredible and I hope I get to eat it again sometime.

Travelling has made me try new things and face many of my fears including chatting with strangers. One of the nights and I decided to head to the local pub in Gamla Stan after walking around the whole day. After grabbing a pint and chilling among the locals, I made a few Swedish friends and was invited to continue on partying with them. The drinks kept flowing till the early hours of the next morning and it ended on a high note.