I spent 2 days in Stockholm in the summertime. So what can you do in just 2 days?
Well you can visit the ABBA Museum which is a new addition to the museum world. I loved the museum and i spent nearly 3 hours in that museum. It has all that you want, the best part is the interactive part. You get to interact in different activities. There is history, fun music effects, audio guides, sing ABBA songs, record a music video with animated ABBA members. See the doll versions of the members in ABBA and just enjoy yourself walking around in different parts of the museum. You also get a a password so that you can log in to the ABBA museum homepage and see your result from your visit and get to see the video you made. Price: 195 SEK (Swedish kronor). If you want to have a audio guide (which is really helpful to use) it cost 235 SEK. This video shows the dolls and the real ABBA members even Cher is in this video. It is a funny video with the famous ABBA songs and famous Swedish people.
Take the boat from Slussen to Djurgården (island with amusement park and Skansen and ABBA museum) and walk around the island and look at the sea. Boat trip which is called Djurgårdsfärjan cost 45 SEK for one way. If you are at Djurgården island you should also visit the Vasa Museum. It is a old and big ship which was built long time back and have lots of magnificent details and only went 400 meters before it just sank into the sea. Although it did not sail very far it has become one of the best tourist attractions and is a museum you just have to visit! Tickets cost 130 SEK.
There is a bridge on the other side of the island which you can walk over to reach the city again. It will be like a little round trip.
After that you can have some dinner in the city, there are lots of nice restaurants to choose from. When you have eaten and are ready to go the next thing to discover is the inner city. That means the shopping area. There are many shops to choose from. One place where you have to go is the NK shopping gallery. It is a fancy place with lots of Brand boutiques where everything is expensive but at least you can say that you have been there.
Another place you cannot miss when you are in Stockholm is the Royal Castle. It is located in “Gamla stan” (Old Town) on an island in the middle of Stockholm. It is a big castle but it does not have a fairy tower like in the Disney movies. This is more of a practical castle with over 600 rooms on 7 floors in a plain and simple design of a square Castle. Imagine living there, then you could change rooms everyday and still not be able to stay in all the rooms because there are only 365 days per year. So with all these rooms you would think the King will have lots of space to live there, but the King do not actually live there. The King instead lives in Drottningholm Castle, which is located in west of Stockholm.
If you want to visit the Royal Castle in Gamla stan the ticket cost 150 SEK. If you get lucky you might even see the Swedish King in some special occasions. Check out the Royal guards while you are at the Royal Castle (it is free) but do not step inside the marked circle on the ground surrounding the guard. You might get a angry guard after you. No I am just kidding, they will shoot you instead. No but seriously, I do not know what will happen I have never seen anyone actually dare to go inside the circle on the ground.
While you are visiting the Royal Castle in Gamla stan it is also a good idea to just walk around the blocks in that area. There are lots of nice small alleys here and there and you will get to see colorful houses and narrow streets.
On the main square in Gamla stan where the colorful houses are (as you can see in the Gallery) it was known to be the place where they executed people long time back. It is called the place for Stockholm blood bath from the year 1520. Just a history lesson for you all so you get some historic part of Stockholm as well. Getting back to present time. Stockholm is a beautiful place.
Since there were a concert in town when I was there I went to Globen “the globe” where most big concerts are held. This time it was a concert with Rihanna and I had free VIP tickets. Globen was full of people all to the top of the roof. It was a great concert better than i expected and the audience was very excited to see Rihanna. Usually the ice hockey games, horse shows and athletic games are held in Globen. If you are a star and you get to perform here then you have really made it big.
The second day I went to see a museum called Fotografiska. They were showing pictures from India and one famous photographer Helmut Newton‘s picture were also at display. I had never heard of him but I quickly found out that he likes to take pictures of naked woman. The walls were filled with pictures from the 70’s. There were other exhibitions as well. One was modern art and there you could see this hand with the violin strings. This was from the exhibition of Motohiko Odani from Japan, who is one of Japans most popular artist of today’s time.
After spending 2 days in Stockholm i was ready for the flight back. It is very easy to get from Stockholm central station to the biggest airport in Stockholm called Arlanda. There is another one also called Bromma Aiport but that is mostly for domestic flights. So to get to the airport called Arlanda you can take the express train or bus. I always take the bus it just takes about 50 minutes. You get to see Stockholm while the bus drives you from inner city to the country side. It is a nice way to get to see parts of Stockholm you didn’t get to see while walking around the city.
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