We decided to tack on a little jaunt to Stockholm, Sweden after our Scotland & Norwegian cruise. Even though my mom had been here before, she decided to join us which was a nice bonus.
Since it was such a short trip, I picked a hotel in Gamla Stan, the Hotel Gamla Stan, BW Signature Collection, so we were really close to most of our activities. There was a slight issue with our room – it was on the 7th floor, but the elevator only went to floor 6, it was insanely hot up there as it was essentially an attic, and the shade on our sloped window was broken so we had the sun in our faces at 4am. Despite all that, it was a perfect location.
Once we dropped our bags in our rooms, it was time for Meatballs! Yes, Swedish Meatballs! We had dinner at Fika & Wine where we enjoyed Swedish meatballs & wine. Then it was time to wander around Gamla Stan.
Gamla Stan is the Old Town of Stockholm and was founded in 1252. It was so charming and I loved walking up and down the cobble stone streets.
And of course no wandering is complete without a stop for pastries!
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, which was surprisingly fantastic. And then it was off to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a warship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. It was excavated after 333 years of sitting at the bottom of Stockholm Harbor.
The museum was fantastic and it was really cool seeing a well preserved ship from the 1600s!
For lunch, we had Russian food back in Gamla Stan before we headed to the waterfront for our Stockholm Archipelago tour. We opted for a 2 hour tour which took us past different sites and islands. It also included Swedish fika which is afternoon coffee & baked goods and a chance to slow down. We had perfect weather for it and I really enjoyed seeing the greater Stockholm area.
After our tour, we wandered around Gamla Stan some more. Chuck’s first order of business was visiting a licorice store that had been closed the night before.
I instead headed to Gamla Stans Polkagriskokeri where they make peppermint candies!
While we were coming back from the Vasa Museum, I spotted a F1 Car at the Audi Showroom in the downtown. Upon googling, I saw they had an Audi F26 Show car on display so I wandered over there while Chuck and my mom strolled Gamla Stan.
I was giddy seeing the car!
It was quite a walk there and back, but it also allowed me to see some of the Stockholm Cultural Festival which just kicked off.
After a brief respite at the hotel, it was time for dinner where we got… more Swedish Meatballs! And then, big shock, we wandered around Gamla Stan some more!
Chuck and I then headed over to the Royal Palace where they happened to be doing a Changing of the Guard! I couldn’t believe our good luck!
And that was our time as we left the hotel at 3:30am the next morning for a 6am-ish flight to Zurich then home.
Normally I’d be dreading our flight home, but Chuck found us a great deal using miles to fly on United Polaris home. Our initial flight from Stockholm to Zurich was the same seats as economy but the middle seat was free and we got a good breakfast.
But once in Zurich, we were able to visit the Polaris lounge which was really nice and had outdoor seats where you could watch the planes take off and see the Alps!
On board was sweet – we each had our own little lay flat pods. Plus we got multi course meals, good drink options, and amazing service. It was so nice!
All in all, we really enjoyed Stockholm. We both would love to go back some day to explore other parts of the city and just have more time to soak it all in.
This was a great way to end our Big Norwegian Cruise trip and it was extra special since we got more travel time with my mom!
