Stockholm: Day 1

After our half-week with Unn, Kim and I headed to Stockholm. While we were in Sweden, we figured it was worth seeing. We arrived Wednesday afternoon, and headed straight to our hostel, which was only 1 metro stop away from the main train station. Kim and I grabbed maps and went to go study them over Thai food. Our cashew chicken and cashew beef turned out to be really satisfying, partly because we've been craving nuts (but they're so expensive in grocery stores!) and party because it wasn't Italian food! Everywhere we go Italian food is the cheapest, so we've eaten a lot of that.

We walked to city hall, because it was on our way from the neighborhood our hostel was in to the center of town and because I wanted to take a tour. It was too late for tours, but we looked at the building and got information on when tours were happening.




After that, we walked over to Old Town to see the castle. We were on our way, with the castle in view, when we were distracted by a street, across the bridge, FILLED with people. If that many people were interested in something, we DEFINITELY were, so we went that way instead.

Turns out we had discovered the shopping street! It was filled with little gift shops and souvenir stores and, of course, H&Ms. Kim and I wandered the stores, and after a while decided we needed to....GO TO THE ICE BAR. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Stockholm has a bar made entirely out of ice. The bar itself, the walls, the glasses – everything. The whole bar was being maintained at a -5°C. Being the educated Californian that I am, I went in wearing my shorts. Big mistake.....ice is COLD!!!

The glasses:


Me!:




Hostel Review;
Lodge 32 was one of the best in my opinion, although it was one of the more expensive (about $30/night....yes, that's expensive for hostels). It was located only 1 metro stop from the main train station, and then about 20 meters from the metro stop. It was below street level, which was great for a couple reasons.
1) It was cool. When you pack tons of people into a room, especially in the summer, it gets HOT. Lots of our hostels have been terribly hot, and you just end up with a room full of uncomfortable, grumpy people in their underwear and lines for the showers. It was partly because Stockholm wasn't too hot, but also partly because we weren't on the sixth or seventh floor of a building, that the temperature in the room was comfortable – I almost considered sleeping under a comforter!
2) The light didn't shine into our room at 4am. In Northern Europe, ESPECIALLY Sweden because it is so far north, the sun sets really late and rises really early. When I'm trying to sleep, it's not so nice!


Kim and I had reserved beds in a 12-person coed dorm, but they were full so instead we got beds in a 4-person coed dorm for the same price. Awesome! The hostel didn't have very many showers or toilets (3 showers and 5 toilets for about 8 rooms of people....) but it was never a problem for us. Also, there was a common room with free wifi and free use of internet on their computers! Finally, there was a kitchen that we could use, which was nice even though it only had refrigerators and microwaves. It had free coffee and tea supplies as well.

Cons were:
-You're not allowed to drink alcohol in the hostel, although our roommates did in our room so clearly that's not really enforced. Espeically since:
-The staff leave at 6pm and there is only an emergency phone number. There's nobody to talk to if you want dinner restaurant recommendations, or help reading your metro schedule, or anything like that.
-Few bathrooms
-Breakfast not included, and too expensive to be worth paying for

But, all in all, its benefits far outweighed the drawbacks :D