Stockholm
Stockholm is one of my favourite cities in Sweden, and I've been here many times. When I was younger, it was also a city I dreamed of moving to, but these days I'm perfectly fine just visiting. I make it there at least once a year. It's also usually where we catch a connecting flight from Arlanda whenever we're heading somewhere else in the world.
This time we decided to treat ourselves and stay somewhere special, so we spent a few nights at Grand Hôtel. You have to experience it at least once in your life, right? What an incredible hotel!
As is often the case when we visit Stockholm (though not always), our trip was planned around a concert. This time it was Ed Sheeran. What an amazing bundle of energy he has! I honestly don't understand how he managed to keep running around a rotating circular stage without sounding out of breath while singing—for so many hours!
The concert was fantastic, and I'd happily go to see him again. Another bonus was the opening act, Myles Smith.
Before our trip, we tried to book a table at Tommy Myllymäki's restaurant, Aira. We'd heard so many wonderful things about it. Unsurprisingly, it was fully booked almost immediately when the seats were released, so we ended up on the waiting list. Then, out of nowhere, we got lucky—someone cancelled, and we got a table. We love good food, and Aira certainly didn't disappoint. In fact, it exceeded all our expectations.
One day we took a trip out to Fjäderholmarna because we wanted to explore more of what lies beyond central Stockholm. It was lovely to wander around, enjoy lunch, and then head back by boat. Well... about that boat. The one we were supposed to take back in the afternoon never showed up because of a technical problem, so we had to wait an hour or so until another boat came to pick us up. Looking back, it's something we can laugh about now. At the time, though, we were genuinely wondering whether we'd make it back that day!
We also visited Nordiska Muséet at Djurgården one day, something my sister has highly recommended. It was fascinating to see all the exhibitions. One of the objects on display came from my father's home village. It really makes one wonder who it belonged to before it ended up in the museum. Maybe it was from someone we know?
Of course, we did plenty of other things too—a bit of shopping, Swedish Fika-breaks at cosy cafés, meeting up with friends, and taking a sightseeing boat tour. All the usual Stockholm favourites.
So, what was the highlight of the trip? Aira.