Stockholm: An Archipelago

Stockholm was breath-taking. My favorite new city on the trip, with Prague a close second. The entire capitol city is comprised of small islands (one only has a single building on it) connected by bridges. When we were there it was still officially winter, and it was cold. I bought mittens and wore them daily. In addition to being cold, it was light. The sun rose at around 5:30 every morning and at midnight still seemed like the tail end of dusk. 

View crossing the bridge from Old Town.

We stayed in Old Town (Gamla Stan) among beautifully painted apartment buildings, looming churches, and narrow cobblestone streets. The rest of the city is surprisingly bustling -- I had expected Copenhagen to have more going on, but Stockholm is huge in comparison. We ate meatballs, sipped hot chocolate in front of the Nobel Museum, took ferries to the farther parts of town. Apparently, the city's population triples during the high tourist season, and I can really see why. As charming as it was from beneath mittens, scarves and winter coats, I can only imagine how nice of a place this would be to visit in the warm season. 

Orange church, blue sky.

The people, and this applies to both Copenhagen and Stockholm, were tall, blond, sturdy. The height struck me more than the blondness -- all that viking ancestry still shows. Overall, Stockholm felt very livable, it is an easy city to wander. From Stockholm, Erin and I went our separate ways, she to a whirlwind tour of Italy for the final week, and I was off to Paris and Prague to visit old and new friends.