Our Two Days in Stockholm

During our time in Sweden we decided to travel to the capital, Stockholm, as a birthday celebration for Suz but also to show our kids around the city and what it has to offer. As we already had accomodation in Länna, we only packed a two small backpacks with basic overnight clothings and booked ourselves an AirBnb right in the middle of ‘Gamla Stan’, the old town of Stockholm.

We caught a train to Stockholm from Uppsala and purchased a travel pass that was valid during our stay in the city, this pass included all Trains, Trams, Buses and Ferries and was super easy to use and would recommend anyone to get as it saves time trying to get individual tickets to all these forms of transport which we ended up using during our two days in Stockholm.

Upon arriving in Stockholm we were still a bit too early to check-in to our AirBnb so we walked along the old streets of Gamla Stan seeing the sights and after lunch, checked in, dropped off our bags and made our way down to Slussen to catch a ferry to Djurgården.

The ferry ride was short but great as it offers amazing views of the city from the water. Once we got off the ferry we made our way along the side of the water to our first stop of the day, the Vasa Museum. This museum hosts an almost intact ship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 and was salvaged in 1961. Besides from the actual ship itself, the museum also displays various exhibits showing the construction, sinking and recovery of the ship and we also watched a movie that explain it’s history. This museum used to be part of a yearly school trip that I did on many occasions as a kid, however I hadn’t been back here for many many years and it was fun to see again.

After the Vasa Museum we walked a short distance to the ABBA Museum. During our last visit to Stockholm, this museum didn’t exist so it was something new for not only the kids, but also for Suz and I. Upon entering the museum we were handed a small speaker so we could follow the tour and both Xander and Eloise walked around listening to the history of the band, whilst looking at exhibits from that time. However the fun part came when you were allowed to interact with the exhibits, we sang karaoke to ABBA songs, danced in the silence disco sections and Xander even dressed the part, became the 5th member of the band and dance and sang together with the band on the virtual stage. We all had a blast and really enjoyed our time at the museum.

After the museum, we took the ferry back to Slussen and had a birthday dinner for Suz before heading back to our AirBnb. The following morning, we took the same ferry back and this time went to visit Skansen, a large open air museum and zoo that features replicas of a 19th-century town, where you’ll find craftsmen dressed in traditional dress as they perform their tasks, being such as silversmiths, bakers etc. We were really looking forward to seeing the glass blowing section but unfortunately it was closed on the day that we visited. Anyway, we made our way to the zoo section where we got to see a variety of Swedish animals such as moose, reindeers, bears, lynx and a large amount of farm animals as well. Whilst at Skansen we met up with my sister Zilia and my niece Noelia who had just arrived from the US.

After a few hours at Skansen, we all left together, said goodbye as we were meeting up again later in Uppsala, and we travelled to the Omnipollo brewery where Suz and I got to sample a range of their craft beers, which were great.

Not too long after that, we made our way back to Uppsala and Länna again. We only had two short days in Stockholm on this occasion but still felt that we managed to squeeze in a lot of activities and sights (and even got to see the preparations for the Swedish King’s Golden Jubilee celebration that day, marking his 50 years on the throne) and are looking forward to our next trip to the capital.