A Nordic winter in Stockholm

This winter, I spent two very cold months (Jan to March) in Stockholm. My last visit to the city ten years ago had been quite uneventful even though it was in summer. And my view hasn't changed much this time either. As I was there on work, I was mostly confined to my hotel and office. But I did get a chance to see a side of the city which maybe could have been more interesting, if not for winter...

About the city

View of Stockholm at sunset

I mostly stayed in the central part of Stockholm, overlooking Gamla Stan, the old town set on a small island. The views outside the hotel were impressive, with huge majestic stone buildings perched on top of small hills all around and surrounded by water. Stockholm is composed of a lot of small islands dotting the sea and there are a lot of waterways and canals everywhere, which adds a dash of character to all views. And a lot of the buildings are colourful, at least by Swedish standards, making all the views quite picturesque.

All snowed up

Stockholm is old, yet very modern and efficient in how its infrastructure is setup. And everything works fast and like clockwork. In fact, its one of those countries where its very easy to catch your flight even if you leave just an hour earlier - I tried it many times and it always worked. Also Sweden, is a low cash country and everyone accepts credit card. I spent three months there without ever seeing a Swedish Krona!

Its easy to get around the city, there are trams, trains and buses. We used taxis quite often and they were easy to find. One thing to note is that different cabs charge different rates for the same distance, so its important to book one in advance, preferably the cheaper ones😊. Overall, they are very expensive as is the rest of the city. Regarding food, there are amazing restaurants in the city and food is really yummy and its easy to be a vegetarian. But as expected, its very very expensive.

Touristy stuff

One weekend, I decided to stay back in the city and explore some of the places around. It also turned out to be the week when the Beast from the North was hitting Europe. So it was -23 degrees that weekend, definitely not the best time to explore a European town. As expected, I did get to see some of the city, but it wasn't as much as I would have wanted.

Narrow streets of
Gamla Stan

One of the days, I walked to the Gamla Stan which was very close to my hotel. I first passed by the Houses of Parliament which was am imposing building with lion head gates. And then into the old world charm of Gamla Stan. Even though the weather was cold, there were loads of tourists around. The whole area was full of cobbled pedestrian streets with lot of colourful buildings and small alleys everywhere. The streets were lined with small quaint cafes, boutiques and handicraft shops on both sides. They were fun to explore and I could see it being a lively place in the summer but for now, it was a bit of a struggle walking around in the biting wind and cold.

There were a few popular buildings nearby to visit too. The cathedral was quite well decorated inside and had some exquisite pieces in gold, especially from the last coronation. Next to it was a grand square and the Nobel museum. And the Royal Palace next door was huge and had great views against the setting sun. There were also loads of museums everywhere. Stockholm is known for its many museums, but I wasn't as interested in them. So I continued walking around and taking in the sights and feel of things around.

Views of Stockholm

While walking back to my hotel, I saw other parts of the city and it looked very enchanting. With old grand colourful stone buildings visible from a distance on top of hills and waterways with boats all around. It was a nice enjoyable walk, but I couldn't stay out for more than 2-3 hours in the cold, so I had to soon come back to to the hotel for the warmth of indoor heat.

The next day was even colder, if that was possible! So I chose to visit the Vasa museum and it turned out to be a good idea. Vasa is the name of a ship from 400 years ago, with almost as tragic a history as the Titanic. It was supposed to be the pride of Sweden, decorated with 1500 wooden sculptures and big enough to house 400 crewmen. However, it sunk on its maiden voyage within a couple of hundred metres of its launch and lay at the bottom of the seas till it was taken out after 400 years on the ocean floor. And the best part is that even after being in the water for so long, most of its structure remained intact. And it now gives a good insight into the lives of people 400 years ago.

Mast of the Vasa

The museum is setup on multiple floors and has lot of displays linked to what they found in the Vasa and how it was recovered. For me though, it was the actual ship which was the most interesting of all. The wooden mast with all its sculptures is majestic and a sight to behold. Imagining how it would have looked in its glory, all painted in bright colours with the Roman Gods and the lions and other sculptures is fun, it would have looked quite magnificent sailing in the sea. And you can now imagine how Sweden and other colonial countries would have impressed and conquered the worlds at that time with their huge and dominating ships.

The Vasa

There was a lot of history related to the ship which was quite revealing to me. It was interesting to know that the Swedish and Polish had years of wars because of differences in faith - Protestant and Catholic. I never knew that earlier. It was also ironic to see, that an imperfect ship which failed in its purpose has a museum to itself now 😂. The ship drowned because it was not constructed properly and then survived 400 years to be in a museum today! How ironic is that?

That Christmas-y feeling

As soon as I came out of the museum, I ran into a view right out of paradise. There was a white river with bridges across it and the beautiful coloured houses of Stockholm, up and down the streets. With the sun setting, there was light music playing in the cafe and the Christmas lights started to light up. On the other side of the road, there was a huge park which had a frozen river. I just sat there outside the cafe for some time and enjoyed this view. No one had mentioned this place to me and I am glad I found it. Though the cold ensured that I couldn't stay there long enough, but I would have loved to...

Then I walked to the neighbouring park and tried walking on the frozen river. It was an exciting but scary feeling. I knew that nothing would happen to me, but still every step I took was very very carefully placed. Again it was so cold, I could not stay out too long and after accomplishing the feat of walking on frozen water, I went back quite quickly to my hotel.

During winter, skating on ice in the lakes and water bodies is quite popular. You can do it in Hagapark, Hellasgarden or Millesgarden. However, given how cold it was, I was not in the mood to do anything too action oriented and so missed out on it. Also, there are many other parks and small castles around which are good to visit, explore and enjoy.  I went to one small old castle very near the central city which was lovely. It had great interiors and a view of a frozen lake outside, again dotted with houses in white around it, all very captivating views. And of course, in summer, the most touristy and popular thing to do is rent a boat and explore the islands around by yourself, stopping at some of them and having a picnic in the sun. But that's for another time.

This one weekend when I stayed back in Stockholm and explored it a bit, I finally found that it is actually a beautiful city. With its waterways and hills and scenic buildings. But it takes time (and better weather) to explore it to find the beauty that lies there.

Weather

Zipping through the snow

The weather in Stockholm in winter has to be one of the worst I have ever seen. Its so dark and cloudy the whole time and there is no sunlight at all - its not a joke, it is actually that bad. All the waterways are frozen and always white. And its always snowing. Apparently February is always the worst month and then slowly it starts to get better, so I saw it at its worst. It is quite dark most of the day, with limited hours of light and I found it quite depressing.

One of the weeks I was there, it snowed continuously for 3 days in a row. And everything turned white. There was many feet of snow outside. Initially I thought I would play with the snow, but it was so cold to just be out, leave along trying to play in it, I never got to do it. But I did learn that it doesn't make sense to wear heels at all in such weather. It could get very slippery very quickly, so boots was the way to go the entire winter.

The temperature when I was there was below -10 most of the days. But when the sun came out for a bit, the whole city looked a lot brighter and cheerful. One of the days when the maximum temp was 6 degrees, people actually thought it was hot and were regretting why they wore a jacket 😂. Not for me though, I was just happy to see some sun and some sunlight, even if for a few minutes. Maybe that's why museums and eating out is quite popular in Stockholm; there isn't much you can do otherwise in the winter.

People and culture

Swedes are said to be quite reserved people and don't mingle well with people who are not Swedish. And I heard this so many times while in Stockholm that I would assume it to be true 😜. I also heard that Swedes almost behave like different people in summer and winter. Apparently they become more open and friendly in summer and clam up in winter. I don't know how true it is, so can't say. But I did find them to be quite distant even if friendly in the few interactions I had. Overall, Swedes are not very religious - they say they are 'culturally Christian but not religiously'. Its also a very non-hierarchical society and you can see it for yourself very easily.

I noticed some small things while there which are definitely part of their culture, even if it cannot be defined as such. First, they have a lot of holidays. Everyone gets full 6 weeks off in summer, then one week sports week where they all go skiing in the mountains and then Christmas. That is quite impressive.

Also, Swedes all like to eat lunch at 12, almost like clockwork. Everyday the cafeteria used to be full at 12 and empty completely if you go at 1230! While I was there, they had a festival of eating semlas (a kind of pastry) which are traditionally eaten on the day. They are not very healthy and neither very tasty, but everyone around was excited to eat semlas on the festival day 😊. Also pancakes Thursdays seems to be a thing there which I haven't seen elsewhere.

They do have some funny traditions too. One of which is jumping into ice cold water in frozen rivers after a shower and then running back to the indoors warmth. And this is taught and practiced in schools! Very interesting...

Service quality overall was quite poor. The worst example was my hotel - even though they were a 5 star chain, they would not send water or come up to my room to give my passport. They rarely helped with the luggage. You ask for a taxi and they ask you to come down and call for it yourself. I also once got almost scolded for calling the carpenter to fix my door lock! Its a very do-it-yourself country which I found worse than some of the other European places I had visited.

In the last few centuries, Sweden and other Nordic countries used to be quite poor. They only recently became richer. And because of this history, there are thousands of Swedish people in US who had migrated there when conditions were difficult. And now Sweden has a lot of migrants coming in (and consequently migrant problems). I didn't see it much when I was there but heard it being talked about quite a lot, plus a lot of my friends asked me if I saw it. Once asked, I started noticing it a bit. All taxis are now driven by migrants. And a couple of times when walking in Central Stockholm at night, I saw some people standing around and creating a ruckus on the streets which made it look less safe than I would expect. Things seem to be changing even in this country which for years has been quite isolated from the world...

One view I always remember of Stockholm and Sweden is a view from the air when flying out one of the weeks. It was dark as usual, and I could see the clouds below me, stars above and some house lights below. And all through the route, the clouds shone because of the lights below... It was the perfect example of finding beauty in small things, where you would not expect. But it hasn't happened for me and Stockholm yet. People love the city but I haven't figured out yet why. I have been there many times and I still think its an average city. It does have a lot of museums but something is missing. But maybe there is something in its beauty which I am missing?