We docked in Stockholm by our appointed arrival time of 7am. As we weren’t in a rush to depart the ship, we finished packing up our stuff (our primary luggage was placed out in the hall the evening before) and fed Emerson a breakfast in the Windjammer. The taxi queue was very long (and slow moving) at first. A representative from Royal Caribbean later told me that they’d requested ‘lots of taxis.’ Apparently, this meant ‘30’ to the Swedish taxi dispatchers when Royal Caribbean meant ‘500’ or so. In any case, the line was still long by the time we departed (around 9am), but it was pretty fast moving as more taxis had arrived.
After a short taxi ride, we arrived at Radisson Blu Waterfront. Initial impressions: nice hotel, seemingly new construction, good location, excellent view, room was ready early, great Gold Member “welcome gift” (perhaps the best strawberries I’ve ever eaten), but poor management of queues at the front desk (which on balance is a fairly small nit). I’d likely stay here again.
After dropping off our stuff, we set out to explore Stockholm. Since we had an early morning and because a lot of shops are closed on Sundays, we opted to focus on the more modern part of Stockholm. We walked to Kungstradgarden (“King’s Garden Square”) and began Rick Steves’s suggested self-guided walking tour of modern Stockholm. This stroll took us through the park, into a Volvo showroom (much more expensive than home despite being Swedish), via the NK department store (rather high-end), through the Gallerian Mall (where we had a coffee and muffin – our nod to the traditional fika and witnessed an unusual ‘fish pedicure’ at the spa in the center of the mall), by Sergels Torg (home to 1960s functionalist architecture—which seems horribly dated to me but is embraced as ‘retro’ cool by the young, hip Swedes).
Stockholm's Kungstradgarden (King's Garden Square)
Sergels Torg, overlooking Plattan (The Platter)
After completing our walk (around 2pm), we grabbed a quick lunch (high prices, though cheaper than Norway) and headed back to the hotel for Emerson’s nap. Following her nap, we relaxed for a little while and then headed back out to explore more of modern Stockholm. We visited the food hall (grocery) at the Ahlens department store to buy some supplies (prices much better relative to convenience stores on the street), which included some of the best candy (especially licorice) that I’ve ever eaten. For dinner, we went to Macho—a Tex-Mex place—kind of like a Swedish version of Chipotle or Moe’s. The tacos that we ordered were actually pretty good and the guacamole (making Emerson very happy) was borderline excellent… all for about $15. Along with the Tex-Mex, we also ate the fruit plate provided by the hotel. Besides the guacamole (and a couple of chips), Emerson ate the majority of the strawberries and about half of a pear, which made for an unconventional but relatively healthy meal.
So far, Stockholm is a hit! Libby already claims to “love it,” telling me that “if Sarah Palin or that other crazy lady—the one from Minnesota—were to become President, this is where we’d move to in Europe…” rather than joining Alec Baldwin in France, as I’d planned. What can I say? I can’t really disagree…
Today’s box score: +1 country (Sweden)