I left Copenhagen by train, going over the Oresund bridge to Sweden and up the coast to Stockholm. The trip took about 5 hours, but the ticket was very cheap (about $30 for a non-refundable 2nd class ticket) and it gave me the chance to see a bit of Swedish countryside on the way.
Stockholm was an absolute delight, and my 2 and half days there weren't nearly enough. It's a large city of around 2 million residents (in the greater metro area), with the main city area spread out over 14 islands connected by over 50 bridges. Of the 5 main districts in the inner city area I only managed to see Gamla Stan (the old town), most of Norrmalm, and part of Ostermalm. I also made a visit to the eastern end of the Djurgarden island on my last day. However, the city is huge and I think I could easily spend a month or more exploring.
One interesting way of getting an idea of the scale and layout of the city is to check out the Stockholm scale model that is in the cultural building in Norrmalm. Here is a picture of part of the model. It's built at a scale of 1cm of the model equals 10 meters in reality. It's very cool in that it not only shows current buildings, but is many places shows future developments (the white buildings).
Another thing I really liked about Stockholm is the great mass transit system they have. There are several metro lines that will get reasonably close to where you want to go, and the walking distances downtown aren't too bad. There are also supplements bus and tram lines in some places.
The metro lines are down deep, as the picture below looking down the escalator gives you an idea. But they are very clean, quick, and a great way to get around.
It was rainy and wet for the first half of my first day there, but below are some of the pictures I took.
This is the famous town hall where the Nobel Prize awards are given, looked at from Gamla Stan.
This is a picture of the small winding streets that are in the old town area (Gamla Stan). It's filled with little shops and restaurants for the most part. But it also the location of the palace. Unfortunately, it was the Kings birthday when I was there and the palace tours were closed down and there were lots of military parades, police, and crowds around the palace as the King was scheduled to make an appearance.
It also started to rain the hardest just as I was near the palace. I had to take this picture of the Parliament building while hiding in a nook of the outer palace area in order to try and keep my camera dry.
But later that afternoon it finally cleared up and the sun came out. This is a picture looking across the lake at the Soddermalm district. I don't know which church that is, but it dominates the sky line in that district for the most part.
And being me, of course I had to wander around some of the stores. In particular, I wanted to see the NK store, which was founded in 1902 and which is on a lot of lists of places to visit. It has 6 floors, more than 100 departments, and is full of very expensive brands if that is your thing. I really liked the building and took the picture below looking down through the atrium.
One of the days I was in Stockholm was May 1st, or Labor Day. It was interesting to see there is still a Communist Party active in Sweden. They had a booth and were having a rally (if you want to call maybe 40 people when I wandered by a rally) at the square in front of the Culture House.
And standing up to Imperialism is apparently still a major concern. :)
Finally, I'll close out this post with a couple of random pictures. I didn't find out what the building below is now, but I liked the way it looked and took this picture from Djurgarden if I remember right.
Also in Djurgarden is a house that was built by a merchant who leased land there a long time ago. I think it's a small museum or something now. I really liked the details on the structure, like the picture below.
That's the end of this post. I'll just do one more on my visit to Stockholm, and then it's on to Helsinki.
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