Sigtuna

On this rainy, blustery day we took a variety of public transportation north to the small town of Sigtuna. It is Sweden's oldest town with relics dating it to 980 AD. It is situated on a pretty lake and has ruins and runes all around. After strolling around, we went to the museum. It housed many artifacts and gave detailed information about early minting of coins. Fika was very welcome mid afternoon in a cozy cafe!

Stockholm Metro Art

A good number of the metro stations have been transformed into works of art. We hopped on and off the red line last night on a metro museum tour.

Sauna...yet again!

October 8

We have been told repeatedly that Finland is origin of the sauna. Yesterday, we were given the fact that there are more saunas in Finland than cars. Not sure if that is true or not, but the other Nordic countries definitely are making their entry into the sauna tradition. Today's experience in Stockholm was of the self-serve variety. We needed to arrive early to light the fire and get it warmed up. It took awhile, but we got it there. We admired the compact uet inviting design. This sauna only had a dunk pool and it seems like the water has gotten colder with each experience! Brrr!

In the afternoon, we stopped for the Fika experience. We paused our day for coffee and a treat. We learned about this tradition and the popularity of plockgodis, the pick your own candy culture. Grocery stores and candy stores both have the bins to choose your own mix. 

Our afternoon was a mix of the curious and the underwhelming. Curious: we found the bank (now a hotel and clothing store) where the 1973 bank robbery took place in which the hostages began to sympathize with their captors, later termed the Stockholm Syndrome. The concierge at Nobis Hotel was very generous with his time. He showed us the place where gas holes were drilled to potentially gas the vault (now in the fitness room). He showed us the board room where the strategy meetings were held (now the conference room)and pointed out the buildings where snipers were placed. He also sent us in the direction of the adjoining store where the marble floors are original to the bank teller area. The actual vault is now a staff room, so we couldn't see that. Too bad! He said that every now and again people come in to ask about this event. We were very excited he gave us the time. Underwhelming: Nobel Prize Museum. It was mostly personal effects and anecdotes about various winners. Rooftop bar: Le Hibou. A rooftop bar where you see all the other rooftops. Nice atmosphere and creative presentation of drinks though.

Tyresta National Park

October 7

Metro, commuter rail, and bus! That's how to get to a National Park from Stockholm! At least for us and it was relatively easy once we understood the connections. 

We hiked nine miles on the purple loop through the park. It is known for having a "primeval" forest. We debated the meaning of primeval and related terms for awhile. Long and short, it is an untouched forest of mixed canopy---coniferous and deciduous. There were gorgeous views of long lakes that invited us to sit and be still. We had look carefully for the next blaze on many a granite outcropping (and sometimes backtrack a bit). We were awed by beaver work turning wetlands into small ponds. The landscape reminded us a lot of New England. One key difference was the absolute quiet. No road noise, very few planes overhead. We stopped several times to marvel at hearing just the birds and insects.

Welcome to Stockholm!

October 6, 2026

"We're here!" Those were the first words of the morning as we looked out the cabin windows to find we were surrounded by islands in the heart of the Swedish archipelago. We were still a few hours away from Stockholm. Nevertheless,  we hurried to the upper deck and there we remained until we came into port. We passed through narrow channels (some we shared with other ferries!)! We are so happy we chose to travel this way.

Upon arrival, we were thrust into the public transportation. There are a lot of options, transfers etc,  but it is easy enough to navigate using the SL app and prepaid ticket. Our day was spent in Djurgården, or Museum Island. The area is park-like with many walking trails leading to the numerous museums. Our primary interest was the Vasa Museum. https://www.vasamuseet.se/en/visit/exhibitions/audioguide-listen The Vasa is the best preserved warships in the world. It launched in August 1628 and promptly sank on its maiden voyage! It is HUGE and has so many detailed carvings! This was a great Museum to start off our visit. We walked by the Spritmuseum (Spirit Museum) and decided to explore.  We got tickets for samples which was interesting. First we read about the process (fermentation, distillation) and got to try them! 

Our hotel, Collector's Victory Hotel, is very curated in the nautical theme---down to the smallest detail! There are unique displays on each level and the rooms even reflect the feel. Our room is the Kapten Lundgren room complete with family portraits.

Atelgee Rooftop Bar at Hotel Horni

This gives a fascinating history: https://www.hdf.fi/en/articles/hotel-torni-history

Libraries and Other Fun Finds

October 5

Today was departure day, but our ferry to Stockholm didn't depart until late afternoon. That meant more exploring! We decided to collect a couple more libraries. Rickhardinkatu Library was located near our hotel. The cool staircase shown above rose through the central section with wings out from that. It had great little nooks to read in and an inviting selection (mostly in Finnish I guess, but some in English). 

After dropping our luggage at the terminal, we headed out to the western center of the city. We walked there along the harbour and were amazed by the number of boats still in the water. We have seen photos of the water freezing over and wondered if this still happens, will the boats come out soon, or do they just stay in. Hmm. Over in this part of the city, we walked through a more permanent, and less touristy market hall. Kauppahalli Library was busy and featured some nice design work, but it was not as inspiring as the others we had seen. We poked in the church here, but unfortunately the tower was closed. In our library perusal today, John learned about a hotel that had a dirigible landing on it! This is reminiscent of the Industrial National Bank Building in Providence! Anyway, the story goes that only one dirigible attempted to land there (emphasis on attempted). It failed and no other attempts were made. There is now a rooftop bar there! We took the elevator to the top floor where we had to climb another level on an old spiral staircase which opened to this great little bar with big views. The hatch is still evident for where passengers would have disembarked. Very cool. We sat outside marveling at the view and also how much we walked around this big city!

We departed Helsinki on the Silja Symphony around 4:30. It was crazy how tight it was going through the surrounding islands. We explored all the nooks and crannies of the ship. We, like everyone else, are a captive audience. So we enjoyed a couple of drinks, sampled lots of different foods from the buffet, walked through the superstore, and caught a bit of entertainment. Ferry seems like a misnomer. It really seems more like an overnight cruise.