Our winter wanderings in Stockholm continue!
The previous article was more focused on a general introduction to Stockholm, but in this article I’m going to adopt a new focus: attempting to share the coziness of this trip with you. As beautiful and charming as Gamla Stan (Old Town), and Södermalm are, the best trips—to me—have a funny way of differentiating themselves not through the official sights to be seen, but what happens in between.
As I mentioned in the first/previous article from this visit to Stockholm, our visit was COLD. And SNOWY. It was so cold in fact, that we were forced to take refuge in cozy little places we passed along the way quite often. And these cozy little places were—most often—charming little Scandinavian bakeries. Each time we got too cold, the conversation went something like this:
“Ok, I guess it’s time for more delicious pastries. TWIST MY ARM!”
Here’s a highlight reel from the photos I took on my phone. Of all of these pictures, the one that most transports me is the chocolate coconut ball and the hot chocolate. To get a break from the frigid cold, we had just come into a random bakery from a snowy street in Gamla Stan—and, in this situation—this was the best thing I could have possibly been served. That hot cocoa was str8~up 0RgAsM1c.
Today we’re going to cover some of the snowy magic of Stockholm to which we bore witness in between the destinations covered in the previous article, and we’ll end with something extra special. ✨⛸🌲🇸🇪
Norrmalm
Norrmalm basically fills the role of “downtown Stockholm.” It’s the commercial center of the city, and it’s also where we stayed during the trip. So every day started and ended in Norrmalm. Specifically, we stayed in a lovely little place called Generator. It was a nice vibe, but the bed was less than comfortable. I am quickly aging out of the hostel demographic, but they are still super fun places to stay.
For me personally, terms like “downtown” and “commercial center” don’t tend to provoke much desire to visit a place. However, I found Stockholm’s version of this to be quite agreeable. It didn’t have the old-world charm of some of it more neighborhood-y areas, but it was charming nevertheless in a clean-cut, modern-Nordic sort of way. Furthermore, the most heavily commercial areas occupied a relatively small footprint. Once we strayed from the central plazas and thoroughfares of Norrmalm, Stockholm regained its unassuming cozy charm. We walked through this neighborhood many times, stopping for lunch, dinner, and drinks many times along the way. Here are some shots from this area:
Östermalm
As you can see on this map, Östermalm is a MUCH larger area than Norrmalm. Most of the rest of this article will be set in this area.
Here are a few pieces of information on this area. First, the name: Östermalm translates to “Eastern Outer City.” Before the area assumed this name in 1880, it was called Ladugårdslandet (translation: “The Barn Land”), owing to the fact that there were a bunch of barns full of animals in this area. It seems that the Swedes aren’t very imaginative with their names. 😂
Home to a number of foreign embassies, Östermalm is the largest and most populous area amongst all of Stockholm’s various neighborhoods, and—apparently/according to Wikipedia—it has the highest housing prices in all of Sweden. Zoinks! That is a high bar.
To be perfectly honest, most of my time in Östermalm was spent just walking. It’s such a big area that I didn’t see even close to all of it, but I’d like to think the gallery below will give you a decent flavor for it. For most of these walks, I was day dreaming about what it might be like to live here one day. Even in the punishing cold, it was a lovely area.
Night Wanderings
When we first arrived in Stockholm, it was already night. After checking into our accommodations we still had a bit of energy left in us, so we decided to brave the cold and see a bit of the city before bed. It was the first time that I would ever walk the streets of this beautiful city (other than the short, brisk walk between the train station and the hostel) and I was absolutely enchanted. The streets were still and silent under the snow. It was maybe 10:00pm-ish, and as we walked, all the restaurants were beginning to close. It looked like their patrons had mostly cleared out for the night by that point—or maybe it was just a slow night. Even by Stockholm standards, it was COLD outside. Most of the city was probably nestled away somewhere warm and cozy. It was a great introduction to Sweden.
I so enjoyed this night walk that I resolved to go out for moon-lit strolls on every night I had here… which turned out to be pretty easy to do because Stockholm is so far north that sunset was happening at about 3:30pm. By 5 o’clock, it was fully night. However, even in the oppressive cold, it took another 4-6 hours for the street life to fully subside and give way to the perfect stillness we experienced on our first night.
Below is a gallery of photos I snapped on my phone from my moon-lit wanderings around snowy Stockholm. Please appreciate the following details in these pictures:
The Swedish word for “exit” is “utfart” 😂
Notice the tiny person standing underneath the Christmas tree for scale—that thing was HUGE!
Those photos over the water… that was the coldest I have been the last 10 years, I think.
The little Christmas displays shown were 3 of a long succession of window displays in Stockholm’s city center—they really spoke to the child in me. I would have loved them as a kid! I like them a lot as an adult too.
Ice Skating & Goodbyes
And now it’s time—sadly—for the final stop in this series on Stockholm. The reason I made this random trip in the middle of January was because I was invited to join a couple of friends that were visiting because one of them was performing in an ice skating show here. So, big, warm shoutout to Jason & Jimmy for being the reason I got to have this magical experience! ❤️✨
Before my arrival here, when I pictured the ice skating event that I would be attending in my head… this was not it. I was picturing watching something from the stands of an ice rink. Instead, I found myself standing on the ice alongside members of the local community, who had brought their children along to watch. And while I quickly discovered that standing on ice for an extended period of time makes you get much colder much faster… 🥶 …my warmest memories of Sweden are these.
What I struck me most was how family-oriented this event was. It was mostly parents with their children, all of whom were skating, leaning to skate, or standing on the ice near a fire pit with a cup of hot cocoa watching a loved-one skate. There was clearly a mixture of interests at play: kids who wanted to play hockey, kids who wanted to try fancy figure skating moves, and others that just wanted to skate. Whatever the case, it was clear that this was a real and beautiful community! It was all so lovely and wholesome that it made me want to be a part of one of these families. And/or to start my own family!
During my time here, I found myself getting reflective: Scandinavia has a reputation—socially—for being a bit insular… which is like the only negative thing I ever hear spoken about this region. And while it might seem negative, I don’t know that it’s possible to experience the sensation of community without boundaries. At this point in my life, I am sort of in the market for a place to call home. I’m doing a post-grad degree in London right now, which means I don’t really live in the real world. I live in the bubble of academia; my calendar and my community are founded in something that—one year from now—will be gone. We’ll see where life brings me after I get my degree, but I was definitely looking at Stockholm through a uniquely evaluative lens. On paper, it seemed like a place that I could live, and this trip decisively proved that theory to be correct. It’s to be expected that you’re a bit of an outsider when you’re an expat—I have made peace with this, conceptually—but what I did not expect was how badly I found myself wishing I were a part of this community! Insular or not, what I saw here was beautiful.
Unfortunately there was only so long I could survive standing on the ice in my shoes, so eventually we followed the home-made signs to the little cafe here. It was nothing fancy—it was the sort of place you’d find at a city rec center, with cinder block walls, tables that looked like they’d been lifted from a school cafeteria, and the type of concession-stand food that is served at grade-school sporting events. In the corner there was an old TV showing the grainy broadcast of a hockey game, and behind the counter there were a couple of guys who, I surmised, were local dads.
I approached the counter and one of them addressed me with a typical Swedish greeting: “Hej hej!”
This is pronounced “hey hey”—people said it to me everywhere in Stockholm and it’s the most charming greeting I have yet encountered on my travels. I have adopted it.
We ordered a couple of hot cocoas. The dad cheerfully produced 2 empty cups and 2 packets of cocoa powder that we could mix with hot water. I extended my credit card and he told me that they could only take cash.
“Oh… well, I don’t have any cash,” I responded, sadly handing him back the packets of cocoa powder.
He hesitated, and then with a sigh he said “Eh, just take them.”
So this series on Stockholm will end with us sheepishly drinking our free cocoa in an Östermalm recreation center. Shout-out to Swedish cocoa dad for the random act of kindness!
I know I will be back in Stockholm again in the future, but for now, it’s time to say goodbye. As I did in the previous article, I’m going to leave you with a sample of Sweden’s greatest export: pop music. And if you’ve ever seen Klaus, I think you will agree that this particular song is quite appropriate.
