One Woman, One Backpack

My flight to Stockholm not only had free wifi, but they also showed cat videos during the flight – I knew I picked the right airline. I arrived in the city mid-afternoon, and having only eaten a zinger tower burger for breakfast, I was keen to get out into the city and have something to eat. I ended up having a mandelbullar which was a cardamon and almond pastry, it tasted good but I felt as though I needed to brush my teeth straight after.

I had visited here last year but only focused on the city, whereas this time I want to visit an island or two. The afternoon was spent in the old city and the hipster area – I arrived too late to do anything big, and I had to wake up at 7.45am which for me now feels like the crack if dawn.

On Monday I visited Vaxholm, one of the islands around an hour away by boat. The place in itself is very picturesque, and has a fair few shops, restaurants and small piers. I had lunch in an outdoor garden and a walk around the island, before returning back to central Stockholm around 5ish. Some dickhead (me) last their phone in Poland and now my camera has decided to stop working,  so now I’m left with a temperamental little shit of a gopro, so the photo quality for the next couple of weeks won’t be great.

The next day I went to the market – I couldn’t find it last year as it’s under construction. It’s a pretty small hall with restaurants, I initially wanted to buy some meat and cook it myself, but also didn’t want to pay off a mortgage to pay for it. Instead, I went to one of the restaurants in the market and tried to find something very Swedish that isn’t Swedish meatballs, so I ended up having reindeer tartar with rye and horseradish – it was bloody good.

After, I went for a walk and went to a bar with a view of the city, then went around the shops in the area. My life at the moment seems to be a series of first-world problems, and today it was getting my laundry done in the one washing machine in the hostel, so I came back early to get it done.

Today I had intended to go to an island but I woke up too late so I walked around for a bit and watched the changing of the guards, which was alright but seemed to watch most of it through other people’s camera screens. I sat at city hall for a bit, then went for a walk up to the market and got some Swedish meatballs which were surprisingly very good. For me, having worked in kitchens, it was served more like staff food than a restaurant dish which doesn’t really matter to me as long as it tastes good.

Tomorrow, I have to be up very early to go to my final country – four years ago I used to wake up at 3.15am for work every day, and now I struggle with anything before 8.