Stockholm; Saturday, 22 December, 2018

The hotel bed was very comfortable, and so I ended up getting up quite a bit later than I had originally planned, but still early enough to get some breakfast.

After a hearty Scandi-breakfast I headed out into town and over to the site of most of the city’s museums on the Djurgården island. Most of the museums here were already in site when I’d visited 10 years earlier, but one new addition was the main reason for visiting.

Located next to the amusement park a museum opened in 2013 dedicated to probably Sweden’s greatest cultural export (meatballs and flatpack furniture excepted), ABBA. They museum tells the story of the group from their childhoods through their years of fame up to what they are doing today.

The museum is highly interactive – though I declined the opportunity to get up on a virtual concert stage and do ABBA karaoke, and there is a lot packed into quite a small space, so I was quite surprised how long I had been in there by the time I finally exited (via the gift shop, naturally)

I wandered down past the museum and the amusement park to the waterfront and was just in time to pick up the ferry back across the water to Slussen.

Back in Gamla Stan I had a wander around the old town including a better walk around the Christmas Market and a chance to pick up some lunch as I was walking around.

After looking around the old town I headed up through the more modern part of the city, including taking in the very impressive fairy light reindeer on Nybroplan.

By now the snow was getting quite heavy so I headed back to the hotel for a little warmth and to freshen up.

A couple of hours later I headed back out, after dinner in the hotel, to the old town to have a wander round in the dark to take in the city lit up both with the regular floodlights and the Christmas lights.

I spent about 2 hours wandering around, but by now the weather was really starting to get cold, so I headed back to the hotel to warm up again and retreat to my comfy bed.

Weather

Light Snow Light Snow
AM PM
Cold (-10-0C, 14-32F)
-2ºC/28ºF