Reflection: 5 Months in Stockholm

First of all, I just want to apologize that I haven't posted in the couple of days.... I too am aware of that.

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Okay, so today {25 November '13} is the official 5 months since living here in Stockholm. There have been (what seemed) a thousand highs and awesome experiences that I have encountered here... Now, I want to reflect on some of them. 

Best Travelling Highlight would be Gamla Stan and the Vasa Museum. Two of the most iconic Stockholm attractions, I suppose. Gamla Stan is very cool and vibrant because of its awesome architecture and the numerous attractions there. The Vasa Museum because it's just a wonderful piece of reconstructed art. 

Best EATS Experience would probably be Jensen's Beefhouse! I just love their steaks! They have lots of locations around Stockholm and (I think) around the Scandinavia area... By the way, I LOVE the sauce that comes with their Lunch Steak... I'm sure it doesn't just come with their Lunch Steak, but it's to die for. 

Another EATS Experience that I would love to blog about was our FIRST experience at a "posh-er" restaurant... Melanders in Dalagatan (Vasastaden)... I haven't blogged about it, but I hope I still have my experience in my memory. 

Highlights of Stockholm Living... There are lots of stuff that I love about Stockholm. One is that there are so many parks and stuff. It's just good to know that there's so much "wiggle-space" for recreation and stuff. Living in Stockholm is very good, but the prices may be a bit steep... I hope you read my blog post on me ranting about how Stockholm is expensive. 

I am most excited about... I am definitely excited about experiencing my first snowfall. It would be so cool to wake up one morning seeing snow just falling down from your room window. I would never experience this in a country with 30 degree Celsius temperature, so this will be one of my ultimate milestones.

Finally, I just want to say that these five months that just passed went by like a heartbeat. There have been so much awesome events that happened (and certainly so much great eats). I do say that I'm looking forward with everything ahead considering Stockholm, Sweden and everything! 

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Almost to 7,000 views, so thank you so much people!

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All The Things Below Will Be Linked Here: 

- Gamla Stan

- Vasa Museum

- Jensen's Beefhouse

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RANT | Why Is Stockholm So Expensive?

I decided to do another rant, because I think when you go to Stockholm, this is the most obvious thing you will notice (besides the beauty of Gamla Stan)... It's so expensive.

So why IS Stockholm so expensive? Of course you come here, you will admire the beauty of the surroundings and the old-style architecture, but you will pay hefty fees even if you want to go to McDonalds.

The cheapest thing you can buy at McDonalds is a plain ice cream in a cone, worth SEK 9 (about US$ 1.5). The ice cream isn't as big as my hand. Trust me.... I'm thirteen.

YOU CAN stay in Stockholm  cheaper though. Keyword "cheaper", not "70% lower". You need to put some effort into it, though.

I want to skip the accommodation part, because I don't have experience there, but I do know that it'll set you back, most likely if you're staying at either a well-known hotel or a hotel near the city center.

For the food part, you can buy cheaper breads and stuff in the local supermarkets. Scope the supermarket for a bargain of bacon, ham or other meats, and just cook them in your house (if you have a kitchen). If you don't have a kitchen, you still can buy some stuff at McDonalds for less than SEK 20. (One of my personal favorites, a Double Cheeseburger will set you back SEK 20).

That's some of my advice. How about you? What other stuff do you think are worth ranting about? 

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Read My First Rant Here:

The Ratchet Closing Times of Swedish Stores

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Thoughts for Travelling PART 3: Shriya Sant

Thoughts for Travelling, a new section here in my blog where I interview people about their travelling experiences and their perspective on everything about "travel"

Click HERE to see PART 2, where I interviewed Daniele Grigaite.
Click HERE to see PART 1, where I interviewed Stephanie Younan.


PART 3: Shriya Sant -- Another classmate of mine from India, who currently lives in Liljeholmen in Sweden.


1: What's your favorite tourist spot here in Stockholm?

"Ummm... I would say Gamla Stan because it has a lot of really good waffles. And Stockholm originated from Gamla Stan, making it very old and interesting. 

2: What kind of travel tip can you share to us?

"I would say food, and you should pack food / snacks because the prices here (in Stockholm) are very expensive. Savor the food and its taste!" 

The Taj Mahal (Photo from Wikipedia)

3: If we go to your home country (India), where should we go? 

"It depends, because there's different stuff in different places. Like in Delhi there's the Taj Mahal and in Mumbai there's the city and its humid. I really recommend Delhi. I love the the history of the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort." 

4: Should you be scared of something while travelling? If yes/no, why? 

"I'm personally scared of losing my passport because that's the only thing I have, and if I lose it, I think that I'm not a citizen of my country anymore." 

5: When you hear the word "travelling", what's the first three words you think about?

"Extremely hot climate, exhausting and super cold water." 

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Thank you Shriya for letting me interview you!

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Going to Gamla Stan? Read My Blog Post About It Here. Click this link to also get a bonus of Stockholm's Changing of the Guards!

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THE STOCKHOLM GUIDE

I have been blogging for about three-five weeks now, and I really focus on Travelling in Stockholm a lot, because I live there. 

I think it is about time for me to make a compilation of all the stuff we did in Stockholm, and provided a quick navigation for you. 

So here's the list of the places we've been. Click a link to be redirected to that particular blog post. 

The Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet)
Changing of the Guards at the Royal Palace
Gamla Stan (Old Town of Stockholm)
Acquaria Ocean Museum -- Stockholm
Uniquely Stockholm?
Transportation Comparison Between Sweden and the Philippines
Skansen Open-Air Museum
Stockholm City Hall
Strandvagen Harbor
Stockholm's Public Library (Stockholms Stadsbibliotek)
The Stockholm Metro/Subway (Tunnelbana)
Stockholm City Museum (Stockholm Stadsmuseet)

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Tomorrow will be the start of the Fall Break! So disappointed though that our visa application to London got rejected... Click here to know more about that. I do promise to blog more about tourist attractions in Stockholm! 

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EATS: Bamboo City Asian Buffet

In my previous blog-post about Stockholm's Changing of the Guard and Old Town (click here to view), I said that we ate in Bamboo City, which is a buffet restaurant located in Drottninggatan. 

I think that the price for buffet for adults is SEK 158 and SEK 128 for kids. I just based it on the sign above, so I'm not sure...

While we were seated, we ordered three Pepsi's and a water which was served in less than five minutes. We then went to get some food from the buffet. There were a wide variety of options to choose from, from deep-fried goodness, to a fruit and ice-cream bar to a bar where you get your own raw food and let the cooks cook it for you.

My first plate was sushi. Below (clockwise from left), I had a sushi roll filled with mango and crab, a crabstick wrapped rice roll, a shrimp (?) topped rice roll and salmon sushi.

The crabstick sushi was the best, as I love me some awesome crabstick. I wouldn't say that the salmon one was good, because it tasted gooey and was like gelatin. It also kept falling from the rice blob.                                      

My second plate was dim-sum. I didn't take a picture because it looked so good that I just had to eat it before capturing. I had steamed and deep fried shu-mai, a deep fried dumpling and a boiled fish dumpling.

Everything was very good, with the exception of the boiled fish dumpling which tasted like water. Loved the deep fried shu-mai, basically because I never had one of those in a long while. The deep fried dumpling was disappointing though, because it was kind of chewy and not crisp.

My third plate was "randomly Chinese". (Clockwise from middle) I had some fried rice, deep fried shrimp, a squid cracker, deep fried chicken and two spring rolls.

The deep fried shrimp, chicken and the squid biscuit were exceptional. If you ever go here, don't miss those. The rice was "ehh" as I couldn't taste anything besides the corn kernels. The spring rolls were fine...

I then grabbed a fourth plate, which was a plate just with the deep fried shrimp, the cracker and the chicken. I called this the "favorites platter". I then grabbed a watermelon slice, a fried banana, some ice cream and maple syrup for dessert.

Overall, I think was the dining experience was above-average, although the placing of their buffets were not exactly up to par. The main buffets and the place where you get the raw food to be cooked are in the left of the restaurant, the fruit bar at the right, and the Chinese food and deep-fried stuff on the back right of the restaurant, near the restrooms.

Speaking of restrooms, they were nasty. Toilet paper everywhere. Not very hygienic at all. Half of my appetite was lost.

Value for money? I think it's too steep. It should've been SEK 100 for adults, SEK 70-80 for kids. Or is that too low to make a profit?

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Bamboo City (Chinese/Mongolian Buffet) 
Drottninggatan 28
Stockholm 111 51 
Norrmalm, Sweden 
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Stockholm's Changing of the Guards & Gamla Stan

Another misty Sunday morning in Stockholm, and what better thing to do than go to Gamla Stan (Old Town) and enjoy the magnificent view, the awesome architecture and some of its narrow streets.

So just a few meters away from our apartment is this street called Drottninggatan (literally translated to "Queen's Street"). The street very nice because when you walk along it, you will be greeted with numerous restaurants, cafes, salons and in the middle of the street is Stockholm City Central. You can also find T-Centralen there.

Fact: T-Centralen is the only Tunnelbana or Stockholm Metro/Subway station that connects all three lines, the green, blue and red.

If you opt to pass Central Stockholm and go a bit further into the street, you will be welcomed by a bridge with a magnificent view of City Hall and other cool stuff. Also, you will see two cool archways that lead you to Old Town or Gamla Stan.

 The View from the Bridge

Archways.

So once you go through the arches, you will be in Gamla Stan. After you cross the second arch, you should see the Royal Palace towards your left. 

We took the route opposite to the Royal Palace as we wanted to explore more through town. After about half an hour walking through narrow streets and browsing souvenir and shops that sell scarves and hats. We then chose to go to a cafe. 

I didn't blog about the cafe because we my mom, sister and I just got some soft-drinks and my stepdad got a latte. My sister and my mom also got a Chokladbol (Swedish chocolate ball) and an apple pie as a snack. 

More walking before we came across the Royal Palace itself. We saw about a hundred people gathering and we realized that there was a changing of the guards happening. I recorded two videos, one where the guards enter the palace grounds and one where the guards really change. 

Fortunately, the guards really changed near us, so I manage to get a video. Here it is (sorry for the bad quality and that the video is shaky): 

Watch This Video In High Definition!

By the way, before going home, we ate at this buffet restaurant called Bamboo City. It will be released tomorrow, 9 in the morning if you're in Stockholm, 3 in the afternoon if you're in Manila. I will also link it here when I publish it.  

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