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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Stockholms Stadsmuseet

We went to Slussen yesterday (18 October) for a class trip to the Stockholms Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum).

Facade

Opening Sign <Close-Up>

The first thing we did was to look at an overview of Stockholm by century, from 1400 to 2000. We then proceeded to another corridor with this replica on it:

This is a replica of the Stora Barnhuset pa Norrmalm, or the Norrmalm Orphanage. Our tour guide told us that children here were treated quite badly, giving them meals of bread and butter, chickpeas, or sometimes, no breakfast or lunch at all. If children tried to escape, their heads and hands will be chained to a wooden contraption, or their legs will be shackled to a chain connected to a heavy wooden log.

16 children have escaped the orphanage, though. They then raced to the Royal Palace (picture above, not exactly how it looks like now), where they met the current queen. Interestingly, the palace is heavily guarded, there were only a few entrances and exits and the walls were very thick and high, but they still managed to go in. Even our tour guide didn't know what happened. Maybe they were just really fast runners? They should have raced against Usain Bolt back then.

Fast-forward for about forty-fifty minutes and our guide led us to some stairs, before ending in one of the corridors leading to two houses. One of the houses belonged to a family of three, who really can't even afford the cheap price of the house. Because of this, two men from the harbor just nearby also settled into the house to help pay the bill. Quite disturbing.  <No pictures because my phone's battery died!>

Then our guide showed us the next house, belonging to only two people. This house was quite better, because it had a sewing area, some kind of writing/reading nook, wallpapers, and etc. It really is like those stereotypical "grandma's houses" that you see in the T.V shows.

The houses were really small though, everything was kinda squished together. I wouldn't be surprised if the house replicas would fit into a rather large bathroom or a small bedroom.

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Fees: SEK 100 (19 years +), otherwise free.
Overall Impression: Very good. The museum is great for kids because it is somewhat interactive, but it is still loaded with historical information. 7.5 out of 10.
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You should read more. 

• TRAVEL ADVICE for Sweden
• Stockholm's Changing of the Guards & Gamla Stan
• EATS: Jensen's Beefhouse - Vasagatan (Stockholm)

Travel stories? Advice? Tips? Bizarre experiences? Click here to share them.

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