Stockholm and Vienna!

I’m not quite sure what’s the best way to describe European airports and budget airlines. It feels like TSA has made me way too stressed about air travel. Flying from Köln to Stockholm was so relaxed I didn’t know what to do. First, nobody checked my ID to board my first plane (my route was Köln to Zürich, then Zürich to Stockholm). I flew Eurowings, which was cheap but the flight got delayed and then left 30 minutes later than the delayed departure time. Then, getting on the airplane was also a bit of a mob, not the regulated lines and boarding order I’m used to. My 3 hour layover turned into 2, which was no problem. I later learned that 3 hours is the absolute minimum connection time for budget airline transfers since they so often run late.

When I arrived in Zürich, I was expecting to check into my next flight immediately, but to my dismay I had to wait 2 hours before they would let me check in. That flight was also delayed. On my flight to Stockholm, I sat by a very friendly German couple. We talked a lot about living in Germany versus the US versus Switzerland, which was quite an interesting conversation. I also realized that distances in the US are perceived differently than in Germany. For example, I think Kaiserslautern is close to München, but was quickly informed that to a German, it is quite far.

The first thing to know about Stockholm is that you cannot navigate based solely on where the coast is— it is a city built on so many tiny islands that I don’t think you can walk more than 20 minutes without coming to some water. All of these lakes create an absolutely stunning view everywhere you turn. Stockholm is best described as regal between all of the old churches and the royal buildings it houses.

Madelyn and I went on a whirlwind tour of the city. Definitely not enough time, but I’m really amazed at everything we saw. In the morning we walked around Gamla Stan, which houses the royal palace, a famous church, and the Old Town.

Then in the afternoon we checked out the Skansen, which is an open air museum. It was like a zoo in some places because of all of the animals, but the best part was a recreation of a historic Swedish settlement. It was a living history exhibit, meaning each location in the village had an actor living the life of that time. We met a chair maker, a baker, a farmer (and some brave chickens), and even a mechanical engineer! Well, I don’t think I would call engineering exactly... but the factory was really cool to see. They make pretty much anything one could need out of metal and had candlesticks in production while we were there.

The most important part about Swedish culture is their Fika. The easiest way to describe it is a coffee break, but it’s about more than just some coffee. You can enjoy a small snack, but the most important focus is spending a few moments of quality time with the people around you (family, friends, even coworkers). The baked goods in Sweden are delicious and pair perfectly with a nice Fika!

We had a very sobering experience mid-day as we saw a biker get in some kind of hit-and-run accident. I only bring it up to point out that I have only seen a handful of the many many bikers in Europe wearing helmets. Even if a city has bike paths, I feel like wearing a helmet is such a basic precaution to help guard against accidents such as this. I hope the guy is okay— we left as the ambulance arrived but he didn’t look great.

That night, we went to the Fotografiska, a photography gallery. It was definitely the best photography viewing I’ve ever experienced. One of the artists did portraits of people from different time periods or scenes, but he made the costumes they wore as well. One of them said it took 84 hours to 3D print, in addition to design time and post printing processing. The best set of his pictures featured some astronauts. The way the pictures were, you could see one in the reflection of the other, which made a super cool effect.

After the museum it was super late, and we struggled to find some place to eat. Eventually we ended up at McDonalds for lack of a better option. The food was exactly the same as I picture it (not good). The reason I was glad to be there was because of the juice. Never before have I seen apple juice that has one ingredient: apples (and Vitamin C if you want to be technical). It tasted exactly like real apples, and I don’t understand why we can’t sell juice like this in the US.

The next day we were exhausted from walking all over Stockholm so many times. We had a late breakfast and then immediately went out to get a good Swedish brunch. Lingonberry is something I hadn’t had until I came to Sweden, but I can happily report that it’s quite tasty. For breakfast, we ate corn flakes with lingonberry jam and fil. Fil is a kind of milky yogurt that I think goes very well with cereal.

Our last stop was to ride the ferry around the main part of Stockholm. We got off for a few minutes to visit a castle on a small island. We walked across the island in probably 5 minutes, but it seemed like a nice quiet place to relax.

I highly recommend a trip to Stockholm, but is say you could easily spend 4 or 5 days enjoying Stockholm and the surrounding archipelago, and even then wish you had more time.

My return flights took a route that didn’t make sense to me, but I won’t argue because it built in a nice day trip in Vienna!

Normally I would say I got up long before the sun to catch my 6:30 AM flight, but Sweden being Sweden, the ~3:00 AM first light did beat me. I did have a lovely morning to accompany my trip, and it was significantly easier being awake those hours with the sun being up.

In Vienna I only had a few hours to explore, so I went on what I will call a self guided tour. The first stop was a coffee break in a park. Despite being right in the heart of Vienna, life really slows down at the park. I watched some young children chasing around the ducks and pigeons with unencumbered joy. The birds in these parks are rather bold, so it was actually a pretty good chase for the kids until all of the birds fled into the water or up in the trees.

Vienna has a cathedral that isn't close to as tall as the one in in Köln, but I was really impressed by its colourful roof:

As everywhere else I’ve been so far, Vienna is a beautiful city. It has a much different character than Stockholm or Köln, feeling much more classic and quaint despite its size. Statues of famous dead guys were everywhere, but I only recognized a few of the more well known musicians.

The architecture was incredible. It looked Greek or Roman inspired in many places, but my self guided tour guide (me) wasn’t terribly knowledgeable about the scenes so I mostly walked around and enjoyed the views.

I even snuck out to the Danube river just before it was time to go back to catch my flight.

I wish I had some exciting Viennese food to share, but unfortunately due to the holiday everything was closed and I had to make due with overpriced mediocre schnitzel from the touristy area. Fun fact: Wiener Schnitzel gets its name from Wien, the German name for Vienna. Adding the -er ending means 'from Wien.' So altogether it actually means 'Schnitzel from Wien.' 

Fortunately I recovered from this lackluster schnitzel with some really awesome gelato, which also ended up being my first interaction that happened entirely in German. Look at that, my meager days of German lessons finally paying off!

Again, I think more time in Vienna would have been great to actually go into museums and perhaps see a concert, but I think I got a pretty good taste of the scenery.

Overall it was a 10/10 long weekend— two amazing cities in three days! Can’t wait to see what next week holds.