In late spring, I was thinking ahead to my travel plans through the summer. I had a BIG trip planned in May and a medium sized one at the end of August. But nothing in the middle. So I made a list of a dozen cities I'd like to visit, started research on Kayak and found a cheap plane ticket to Stockholm in July - done!! It was a fabulous little city break and the weather could not have been better. HOT, just like it should be in July!
Upon arrival, I went out for a wander around the city. The first place I stumbled upon was a concert hall just outside my hotel window. There was also a market in the square. While walking, a young man came out of the concert hall and announced on a loudspeaker that there would be a free concert in the lobby for about 30 minutes. Since I had no other agenda, I went. It was a string trio of college-aged Swedish guys. They were really good! Between each song, they took turns making a small speech about the piece and composer - in both Swedish and English. Such a great start to my afternoon!
I walked through the city center and next came upon the Opera House...
This was inside the opera house lobby - stunning!! Just as beautiful as the one in Paris, in my humble opinion.
A lovely church in the Kungsgaten ("Kings Garden"). I happened to walk by here just as an organ concert was beginning, so I sat down and listened for about 15 minutes. What a cultured afternoon I had and really relaxing after a long hot walk!
I couldn't stay for the entire organ concert because I had to get back to the hotel. I convinced two friends from London to accompany me on the weekend, so Laura was arriving in early evening. We had a nice dinner (Swedish meatballs! Lingonberries!) and then walked around the Old Town.
The main street through the Old Town was full of shops, cafes and...ice cream. Ice cream everywhere. I LOVE it.
So of course we had two scoops! The salted caramel changed my life. I could go back to Stockholm just for more of that ice cream. See how happy we look!!
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