For those of you who follow me on Instagram you'll already know that on Friday I surprised Ian with a quick trip to Stockholm for the weekend. We hopped on a plane and arrived in time for dinner and a few drinks.
On Saturday we caught a few hours of city wandering before the snow/rain/hail descended. We soon ducked into a few pubs and bars to sample the local ciders!
After getting suitably soaked and freezing cold we hurried back to the hotel to warm up and dry out, before heading back out into the cold to...the ice bar!
The bar is all made of ice, including the glasses and decor...and is a cool -7 degrees!
We opted for a vodka and strawberry based cocktail and sipped cautiously from the ice glasses!
All the ice is brought in from the frozen Torne River, including this chap...
And you can tell it's natural because there are frozen bits of debris in the bricks!
After our allotted 40 minutes we were feeling the chill, so headed out for dinner. On Sunday we decided to see as much as we could, so set out on a sightseeing bus tour. Previously I've looked down on these tours, but after doing one in Barcelona I have been converted, you can learn so much and see so much it makes perfect sense if you have limited time.
The best are the hop-on-hop-off ones, and in Stockholm you can also but a combi-ticket which includes a boat tour out to the archipelago too.
We decided to get our fix of the water another way, by visiting the Vasa museum to see the perfectly preserved war ship from 1628 which sank in Stockholm Harbour on her maiden voyage after travelling just 1500m.
This is a model...
This is the real thing...
Go see it...it's phenomenal.
After Vasa the sun started to poke his head back out, so we enjoyed a waterfront stroll back to our hotel.
With just an hour or so left we indulged in Stockholm's famous pastime of 'Fika' or 'enjoying coffee with another'. It's similar to our afternoon tea, but with coffee, and cake. Lots of cake.
Although it was a quick whistle-stop tour I really fell for Stockholm; it's a beautiful, stylish, clean and charming city with a lot to offer! I can't wait to go back in the summer!