We’d gone to Stockholm in late July for their Schlager concert, as fans of Swedish pop music we’d decided to go and see what all the hoo-hah was about. We flew out to Stockholm with BA leaving a cold and cloudy UK behind as we headed off to Sweden. We landed at Arlanda to find that the city was sunny and the temperature tipping the scales at 30 degrees a good deal warmer than the UK.
The concert itself took place in a park on Södermalm to the south of the city. There was a great atmosphere, If you generally find yourself foot tapping along the Swedish entries at Eurovision you’ll love Schlager. Schlager is a very specific type of music close to the Swedes hearts and is hugely popular throughout the country. They take their Eurovision Song Contest entrants a lot more seriously than most. Anyway the concert is to show off the talents of your favourite well mine and the Swedes favourite Schlager/Melodifest/Eurovision artists, although most of them were not all the artists Swedish. Artists on the night included Eurovision winners Dana International (Israel 1998), Charlotte Perelli (Sweden 1999 & 2008), Teach In (Netherlands 1975), we stood watching the show and had a lovely chat with UK Eurovision entrant Nicki French (who came 16th in the 2000 Song Contest in Stockholm). In total there we’re a total of 28 Schlager & Eurovision artists playing to a packed festival. Drinks at the concert were about the same as it would be at a concert in the UK (Kr60=£5) for a beer or cider.
The following morning and still dizzy with the buzz of the previous evening we woke to another stunning sunny and magnificently warm day. A veritable smörgåsbord for breakfast set the day off to good start with a good breakfast. We headed out for some sightseeing. Stockholm is easily accessible and most parts of the city can be easily accessed on foot. The city is quite flat and built up over 14 islands on a freshwater lake. As so much of the city is covered with parks, tree lined boulevards and water surrounding the city. It doesn’t have the oppressive feel that some cities can have. It seems like you’re never more than 5 minutes away from a stretch of water or parkland. We headed for Gamla Stan (Old Town) the mediaeval heart of Stockholm, home to the Royal Palace, and the Government after a few hours wandering around the quaint side. Most of the shops on Gamla Stan are filled with your typical touristy souvenir shops and places to eat. Do head for Stortorget to watch the world go by, or just a cake and a coffee or hot chocolate, it’s one of the most picturesque and most photographed areas in the city, just opposite from the Nobel Museum. We headed over to Riddarholmen for a spot of lunch by the waterside. We headed back over towards Södermalm for a few drinks. We started the night off at Mosebacke Etablissement in the summer there is a huge cliff top terrace with bars, and the place frequently hosts live music acts throughout the year. A great view over the city to sink a few beers as the sun sinks on the horizon and a definite favourite with the locals.
Saturday morning we woke to a find that the weather had cooled and clouded over skies. We walked over to Djurgården an island filled Museums, Nature Parks and Gröne Lund a large amusement park. We made our way to Skansen entry a large open air museum and is like a whistle stop tour of Sweden and its buildings throughout the ages, (apparently so my other half says it’s a bit like Beamish). There is also a small zoo housing Scandinavian animals like Lynx, Elk and Bears we spent about 4 hours having a good look round at all the exhibits (and trying to avoid the rain). One of the buildings, an old artist’s studio was used for a cover photo for an ABBA album (The Visitors). The park is also host to many music events throughout the year, not to mention Allsång på Skansen. Later that evening hungry and tired we headed for some traditional Swedish fare and had a dinner of Meatballs at the side of the Opera House, pricey but tasty. After dinner we headed over to Stortorget for a few beers on the main square as we watched the world trying to dodge the rain now that the heavens were open. At 10pm we hit the clubs over at Riddarholmen. It was brilliant I can’t remember the last time I had such a good night out, and it was so much fun. Even the fact that is was chucking it down with rain and the fact that we had to queue for 20 mins didn’t dampen my spirits. With a fantastic waterfront location in a lovely old building, it was bright and airy unlike most of the dark and dingy nightclubs I’ve been to. For the next 6 hours I dance myself dizzy to some of the best music in Stockholm... it was like singing and dancing along to my iPod but with a few hundred other people there. There are 3 bars and 2 dance floors one playing dance music and the other was playing Europop & Schlager. It was packed, and it was great to see so many other people enjoying themselves. Again drinks in the bar set you back the same as the UK working out about £4 a pint of beer, and I remember paying that 10 years ago in France. In the summer there is also a large terraced area with another 2 bars and dance floor area. We left at ¼ to 4 in the morning looking for a Kebab Shop that was still open, we couldn’t find one so had to resort to McDonalds. ABBA really did describe it best as a Summer Night City.
After a couple of hours sleep we checked out of our hotel after breakfast on Sunday and we still had most of the day to kill before our flight back to London later that evening. After a look around the Nordiska Museum, the display about the Sami was quite interesting. The main shopping district could be anywhere in the world although the lack of GAP shops is made up by the ubiquitous H&M on every corner. We had a browse around the shops in the afternoon. NK is a grand old department store very similar to Selfridges, and Åhlens city which is like a cross between John Lewis and Debenhams. You can get pretty much anything you’d want whether it be an elk, a Swedish flag not to mention posh pants from Björn Borg. Although I did think that for a country that likes its music so much that there was a lack of music shops.
We can’t wait to go back to Stockholm, it was a brilliant place to go for a city break, everybody speaks almost perfect English, but like anywhere else if you make a bit of effort with the language it goes a long way. Sure it’s not the cheapest place in the world but it’s also not as horrendously expensive as everybody makes it out to be. We loved Stockholm so much that it’s made us seriously contemplate our futures and were thinking about emigrating out there in the no too distant future. Go to Stockholm it’s a gem of a well kept secret for a city break.