Stockholm Visit Story

Michael Cook is an author (Amazon Link to his author page) and I have been editing his last few books. He wrote about a mental institute in a town called Saters, about 50 miles northwest of Stockholm.

In July 2022, I did some research about Saters and found that they would be tearing down the Mental Institute there (news article - use Chrome to translate to English).  I contacted the news site (svt.se) and they replied letting me know there had been an appeal.  In November however, the appeal had been denied.

 I know a bit about Sweden and figured they would not tear it down until spring because of the large amounts of snow.  Luckily I was correct and the demolition crew started putting fences around the place when we arrived.  A followup article shows the demolition in progress in April.

March 19 - Trip Day 20 - Stockholm Day 1

Stockholm Arrival > Car Upgrade > Hotel Upgrade > Sucky Pizza but nice view

When I arrived at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport, I found the bus for Hertz and took it. Unfortunately, I didn't get off when I needed to probably because I didn't understand Swedish and went to the NEXT stop. I asked and was told that the Hertz office was behind me, so I got off and trudged down to it with my luggage (just a few hundred yards.) 

In prior rentals including Spain with Hertz, all the cars had CarPlay. I just had to plug in my iPhone and I could access Google Maps (with my saved locations for each city) and play music. In Stockholm, CarPlay in the first 2 cars didn't work. The mechanic came out to check and he verified it. The mechanic tested the third car before giving it to me. Not only did CarPlay work, but it was an upgraded vehicle to the one I had reserved. All 3 had been Volvos but this was a bigger one. 

For a hotel, I picked Scandic Victoria Tower because it looked cool, seemed more modern, and was further northwest and halfway to the airport from central Stockholm. I reserved Michael's room as well. I had gotten to Stockholm the day before Michael hoping to do some stuff, but with the delays at the car rental place, it was getting late. 

It was fairly chilly in Stockholm, above freezing, but there was still snow on the ground. The hotel had a severe case of lack of heat, which was so surprising since winter is a big part of the year in Sweden. The heat barely worked in the room I was in and I complained. They had me look at a second room, but it was freezing there as well. The front desk said they would send someone up with two radiators. Instead, the maintenance guy brought a huge electric radiator and plugged it in. About 5 minutes later, it blew the fuse to the room. So badly, it could not be reset, even by the maintenance guy. 

The front desk set me up with an upgraded room that was about twice as big and supplied two smaller radiators. So it was a double-upgrade day for me.

It was too late to go looking for food, so decided to eat in the hotel restaurant. Unfortunately, it was closed on Sundays but they did have the Skybar open which had a nice view except it was dark outside.  The only thing they had was pizza and it was a very mediocre pizza indeed. 

March 20 - Trip Day 21 - Stockholm Day 2

Michael Arrives > Why? > Goofing off in old town Stockholm > Parking Ticket

> Olof Palme > Desert > Dinner

Michael flew in from Atlanta (via JFK) this morning and I picked him up the airport. He had written a book called "FalconClaw: Säters", which I edited - it's part of a detective and murder series mainly centered around Philadelphia. However, it has scenes in a town called Säters, which we visited on the following day.  We wanted a full day for our trip since it is about a 2 hour drive.

After Michael took a short nap, we headed into downtown Stockholm and I swear, he is worse than me. He not only talks to anybody, he takes their pictures and then gets in their shots. The gall of the man! I will try that now!

I was fined for parking. The ticket was for about $100 because I parked where Mission Vehicles (per Google Translate) could only park. I couldn't figure it out what that meant until later that evening when I found out that missions means embassies and consulates and each one gets 3 public parking spaces according to the rules and regulations.  We had parked in one of the spaces belonging to the Indian Embassy. 

The next time, we parked in a garage. The garage was on Olof Palme Street, named after the PM who was shot and killed in Stockholm in 1986. We went to Vete Katten, a great patisserie/bakery recommended by Peter's wife Hanni.

It was a cold and blustery day when we came back, so we decided to eat in the hotel.

March 21 - Start of Spring!!! - Trip Day 22 - Stockholm Day 3

Sater > Insane Asylum > Journalist > Snacks > Fence being put up

This was our Sater Trip day. Michael drove and he made me crazy when he would just stop in the middle of the highway to take a picture. Granted these were fairly deserted roads, but a CHURCH? Okay, there were some cool ones but I didn't take any pics of them. I did take some pics on the trip though.

We made it without incident other than my skyrocketing blood pressure to Sater. We pull up and it's still standing. We had seen plans they would tear it down, but I figured they would wait until the snow was gone. 

A journalist, Felicia, showed up and Michael got her to stop. She was driving by each day waiting for the demolition to start because she was going to write about it, but nothing had been happening. As Michael and she were talking, guys showed up to put up a fence.  Michael convinced the guys with the color of his money and they let him and the journalist go in (there was no way I was going in.) 

He was going to go in anyway even if he were arrested, but luckily, we did without police involvement. Both Michael and Felicia went inside. I stayed outside. I recorded both of them going in and then back out again. Michael was pretty pissed off that I was recording him and said some bad words. 

I picked up a roof tile and put it in the car and later brought it with me to Atlanta and gave it to Michael as a souvenir. I should have never given it to him because he is such a nasty man (LOL!)

Coffee and snacks are a big thing in Sweden, so I invited Felicia to come with us for coffee and she agreed. She got more info from Michael about his book and we talked to some locals, one of whom had worked at one of the buildings of the institute. After the treat, Michael seemed to feel a lot better as you can see in the photo below.

Before we left Sater, we drove by the institute again. A fence was being erected, so we had basically gotten there just in time. By April, the building was being demolished (see link at top of the demolition on the news site.)

March 22 - Trip Day 23 - Stockholm Day 4

Museums > Taste-Testing Deserts (yeah, right) > Searching for a Swedish Flag

Though I love going on walking and food tours, Michael does not. He just likes to wander around. I found locations for a couple of places and we went there after some discussion. 

Michael is an ABBA fan and wanted to go to the museum. I had Swedish friends In Austria who in the 70's inundated me with ABBA and though I know most of their hits, I never was a big fan (DON'T KILL ME ERICSON BROTHERS!!!). I was more into Pink Floyd (thanks Peter!), Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and some harder stuff, though Waterloo (won the Eurovision Song Contest) was my favorite ABBA song. The museum was interesting but very limited. I think the gift shop was bigger.

I got bored and went outside and convinced some folks to take a picture of me posing sexily behind an ABBA cutout poster (no idea what those are called.)

Next we headed to the Vasa Museum. This impressed me more than the ABBA museum. The Vasa was a ship that had sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628 after traveling 1000 yards. Bad design. Too many guns, not enough ballast.  They couldn't raise it at the time and then it got lost and forgotten on the bottom somewhere. In 1958, they found it and in 1961 they raised it and put it in a museum after preserving it. AWESOME! We then had snacks in the cafe.

Finally, Michael wanted to get a Swedish flag for his daughter, and we drove around for about 3 hours looking for one. We were not successful. He leaves tomorrow, but I'm here another day, so perhaps I can find one. Personally, I LOVED driving around Stockholm in the dark and pouring rain - I kid you not. It was fun! (For Michael, not so much!)

March 23 - Trip Day 24 - Stockholm Day 5 - Part 1

Bye Michael > No-show City Tour > Nobel Prize Museum

Got up at 3 AM and drove Michael to the airport. Went back to the hotel for a couple more hours of sleep. Later, I heard from him that he landed safely in Atlanta. 

I had scheduled an old town walking tour but the guide didn't show. I hung out at a coffee shop called Under Kastanjen for a while, then walked over to the Nobel Prize Museum. On the way, I found a gift shop that sold Swedish Flags. I picked one up for Michael's daughter.

The museum was open and I went in. It mainly had a list of all the Nobel Prize Winners over the years and some of their donations to the museum. Kind of ho-hum, but I saw a quote I loved.

March 23 - Trip Day 24 - Stockholm Day 5 - Part 2

Food Tour

This food tour went to multiple locations with probably about 1 or 2 miles of walking.

We started at Saluhall. This area used to be a slum but was revitalized by the government in the 1880s and this is a hall full of food stalls. We taste tested 3 things including cheeses, meats, and Swedish Meatballs (way better than Ikea's!)

We then walked to a newer area - this place was called Hotorgshallen and has lots of seating because people come and eat here for lunch.

We had a bunch of snacks (mainly licorice) and then Mat explained the alcohol laws. You can drink at 18 but not buy at a store until 20. The prices seemed equivalent to States' bottle-shop prices, but I buy my booze at CostCo.

We then walked all the way to Gamla Stan to a little coffee shop which I did NOT get a pic of. We had the typical Kanelbullar, the classic Swedish Cinnamon bun which has a little Cardamon kick.

Stockholm - Final Thoughts

I've always said Stockholm is my favorite city in Europe so I came here with that preconceived notion in mind. I really do like the Swedes, the clean city with elegant architecture, and even the driving (this was the first time I had ever tried.)

Stockholm is gorgeous in the summer and I got a wee taste of that on the last day with the sun shining and 50 degree weather. 

Is it still my favorite city though? Rouen almost surpassed it, but so far, I still have to say out of all the cities I visited this time around, Stockholm is still my fave. It is also incredibly progressive.

The Swedes are incredibly innovative and understand how to make beautiful design to be functional. Other than the hotel I'm staying in which looks so cool, but is a buggy hotel. It was fairly cheap though, but I'd never stay here again.

I guess the mark of a favorite city is whether I would return. Stockholm, Rouen, and Barcelona are 3 of the cities so far I would return to.

Stockholm Itinerary - Sunday, March 19 - Thursday, March 23