Stockholm – "The Prize" worth winning

A long weekend at the Grand Hotel was the prize in a newspaper competition that we were lucky enough to win. We – Tina, me, and Gioia (our 3-month-old daughter) – behaved like kids in a candy store and had a wonderful time.

The location of the Grand Hotel is hard to beat – opposite the Royal Palace and Gamla Stan (Stockholm’s old town), above the embarkation point for sightseeing boats, near the shops, and across another bridge from the leafy island of Skeppsholmen.

We had expected the Grand to be luxurious. It is, but the service is also friendly and spontaneous. The view from our balcony was fantastic, and I have not had a more memorable breakfast than that on the Veranden restaurant of the hotel.

Outside the hotel, our "Royal Canals" sightseeing boat tour was a highlight. The boat’s motor lulled Gioia to sleep, and we enjoyed some beautiful Autumnal foliage in the heart of Stockholm. There were also plenty of ducks and herons, and cranes painted to resemble giraffes.

The October weather was a highlight. There was plenty of sunshine, making the water and leaves look particularly beautiful. And warm enough to stay outside for as long as Gioia would allow. We enjoyed joining other families for a Saturday afternoon stroll around Skeppsholmen in the sunshine.

We enjoyed walking around the quieter streets of Gamla Stan. The bigger streets are full of shopping "opportunities," but quiet streets – with schools and offices and everyday people – are often just a block off the beaten path.

The NK department store is probably Stockholm’s most-famous shop. It is a beautiful building in itself, and its distinctive rotating clock provides a good landmark and destination point. We found it to be a good source for some trendy scarves and for some mooses to take home (on trays, pot holders, and bottle stoppers).

With alcohol being expensive, happy hour at the excellent Youth Hostel bar (from 6 to 8pm every day) was a minor highlight for us. The bar overlooks a beautiful, big boat, through leafy woods, and across the inlet to the buildings of Gamla Stan. Blankets are available if you want to sit outside, and our autumn sundowners were most enjoyable.

Quick Tips:

It seems that most people in Stockholm speak better English than we do. However, our attempts with Hej, Tack, and Hej da raised a few smiles.

Particularly if you’re an IKEA customer, try the "Swedish meatballs" in Stockholm. Like Guinness in Ireland, they really do taste much better at home.

Queue politely. Respect the red man at road crossings. Take a numbered queuing slip if you need to wait in a shop or office.

If you take a sightseeing boat, the earlier sailings are emptier than the later ones. We found the "Canals" boat trip more interesting and scenically appealing than the longer "Bridges" trip.

Shopping is expensive. If you live outside the European Union, make sure to claim your tax refund.

Best Way To Get Around:

Stockholm is small and very safe – many of the sights are easy to reach on foot. We did not use taxis, although we did contact the taxi company through the Stockholm website before our departure from London. We established that many Stockholm taxis have child seats available, and that these are required by law in Sweden.

The metro is clean and efficient – we were also impressed by the creative artwork in the couple of stations that we passed through.

We took the Arlanda Express fast train from the airport. At SEK195, it is twice as expensive as the bus. The journey to central Stockholm takes 20 minutes (45 minutes by bus). On weekends, train tickets are available at SEK200 for two people. Buy tickets before boarding, or pay a SEK50 per person onboard supplement.

We were happy that our flight was to Arlanda (Stockholm’s main airport), particularly for a short stay. Stockholm’s other airports are much farther from the action.

The Grand Hotel is where Nobel Prize winners (and assorted other celebrities) stay when they come to Stockholm. It is also where we stayed, having been the lucky winners of a newspaper competition. We (Tina, me, and Gioia, our 3-month-old daughter) enjoyed three nights of luxury, friendly and professional service, great food, a beautiful view, and a very convenient location.

Our "deluxe double" room had the biggest bed I have ever slept in, and a balcony with a great view over the water to the Royal Palace and Stockholm’s old town (Gamla Stan). It also had a cot for Gioia, a friendly teddy bear for her parents, and a great big fruit basket for all of us. It was absolutely quiet, and a great place to set up camp for occasional forays out into the tourist traps of Stockholm.

The public rooms of the Grand are impressive. The old "Winter Garden" – with arcaded balconies and turrets – has been glassed over, but the gilded-and-mirrored "Spegelsalen" is quite spectacular. Both were set up for company conferences when we were there. We also enjoyed the interesting original artwork along the corridors linking the hotel’s 300 rooms. Most of the hotel’s bedrooms do not overlook the water, and the hotel is expanding into a neighbouring building during 2006.

We didn’t eat lunch or dinner at the hotel, but we did see plenty of well-dressed people looking hungry. We did, however, enjoy three spectacular breakfasts at the hotel’s Veranden restaurant (please see separate journal entry).

The hotel’s location was perfect for us. Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s big shops, the Central train station, and the laid-back, leafy island of Skeppsholmen are all in very easy walking distance. In addition, the "Stockholm Tours" sightseeing boats depart from their moorings directly in front of the hotel.

On the whole, Gioia enjoyed her stay at the Grand Hotel. The hotel staff was wonderful, the hotel provided us with a pram, and the thick walls meant that our neighbours couldn’t hear us in the middle of the night. Burping Gioia while looking out at the Royal Palace and the lights twinkling on the water was as pleasant as it could be. Like Paul Newman and Elke Sommer in "The Prize," we’re not sure if the king could see us. Or if he would have minded.

Reindeer, herring, mackerel, salmon, cheese, salamis, lingonberries, blueberries, anchovies, pastries, breads, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto tomatoes, eggs, bacon, sausages, kiwi, watermelon, grapefruit, mango smoothie, melons… I had three mornings to work on the breakfast menu at the Veranden, but still had to leave much to try at another time.

Breakfast at the Grand Hotel is a memorable experience that requires determination, a good appetite, and enough time to savour some of what is on offer. It also required a strategy – Friday was for an overview sampling of the full range, Saturday was for new (to me) delicacies, and Sunday was for the more familiar eggs-and-bacon fill-up. I loved all three.

The buffet spread at the Veranden is spectacular indeed. Being woefully ignorant about Swedish cuisine, I tried anything that looked new - and therefore "Swedish" - to me. The pickled herring was delicious. But not as good as the mustard herring, and definitely not as good as the mackerel. I probably should not have eaten them with lingonberries, but the combination tasted good. The blueberry jam was good and the cracker-bread went well with the Vasterbotten cheese. The reindeer tasted a bit like stringy and lean salami, and the blackened ham tasted like ham. The cottage cheese with crayfish tails and the anchovy tartlets were fishy and delicious.

The Veranden overlooks the Royal Palace and an embarkation point for small passenger ferries. With breakfast being served from 7am until 10:30am (11am on weekends), there was plenty of healthy ferry activity going on outside. Over my left shoulder, I could watch ferry passengers arrive, queue, and depart. Over my right shoulder, I could see the early sunshine on the church towers and opera house.

The Veranden buzz changed from dark-suited business dealings on Friday (with overheard discussions on the difficulties facing the hedge-fund industry and current opportunities with collectible stamps) to a much more leisurely relaxed enjoyment on Saturday and Sunday.

Service at the Veranden is discreet, professional, and friendly. Babies definitely welcome among the dark suits. Bookings are required f you are not a guest at the Grand Hotel. From my vantage point, it appeared that there was no space for people without a reservation.

The beautiful, tall-masted "af Chapman" boat is a distinctive landmark on the southern shore of the leafy island of Skeppsholmen. It also houses the youth hostel where I stayed sometime last millennium. The youth hostel has expanded a bit since then, and we enjoyed a couple of fun meals at its casual restaurant on dry land.

The Chapman restaurant is open from 2pm until 11pm every day. Equally importantly, it offers a happy hour between 6pm and 8pm every day. We enjoyed leisurely walks around Skeppsholmen, ending with a couple of satisfying meals at the Chapman restaurant. IKEA aficionado that she is, Tina went for the Swedish meatballs (SEK60). They were served with lingonberries and a generous dollop of mashed potato, and were pronounced to be much better than the IKEA variety. I went for the salmon with potato salad (SEK75), which also hit the spot. The meal came with cracker-bread, and we shared a couple of happy-hour Falcon beers on tap (SEK30).

The Chapman has an outdoor area under the trees. We enjoyed watching the beautiful Autumn twilight over the water and the buildings of Gamla Stan beyond. The hostel provides blankets in a big basket, but we didn’t stay long enough to find these to be necessary. We enjoyed the laid-back, friendly youth hostel atmosphere, with all ages (including our 3-month-old) very welcome. The Chapman restaurant also has a pleasant indoor eating area, with big windows and Stockholm picture books to look at and Johnny Cash singing in the background.

The Chapman’s location – on laid-back Skeppsholmen Island, and with great views over the water – is a big plus. We had enjoyed leisurely afternoon strolls around the island –admiring the trees and the beautiful old boats moored on the northern shore – and were impressed by some of the outdoor exhibits of the Modern Art Museum nearby. We had walked over the bridge to the neighbouring islet of Kastellholmen, where we climbed a small hill for great views over the bay towards the Grona Lund amusement park on Djurgarden.

The Chapman provides a good-value meal in pleasant surroundings. We recommend it. Like everywhere else we went in Stockholm, English is widely understood at the Chapman. The menu is printed in Swedish and English, and we chose to pay with our VISA card.

Much of Stockholm’s allure lies in its beautiful situation on the water. Sightseeing trips by boat are a good introduction to waterside Stockholm, to its boats, and to its connections with the sea. Visiting Stockholm with our three-month old daughter, our tourism ambitions were more relaxed than they would have been a few months ago. We enjoyed a couple of leisurely boat cruises around the city, admiring the water and the boats and relaxing to the hum of the engine.

"Stockholm Sightseeing" boats leave from their embarkation point in front of the Grand Hotel. We tried both the "Royal Canals" tour (50 minutes duration, SEK 110 per person) and the ""Bridges of Stockholm" tour (1 hour 50 minutes, SEK 170). We took the first sailing each day (at 11am and at 11.30 am) and were able to buy tickets from the dockside ticket office just before sailing time. The October weather was sunny and warm on both days, and we chose to sit in the small open area at the back of the boat on each occasion.

Both tours offer headphone commentary in a variety of languages. This was interesting, and enlivened by occasional contributions from ABBA between sights. There are more seats than headphones, so they may not be readily available if the boat is full. Unlike most of our fellow-passengers, we preferred to sit outside – with fresh air and good views – rather than inside where it is warmer and the seats are softer.

The "Royal Canals" tour circumnavigates the leafy island of Djurgarden. We passed beautiful fall foliage, ducks, herons, and harbour cranes painted to resemble giraffes. We saw beautiful turn-of-the-century mansions and plenty of beautiful old boats. On more open water, we saw large cruise boats, and a "new" wooden Viking tour boat resting until next summer.

The "Bridges of Stockholm" tour is twice as long. Much of it is in sailing around the suburban island of Sodermalm. We saw the Stockholm City Hall – with its beautiful waterside location, and where the Nobel Prize banquets are held – and chugged under some very high bridges. We also saw a lot of woodsy apartment blocks and leafy jogging paths. It looks like a pleasant place to live.

The "Royal Canals" tour was our favourite of the two. The boat is smaller, and the views on the way are always interesting. This tour also leaves more often – hourly, from 11:30 and 3:30 every day in October – than the "Bridges" tour (every two hours from 11 am to 3 pm from Friday to Sunday in October). Also, it appeared to us that the earlier sailings were emptier than the later ones – with more headphones to share around, and more space to move around in.