stockholm, part 2

Those of you who have been to Stockholm know that the shopping there is amazing.  The Swedish people are very fashionable and trendy and clearly don't take their shopping lightly.  We decided to check out the shopping scene in Stockholm on Friday afternoon.  We figured with the snow and cold weather, we'd be better off indoors for most of the time.  We spent lots of time in the department stores, specialty shops, malls/galleries, etc.  It was a lot of fun to see how things compared to not only the U.S. but what we are now familiar with in Finland as well.  There was an H&M on every block (not an exaggeration) and more shoe stores than I have ever seen (along with everything else....)  We didn't buy a ton of stuff- shopping wasn't really our goal for the trip- but we did have a lot of fun looking.  I think we actually came home with more grocery items than personal items... they had a different selection of "American" groceries than we do here, so naturally, we had to stock up!

We got back to the hotel to rest for a little bit and get ready for dinner.  We already had our sights on one place in particular- the Hard Rock Cafe.  Most people who go to Sweden would want to taste a sample of what Swedish food is like.... not us!  A good old American burger, chicken strips & french fries satisfied us more than you could ever imagine.  We haven't found many restaurants over here that we really like, so we were pretty excited to just have some food that was "normal" to us and stuck with the safe choice.  No regrets!  Hubs did have a little tease though... the drink menu listed that they had "Miller Lite" in bottles.  I'm pretty sure he almost started to drool just reading that... the Finnish beer leaves a lot to be desired.  All that excitement for nothing though, of course they were all out.  He was a good sport and didn't let it ruin the rest of the meal though :)

Walking back to the hotel was beautiful with all the street lights, fresh snow covered ground and trees, and amazing architecture of the buildings.  It made me envious of all the lucky people who get to live in them.  Maybe one of these years.... ;)

Saturday was sightseeing day.  We had booked a bus tour along with our boat tickets, thinking it would be the perfect way to see most of the main sights (but from a warm and comfy bus)... and it was.  Taking the tour around the whole city made me fall in love with it even more.  I can't even count how many times I asked J if we could just go back to Finland and get Maddie and come right back to Sweden.  Oh yeah, I guess that little thing called "work" kind of gets in the way of that plan.... :)

After the bus tour, we were on a mission to find lunch.  We had driven past a Burger King on the bus.... and I was determined to find it.  I'm not usually a big fast food go-er, but it's just one of those things that you see and just have to have it just because it reminds you of home.  There was only one problem- we had no idea where it was.  Bound and determined, I remembered taking a picture of it... so I scrolled through the pictures I had taken on the bus.  I found a picture taken near where we were at the moment, scrolled back 3 pictures and... voila!  It had to be close!  We walked a couple blocks back and thereeee she was.  Thank goodness I had snapped so many pictures on the bus or we would have never found it ;).  We were happy campers. 

We walked around a little while longer and by then it was time to head to the hotel, grab our luggage and head to the boat home (not forgetting to stop at the counter and get our cabin upgrade first, of course!).  We arrived back in Helsinki on Sunday morning to freezing cold weather.  It was -30C, or -22F.  Real temperature, not including windchill.  Little did we know, that lovely weather would be staying with us for the next 2 1/2 weeks.  On the bright side, at least it has been nice and sunny... and finally starting to warm up now.

We had an amazing trip and cannot wait to go back.  It was a perfect little getaway before returning to Helsinki.  Most importantly, we were both refreshed and well-rested & the hubs was more than ready to get back to the rink to finish out the last month of the regular season before playoffs :)

Anyways, here are some of the pictures from our trip.