Ice Hockey in Sweden

Ok so it has taken me over 2 weeks but here it is. The one you've all been waiting for. We finally got to see a European hockey game as we had always planned and what better place to do this than in Stockholm Sweden. We had such a great time in Sweden last October that we were pretty excited to get up there again.

Day 1

Finishing work on friday night around 5:30 we (Brad, Nada, Megan, and myself) drove up to my grandmothers near Standsted airport so we could get the long drive out of the way that night instead of the following morning. We had a nice 6:30am flight which we only just made and landed in Sweden bright and early in the morning. As the airport is about 100km outside of Stockholm we jumped on the bus and made our way to the city centre. Our first order of business was getting some food as we were all pretty starving. A quick bite to eat a Italian restaurant filled us up and we walked north towards our hotel stopping and taking photos along the way through the city.
Does anyone other than Curtis and Andrew know why I took this photo?


Our rooms weren't ready yet so dropped off our bags and made our way back into the city centre again this time via the metro as it was freezing outside. A quick stop at the tourist information and then we were back on the metro heading to the south island of the city to get to the Stockholm Globe arena where the LG hockey tournament was being held. We grabbed out tickets and made our way to our seats to see the start of the Sweden Vs. Russia game. But not before we managed to get a few jumping shots in front of the arena.


It was my first international game and as I would love to say how great it was I must admit that it didn't compare to a good old Maple leafs vs. Flyers NHL game. It was a bit slower and the big hits were rare (if any at all). The game was more based around great plays and great goals. There were a lot of penalties (one for "kneeing") and it created a lot of power plays. So the final score was Sweden 6 and Russia 2. It was nice to watch a hockey game played slightly different to that in North America.






By the time the game was over it was dark out and we made our way back to the hotel to check in get our rooms and then head out for dinner. We were within a 5min walk of a hardrock cafe (yes don't worry I got the shot glass) but we didn't eat there as they were rude and there was a long wait to get in. Instead we ate at a steakhouse bar across the street and drank local beers which I couldn't pronounce even if I had caught the name when the waitress told us what it was. Brewed in northern Sweden is all I got. It had being a long day so we went back to the hotel (which seemed a lot like a old physc ward) and went to sleep for the night.



Day 2

Waking up to a nice breakfast of hot chocolate and ham and cheese rolls provided by the hotel we got ready and made our way down to Gamla Stan which is the name of the island in the middle of the city. It is also the oldest part of Stockholm and full of eye catching buildings. When you think of Europe this is probably how you would picture it. It was only about -6 C that day but the wind was bitterly cold and yours truly once again didn't wear a jacket. But I did purchase a pair of gloves as we were going to be outside most of the day. We walked all over Gamla Stan checking out the oldest building in Stockholm (the Riddarholmskyrkan) and the Royal Palace with the guards who had the winter uniforms on so we didn't get to see those silly hats they have to wear. Then we walked down by the water looking at all the old buildings and churches and every once in a while ducking down some side streets to see shops and squares and whatnot.



We searched for a good 30min looking for a ice sculpture museum only to learn that it had been shut down and was no longer in Stockholm. So with that we walked down to the ferry and made our way to another island and another part of the city.

I should probably mention that Stockholm is built on 14 main islands and is located on the coast of Sweden on the Baltic Sea. It is a really incredible city! As the ferry made its way around Stockholm we had a great view of the city from the water which is said to be the best way to view Stockholm. I would have agree. At certain sections the water was frozen and the ferry broke through the ice and pushed it out of the way. It was mostly just large chucks of ice that had already been broken but an experience none the less.



After getting off the ferry, Brad and Nada made their way towards the Vasa museum while Megan and I went to the Stockholm Aquarium to see some shark feeding and a simulated rainforest. It was really incredible but hard to get photos as my camera lens (and glasses) kept steaming up. We spent most of the time there checking out the sharks and eels and had a great seat for when it was feeding time.


After the aquarium we made our way up to the .Vasa Museum to see the huge 17th centry ship that only managed to sail for only a few minutes before sinking to the bottom of the sea. Not the greatest engineering accomplishment of all time but it is a beautiful ship and looks great for the fact that it sat at the bottom of the ocean for 300 years. We ran into Brad and Nada inside but they were just about leaving as we were coming in. We had a good look around all the levels and watched the historical movie about the ship in Swedish (English Subtitles) before making our way back to the city centre via a long path that runs along the river.


Back at the city centre we met up with Brad and Nada again and then went off in search of the Absolute Ice Bar. We had a 15min wait to get in but it was well worth it. The whole bar (except for the metal floor) was made of ice. The seats, countertop, walls and decorations were all ice. Even the glasses were ice cubes with holes bored into them. It wasn't cheap for the drinks but after a photo with Megan hold hers and my drinks and her dropping mine all I could do was laugh. At least there wasn't broken glass everywhere. I was over half done so it wasn't so bad.



It was getting late so we went back for some thai food close to the hotel and then called it a night as we had to be at 2am the following morning. After about an hour of trying to get to sleep I got up again and went for a long walk around the north part of the city while everyone else slept. I went more into the residential area but didn't see anything much of significance. Just nice to get out for a walk.

We were up at 2 and down at the bus station by 2:30 to catch the bus back to the airport. We had enough time to get a bite to eat before flying back to England. The drive back to Bristol was terrible as sat on the M25 for 2.5 hours even before getting to the M4. We made it back into Bristol for 12:25 (Megan had to work at (12:30) and then Brad and I went back to work for the afternoon. It was a long and tiring weekend but it just made me love Sweden even more. Not sure when I will get to go back next though.