Our lovely neighbour

Last weekend it was time for the first trip of the summer - to our lovely neighbour Sweden! I was very excited as I haven't been on Helsinki-Stockholm ferry (or in Stockholm) for a long time except just for passing by with a car. Most of my trips have also been in autumn when the weather is not so great and the trip usually requires heaps of pills for the sea sickness.. However, this time it was time to enjoy.

Weekend was perfect and warm, it almost felt like being somewhere in Southern Europe. In fact, the atmosphere was like straight from the Canary Islands: hot, sunny and full of tanned Swedes. Stockholm is interesting city but you always tend to visit the same attractions that you've seen so many times already. This time we decided to see also areas that were not so familiar to us and headed to Södermalm first. Earlier Södermalm was known as working-class district or even as a slum. However, nowadays it has become the district for the privileged and has a bohemian and alternative culture reputation. There are a lot of shops, bars and restaurants on this area. It is also known for its second-hand shops which I wanted to visit. For my bad, they were all still closed because we arrived so early on Saturday morning. I just needed to settle for window-shopping this time. Well, better for my wallet. Even though most of the shops were still closed you could still notice that the atmosphere was different to the central Stockholm, and way less tourists, too!

Colourful houses of Hornsgatan in Södermalm

Second-hand shop on Hornsgatan

Most of the day we just spent wandering around the city and enjoying the beautiful day and atmosphere in the Kungträdgård. And a bit of shopping too, obviously. The grass still seems to be greener on Sweden's side as we still don't have all the same clothes shop chains.. 

The sun and warm weather were really pampering us.

Also a way to do a sightseeing... I would take a bike though.

Also found a climbing wall in the middle of Stockholm!

When you walk around the wandering mode on, you might bump into most interesting things, too. For me it was accidentally stumbling upon this outside climbing wall just in the middle of Stockholm! Maybe some day I'll be there too ;) All in all the trip was fun and both Stockholm and the Baltic Sea were presenting their best. On the ship, the entertainment, music and tax-free were pretty much the same that I remember from my visits during the last 20 years, but the view from the top floor nightclub is just something to remember for the next 20.

Dancing the night away on the ship around 2am