Day 15 - Street Fair & Soccer for Our Final Night

Saturday was our last full day of the trip and we ended it in perfect fashion, watching a great soccer match between Netherlands and Costa Rica while feasting on some good old American ribs. A big part of this trip was to take in World Cup matches in different European cities to see and experience the World Cup through their eyes, so it made sense for our last night to be centered around this quarterfinal showdown.

Greg's flight was at 6:30am and Matt's was at 2pm, so Saturday was the final day to pack in anything we felt that we left out.

As we've mentioned, our hotel has a Marcus Samuelsson restaurant called American Table in the lobby. He's a famous Swedish chef with restaurants all over the world including NYC, Vegas, etc. On Saturday morning we actually ran into him in the lobby and chatted with him a bit about Sweden and a few spots to hit up while we're in town.

Our Saturday was spent exploring the Sodermalm part of Stockholm, which is a central island in Stockholm that is known as an up and coming bohemian alternative part of the city. We were told it has a variety of fun shops, unique restaurants, fun bars and happening nightlife. We stopped for brunch at Nytorget 6, a popular casual breakfast and lunch bistro. We grabbed a table outside and got our day started with espressos and omelets.

 

 Matt's routine haircut while on vacation

We stumbled upon a street fair on Gotgatan, a main north/south street in  Sodermalm. It had performers, food trucks, DJs, and tons of people out and about enjoying the sunshine

It felt a bit like Mardi Gras with oversize cartoonish characters

 

Street bands performed while spectators danced and took in the sounds

 

Greg was trying to get tips from a local hula hooper, but was unable to master the trade

After walking around the street fair and enjoying a few beers at the outdoor cafés, we ventured to The Gandolen, a bar/restaurant overlooking both Stockholm central and the Sodermalm area. One of the elevators to Gandolen, which sat on the 27th floor, had a maximum of 2 people so it was a bit snug

View from The Gandolen facing south down the Norrstrom water way

Top of Stockholm

View facing north west toward Stockholm central. You can see that their isn't a ton of high rises in Stockholm.

 

 

We eventually wrapped up our walk around Sodermalm and made it back to the hotel to change for the evening. Our night was centered around the Netherlands v. Costa Rica match at 10pm local time.

 

Our first evening stop was to the mega Euro-chain sports bar O'Leary's to finally sink our teeth into an order of their American ribs

 

We then bar hopped around the Vasastan area of Stockholm and set up shop at Monks, a bar/restaurant stocked with a tons of beers and more importantly several TVs

Monks had a bit of an American theme including this over the top and slightly bizarre Obama/American flag masterpiece

Celebrating the Netherland's victory with a little flare

Matt finally tried a French style hot dog, which basically means the wiener is stuffed into a bread tube and filled with whatever condiments you desired

 

 

Our final day and night consisted of experiencing local culture events, indulging in local cuisine and libations, and taking in a few soccer matches, pretty much the exact road map for how we wanted to spend this trip, and a great way to wrap up 15 days in Europe.

 

 

Day 14 - Hiking, Eating and Partying Under A Bridge in Stockholm

The Djurgdaren park is one of the largest in Stockholm, which is saying something considering 30% of the city is made up of parks, forests and green areas. We spent most of Saturday walking around and through the park exploring the various sites, pathways, chateaus, museums, and more. It was a bit more exercise then we were bargaining for but we definitely needed it considering the amount of eating and drinking we've been doing.

In the lobby of the Hotel Clarion Sign where we're staying is American Table from famous Swedish Chef Marcus Samuelsson. He also has a few restaurants in NY and elsewhere in the U.S.

Scallop ceviche at American Table to start the day

We walked along the main river walk in downtown Stockholm on our way to Djurgarden. The park occupies a massive island in the center of Stockholm.

Checking out the Norrstrom riverway that separates the main area of Stockholm from Djurgarden, Old Town and Sodermalm

The Nordic Museum on the Djurgarden island houses the largest collection of cultural history items in Sweden

The ABBA Museum is also located on Djurgarden island, so we popped in to have a quick glance around

In case you ever wanted to know what Greg would look like in white overalls and what Matt would look like in a shinny white onsie

Dancing Queens

The views from all angles of Djurgarden were spectacular

Waldemarsudde is the former chateau of Prince Eugen and is now a museum housing his vast art collection

The chateau also had beautiful grounds filled with sculptures, rose gardens and fountains

A view from the chateau's back terrace looking out onto the south east part of the harbor

We walked along the far backside of the island where we continued to stumble upon old barns, windmills in this case, and beautiful residences that had been there for years

 

It was a very peaceful and relaxing stroll and the views continued to get better and better

We read that deer and other animals live in the park so we tried to trek into the woods to have some encounters, but no dice

We did come upon a massive flock of mallards, so that kind of counts

We eventually found our way back to civilization and headed to grab a bite to eat

We stopped at Speceriet, the sister and neighbor restaurant to Michelin-starred Gastrologik, one of the city's top restaurants and has received rave reviews from all over the world including the New York Times

Speceriet is the more casual spot that allows walk-ins and has communal tables, but the menu is pretty similar to Gastrologik. We read about their rotisserie chicken and it didn't disappoint.

One of the chefs Jacob Holmstrom was hanging outside chatting with patrons and he was kind of enough to give us a brief tour of Gastrologik next door. Pretty awesome coincidence he was outside chatting and even more amazing that he offered to give us a personalized tour of the Michelin-starred place.

 

 

 

After the long trek around Djurgarden and the stop off at Speceriet - Greg and I split the chicken so it was just an appetizer - we made it back to the hotel to change and get ready for dinner and a night out.

We did dinner al fresco at a popular place called Supper

Supper was located in the plaza across from our hotel and we had walked by several times and seen large crowds so we had to experience it for ourselves

It was a great setup with inside and outside dinning, but the inside was under a tent so you still felt outdoors. For 8-9 months of the year Supper is in a brick & mortar building down the block but for the summer it moves to the larger outdoor plaza so people can eat and drink under the sun.

Chorizo mini-dogs with chimichurri

Tacos de Pescado - fried red shrimp with pickled red cabbage and spicy mint sauce

Slow cooked chuck beef flavored with chocolate and chili sauce

Seared tuna with chili, coriander, and rotary cut greens and sweet potato mash

Beef shoulder with corn puree and chimichurri

Dinner was delicious but it was only the precursor to the evening at Tregarden, a multi-floor club and entertainment venue under a bridge in the Sodermalm part of Stockholm

It had several bars, a main area, ping pong tables, stadium seats to relax, basketball hoop, a TV to watch the late World Cup matches, and several separate rooms playing different music

The crowd was casual and easy going - shorts, tennis shoes, tank tops - so it was far from the high-end nightlife vibe that you might assume with typical night clubs

Our friend Karin (center) guided us around Stockholm and told us about Tregarden so we owe her a big thank you

The place was packed from the moment it opened at 10am until 3am when it closed. The line out front to get in was about a 2hr wait.

Between hiking the Djurgarden, feasting on three delicious top-tier meals at American Table, Speceriet, and Supper and then an evening at one of Stockholm's top night spots, Friday was an epic epic day. It encapsulated why we travel - culture, food, people, and fun. Tough to top it, but Saturday is our last full day of the trip so we have to make the last day the best day.