Day 13 - Old Town Stockholm; Night Time Clubbing

Thursday, or as some know it Friday #1, was a full day exploring Gamla Stan (Old Town) followed by a fun night at a few of Stockholm's top clubs.

Like any good day, we started Thursday with coffee at Wayne's Coffee, a place that seems to be the Starbucks of Stockholm since they're on every other corner

Stockholm Opera House...this is how we do cultural sites, we walk by, snap a few photos and move on

Stockholm central is made up of 14 different islands and Gamla Stan, or Old Town, is its own island right in the heart of the city

The view from Norrbro, or North Bridge looking at the Norrstrom waterway that connects the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren in central Stockholm

A view of Gala Stan from central Stockholm

Old Town is pretty small in comparison to the rest of the city. It's made up of a maze of quaint cobble stone streets lined by shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs.

Lots of old school character in Old Town Stockholm

Prepared v Unprepared...Greg was ready for the rain with a jacket and a poncho...Matt, not so much

The weather eventually cleared allowing us to continue our site seeing of Old Town

Old Town in the palm of our hands

Old Town isn't all tourist shops; it has a burgeoning gastropub scene and we ventured to the spot leading the charge called The Flying Elk.

The Flying Elk's Iron Lady burger with bacon, grilled onions, and a hybrid blue/cheddar cheese...makes our moth water just writing about it

Matt took a risk wearing his LA Kings shirt in Stockholm, the home town of the recently defeated NY Rangers All-Star goalie Henrik Lundquist. No trouble was caused but a few folks including the bartender at The Flying Elk took notice and made comments. 

Walking around Old Town lasted until about 8pm so it was time to head to the hotel and get ready for a bit of Stockholm nightlife. On the agenda for the night was a highly touted classic spot called F12 along with a fun hotel called Berns. 

Berns was our first stop. It's a hotel, bar, restaurant, club combo that is considered one of the nicer spots in Stockholm. It has an old school 1920s look and feel including a decadent main library-looking bar with massive chandeliers and many leather-bound books.  From talking with some of the locals, we came to learn that Berns was the Moulin Rouge of Stockholm back in the day.

Our second stop, which was around 2am, was F12. It was a straight dance club with an outside area to drink and dance as well as indoor hip-hop area. A few fireball shots and some beers had us on the dance floor until about 4am.

No idea what's happening here...see above about fireball shots and beers...

Thursday in Stockholm set a high standard of food and fun. It was a mix of site seeing, delicious meals and a social evening, which seems to be the theme of this great city. We're hoping for more of the same on Friday and Saturday, the last two nights of this European adventure. 

Day 12 - Copenhagen to Stockholm, The Final Leg

We've reached the fourth and final leg of this Euro Trip 2014 and it takes place in the wonderful capitol city of Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm is widely considered the cultural, political, and economical hub of Sweden and perhaps even Scandinavia as a whole.

It's documented that the city started around the 11th century as a Viking town on the south east coast of Sweden. It's location on the water between the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren made it ideal for trading, exploring, and even going to battle. It became a real European power in the 17th century when the city became the official capitol of the Swedish empire and the population began to increase significantly. Trading laws were made that allowed Stockholm to have a monopoly on trading between foreign merchants, Sweden, and even other Scandinavian countries. Stockholm went through a modernism era in the late 1900s with the knocking down of many old historic buildings and the development of the modern, technologically advanced city that you see today.

What many people don't know is that the central part of Stockholm consists of 14 islands and 30% of the city is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and forests. Something else that's interesting is that at this time of year the sun sets at 10:30pm and rises at 3:30am, and even when the sun is down it's not completely dark; it looks more like dusk.

Breakfast buffet at the Copenhagen Airport was huge in helping us get over our last night in Copenhagen

Welcome to Sweden

What's the best way to be welcomed to Sweden? With a giant Bjorn Borg photo of course. 

Our home for the next four days, Hotel Clarion Sign which includes a lobby restaurant called American Table by one of Sweden's most notable chefs Marcus Samuelsson

What to do, what to do...

First stop, Swedish meatballs! We hit Riche, a spot known for it's tasty meatballs.

Getting it started in Stockholm

Swedish meatballs are served in a delicious sauce almost like a dark creamy gravy...really good

What we learned is that you eat the meatballs with sweet cucumbers, mashed potatoes and a lingonberry sauce (like a sweeter cranberry sauce)...it was phenomenal!

After Riche we jumped over to Escalier, an upbeat outdoor cocktail lounge where a lot of locals come after work

Making friends. We actually randomly ran into a girl Matt knew from NY named Lisa (second from the right) at Escalier. She was there with a few friends having drinks as well. Small world.

We ventured off to dinner with Lisa and our new friends to a well known Asian-Scandinavian place called Miss Voon. The place is from one of the largest restaurant groups in Stockholm that has different concept restaurants around the city.

Miss Voon is Asian tapas style and we started with the hardshell lobster tacos

Oxtail dumplings in a beef broth were amazing

We also opted for the sashimi platter that was a chef's choice of fish and meat including salmon, tuna, yellowtail, beef and reindeer

Dessert...fried bananas with a mango dipping sauce and vanilla ice cream

Our bellies were stuffed so we called it a wrap after dinner

Day one in Stockholm was food-filled, just the way we planned. Fortunately we will be walking a bunch during our stay so we'll work it off. Thursday we plan to check out Old Town and then head out to dinner and possibly a club.

Day 11 - Riverfront Picnic for U.S. vs Belgium

Tuesday was a late start, which was fine because we didn't have a ton of sites to see or places to check off our Copenhagen list. The priority of the day was the highly anticipated U.S. vs Belgium World Cup knockout match that started at 10pm. We did a bit of walking around and while we were strolling the streets we came up with a great idea - a soccer picnic! We found a local super market, or Copenhagen's version of one, and bought some deli meat, cheese, beers, wine, and snacks and headed back to the riverfront area where they had the big outdoor screen. We figured that'd be a great place to watch the day's matches and with the sun out, it's best to be outside.

Great Dane in Denmark? Check.

We arrived at the riverfront area called Islands Brygge at 6pm, right at kickoff of the first game (Argentina v. Switzerland) and it was packed. It was an awesome scene, but the only open seating area was in the way way back or in the front row. We opted for front and center. 

Soccer picnic in full effect...we even brought a blanket

Argentina fans were there in strong numbers with drums, horns, flags, and more; it made for a great soccer vibe

The crowd exploded after Argentina scored a late goal and went on to win 1-0

The soccer game wasn't the only thing that was impressive. The fans were doing some serious grilling and tailgating.

Burgers, dogs, chicken and even steaks were on the grill and the most interesting part is that the grills were communal so you can bring your own meat and toss it on the grill when you were ready. It was a great setup all around. 

Fans were double fisting meat, my kind of party

After Argentina's 1-0 victory the crowd dispersed for the most part allowing us to relocate from the front row to a more central location for the U.S. game

We started out as one of only a few US fans, but as game time approached the park filled up with US peeps, most of which were students studying in Copenhagen for the summer

Game time...I believe...

We tried rally vino late in the match to spark a US come back, but it just wasn't meant to be

It was a tough loss no doubt. But the energy at the riverfront viewing party was solid and it was great to be a part of such a strong showing of American fans on foreign soil. We all represented well.

That's a wrap on Copenhagen. Four solid days eating, drinking, dancing, shopping, and exploring this beautiful city. Copenhagen, and the Danish as a whole, really surprised us. I guess we didn't really know what to expect. You don't hear much about the Danes on a regular basis, so their friendliness, fun upbeat lifestyle, their food, their love for being outside and enjoying the nice weather and of course their beauty were all pleasant surprises. Plus, the city itself had a lot to see and do. Like Amsterdam, it had that unique combo of vintage look and feel (historic buildings, scenic canals, cobblestone streets) with modern lifestyle (state-of-the-art opera house, outdoor cafes, lively shopping areas).

On Wednesday we fly to Stockholm for the last leg of this Euro trip 2014. We've heard great things about Stockholm, a city many consider the epicenter for Scandinavian culture, so we plan to wrap this trip up with a bang.

Day 10 - A Hippie Village Within A City

"Mandag" means Monday in Danish and apparently people get after it on Mandags. We've been told a few times about how life in Scandinavia revolves around pay day. I guess you could say that about most countries, but it's particularly noticeable in the cities where pay day comes once a month such as in Copenhagen (and Stockholm). What happens with this pay schedule is that people tend to run out of the extra income toward the end of the month so they stay in, eat at home, don't go to the bars and take it easy for a week or so. However, when pay day hits such as it did this past Monday, June 30, the locals get out to enjoy themselves. 

We started the day by jumping across the harbor to a borough of Copenhagen called Christianshavn. It's a part of the city that Christian IV created back in the 17th century to look and feel like Amsterdam with the canals, low rise residential buildings, the mom and pop shops and restaurants. It's also the part of town where a very unique area called Christiania is located. The best way to describe Christiania is a hippie village or commune. It's a walled community where people can come and go as they please, and within the walls you can buy, sell and smoke hash, drink beers, hang out along the water, take scenic walks in the woods, and even shop at hippie craft stalls and stores...it's basically like Venice Beach, but with less weirdos. 

The entrance to Christiania. They don't allow photos within the walls so our footage is limited.

The entrance sign on one side says "Welcome to Christiania"...

 ...and when you leave it says "You Are Now Entering the EU (European Union)," so they consider themselves their own little union.

Christiania is about 84 acres and occupies an old military area from the 1970s

The borough raises money through donations as well as making it's own products such as a pale ale beer

After drinking a few beers, walking along the lake and popping in and out of a few stores in Christiania, we ventured over to Noma Restaurant, which is located on the north end of Christianshavn. Noma was recently declared the worlds number one restaurant by Restaurant Magazine, an honor it's received four out of the last five years, so it's a pretty big deal. Unfortunately they don't do walk-ins (surprise surprise), in fact you need to make reservations about three months ahead of time, which we didn't do.

Canals of Christianshavn look really similar to those Amsterdam

Even though we didn't eat at Noma, we still visited the restaurant and popped our heads in to get a look. Perhaps on our next visit we will actually be able to try the cuisine.

The old royal palace in Copenhagen. Now it houses parliament, and the prime minister's cabinet.

Got a new backpack...this one I won't let leave my sight

Although we didn't eat at Noma, we did manage to get a reservation at another popular Copenhagen eatery called Geist, which did not disappoint. Geist is led by chef Bo Bech, who is very much part of the recent Nordic area restaurant surge. Copenhagen and Stockholm (our next city) are the epicenter of this movement and we plan to get in on the variety of local ingredients and dishes these guys and gals are putting on the table.

Geist is located in the Nyhavn part of Copenhagen which is a main restaurant and entertainment area and includes one of the city's main canals

Geist specializes in fresh local ingredients that is put together in simple ways. See examples below. Critics, both local and around Europe have been loving what they're doing, as did we.

Grilled avocado with green almonds and curry

Steamed carrots with coconut and orange zest

Turbot with fennel ravioli on gruyere

Crispy artichokes with suckling pig and black truffle

White asparagus with sorrel and scallops

After a tasty and satisfying meal at Geist - the best of the trip so far - we ventured over to The Dubliner to watch Germany v Algeria

We met a few friends at The Dubliner and then ventured to a spot called LA Bar, seemed appropriate for a couple LA kids

Dance Off! Greg dominated, dah.

The music was right up our alley with mainly hip hop and dance music

We left LA Bar around 4am and the sun was well on its way into the sky

Mandag in Copenhagen was pretty amazing. We're hoping Tirsdag (Tuesday) with the big World Cup showdown between US and Belgium will reach our expectations as well. Let's go USA!