Day 14: Second Day in Stockholm

We started Friday, May 27 with breakfast at the hotel, then went to Cityterapeuterna in Norrmalm for a real Swedish massage. It’s a major shopping area - we got lunch at a nearby pizzeria and then stopped at Nudies Jeans and Svenskt Tenn.

We had our antigen tests for US entry scheduled at 5:10 pm, at a testing center in the T-Centralen station. When I was scheduling the tests a few weeks ago, I thought it would be a great idea since it’d be easy to get to - it was not! The station itself is easy to get to, but the testing center was really difficult to find. It was not listed on the retail directory. The website included a description, but when we followed the signs for the Vasagatan exit, it was nowhere to be found. We asked the information desk staff for directions, and although he didn’t recognize it exactly, he walked us all the way out and showed us the Vasagatan entrance across the street we should use. From there we found the testing center. So: The stations aren’t the easiest to navigate, but at least the staff are all helpful.

Afterwards we met up with a couple old college friends around 6:30 pm at LYKKE (on the Södermalm island again, but on the east side, in the SoFo neighborhood). We knew Nick and David were traveling in Scandinavia, but didn’t realize they were in Stockholm as well until Mark recognized a photo of the Östermalm metro station artwork David had tweeted. They started in Denmark and Norway before coming to Stockholm. (David and I apparently had the same reaction in the first city - Copenhagen for him, Amsterdam for us: feeling sad over what we’re missing at home. He mentioned specifically how much safer it felt to be a pedestrian or cyclist here vs. at home in DC.)

We also agreed that the Stockholm metro was not great. The entrances are surprisingly difficult to find (most of them are built into the buildings like a regular storefront); the platforms lacks separate spaces for people moving and people waiting; the coverage is apparently not great (although we haven’t traveled enough around Stockholm to feel that); and it’s not cheap. On the bright side, some of the stations are quite pretty - and it’s still better than no metro. :)