The second part of my Stockholm Saturday I spent in and around Djurgården. It is a nice green area with plenty of water and things to see. There are a lot of museums and attractions such as the Vasamuseet, Aqueria, Gröna Lund, the Nordic Museum and more. I was considering going into the Vasamseet but the queue was absolutely huge! I went back after an hour or so and the queue was exactly the same!
Saturday was my first full day in Stockholm, since I arrived on the Friday in the late afternoon. I got up early and went to explore my surroundings, which was Stureplan and the area around it. Later I went to Djurgården which I will post in the following blogpost.
I went to the Hard Rock Cafe to get myself a T-shirt and bought some presents, and then just went around the area to get used to where I was. It seemed to work because I never felt lost 😀
So I arrived in Stockholm, and got to my lovely hotel. I got a hotel in Stureplan, which is pretty central to stuff and is the “posh end” of Stockholm. There are many cool areas in Stockholm but I chose this and this hotel because it had good reviews on Trip Advisor, and was ranked 11th higher than big names like the Hilton. These days I like this style of hotel, a boutique hotel, they are small but not tiny, and usually their attention to detail is better, as was this one.
They have a cool American style old lift with a cage, it looks pretty good. The room I booked was a Superior room which was great, 4m high ceilings, nice big bed, good size LCD TV on the wall, complementary WIFI in my room, and the bathroom which I loved. The only bad part was the view; The superior rooms have either a view to the street (a good view) or a view of the back which is pretty much no view, and that is the view I had. I wanted a street view, but I was not in my room much to enjoy a view anyway. I also had a nice little mini bar, and chandelier above my bed.
So the bathroom, the coolest part; I loved the massive shower head and really large shower, the sink with the coolest tap in the world, and large long mirror.
I got into my room at around 19:00 and since I had been up since 03:30 I had a quiet night. I had a little look around the hotel, went to the hotel bar and had a couple of beers. The hotel bar was nice, and faced on to the street, so you could look out at Stureplan and watch the world go by.
So I finally had a little break last weekend, and went to lovely Stockholm 🙂 I was there for 3 nights, which was plenty to see a lot of the sights and the cool city which is Stockholm. I will write a different post for each day, so this is how it began, Day 1….
You cannot fly to Stockholm from Newcastle, so I had to fly from somewhere else and chose London; There are probably closer places which do flights, but I picked London because even though it is the biggest and busiest place I have been a few times and know it better than somewhere like Manchester for example; However the airport, Heathrow, I had never been to. It also means I could do some sightseeing in London on the return 🙂
So I had to get the train at around 04:45, which meant getting up at around 03:30 and then spend around 3 hours on the train so I would be in London in plenty of time. It was strange getting the train so early in the morning, there were people still on their night out trying to get home, girls walking around with their shoes in their hands in their skirts, while I was starting my journey 
So I got on the train, and I was the only one in my coach for a really long time; I was in the quiet coach but it was really quiet, since I was the only one in it I got to Kings Cross, then headed for Heathrow Terminal 5 via the Tube.
I got to Heathrow T5 and I thought it was quite quiet; I imagined that it would be hectic and chaotic but actually it was not too bad, slightly busy, but just like any airport. There are a few shops and things before security, but it is after security where most of the shops and restaurants are.
I saw the Gordon Ramsey restaurant, “Plane food” which looks quite cool, but I did not go in. I was too busy browsing in Harrods and other shops 😉 I found the vodka which I have wanted for a long time, Smirnoff Gold (with the gold flakes) and bought a bottle. Terminal 5 is pretty big, but it is quite open, so it’s easy to find your way around, there is 2 floors of shops restaurants and bars.
I was flying with B.A. and there always seems to be people complaining about them and they are rubbish etc. I have to say I was quite impressed.
I got myself the app for my phone and had my boarding pass on my phone, and did online check-in too. I was a bit apprehensive about it because I had never done that before so was worried something would go wrong; Nothing did, it was all good, and in fact it is much easier to check-in online and have a boarding pass on your phone.
So the plane; It was the biggest plane I have been on; 2 aisles and 3 rows of seats, and I was near the front which I prefer, I think it is better it seems to be more smooth for take off and landing…or maybe I am just paranoid haha 😛 The leg room is pretty good, I just got a standard ticket and I cannot complain about the leg room. When I got on the plane to go to my seat they said the words everyone wants to hear… “turn left please” 😉
On board you get a sandwich and choice of drink, diet Coke for me obviously 🙂 and you can use iPads and electronics on the plane when you are in the air so I was happy. The flight was good, nice and smooth, a little turbulence but it felt fine.
I got to Arlanda airport Terminal 5 and did the usual going through security/passport control to the baggage claim. I got my bag and was checking it when a little old woman came up to me and said “That is my bag!” she was right, it was 😀 It was the exact same bag as mine; Same brand, colour and size, luckily she had tied ribbon on the handle which I then noticed. Around 15 minutes later I finally got my bag.
On the way out I was happily walking and then was stopped by customs, I freaked a little bit 😀 He started talking in Swedish and I told him I was English, it was the most serious looking guy ever He asked me a couple of questions and then as simple as that said “OK thanks” and that was that :O It was a little weird haha. I don’t think walking through with the 1L bottle of vodka in a clear bag was a good idea 😉
So then it was time to get out the airport. I thought about getting a Taxi, but I really wanted to see a bit of the city and do the whole local thing instead of being a boring tourist so I got the train to Stockholm Central Station, the Arlanda Express. It is actually faster than a taxi, and only takes 20 minutes to get to the centre of Stockholm.
I got to Stockholm Central Station and it was around 5 or 6pm, so basically rush hour on a Friday 😀 I wanted to use the subway and planned on using that for the time I was there so got an Access card for the weekend, which is similar to an Oyster card. I had to wait ages in the queue but finally got it then experienced my first ride on the Stockholm subway and got it to Östermalmstorg which was the closest station to my hotel.
Walked around for a little bit in the right direction to my hotel, and then walked down the wrong street, oh well, it’s part of the experience After realising I got back on the right track and was at my hotel in around 10 minutes.
Checked in, unpacked and relaxed for a little while. Stockholm, I have arrived 😉
If you are a 90s child you may remember the good old Global Hypercolor t-shirts that were popular back in the day. I LOVED mine, and I have wanted to get another for years.
I had an orange one which went yellow, but I always wanted the purple one which went blue, but never got one.
If you have never heard of them or know nothing about them, they are shirt which change colour 🙂 They are heat reactive, so whenever they are hot or cold they change colour. So you can breathe on the shirt and it will change colour.
I finally found someone selling them a while back, and I recently decided to get one, and I finally got it!
It just looks like a regular purple t-shirt until there is some heat….
heat reactive t-shirt! 😀
I love this kind of old retro style tee, it will be great to wear this out 😉
So last night we went out in Durham, nice place and makes a change. We went to a few bars, one of which had a complete mental case in, randomly talking to himself with his weird looking guitar. We went to a few cool bars, had some drinks, ended up in the Bishops Mill which is quite a big place. Then back into Newcastle and had a few drinks in the bars there, and went to a club for a bit.
Before going to Durham I had a sneak look at the big screen at the Monument in Newcastle, they have the Olympics on it at the moment, it’s really cool.
Check out more pics and what I wore (my Johnny Bravo t-shirt!) below.
Hello blog!
Wow I am still feeling tired, and have a sore throat. Last night I went out in Newcastle, it was a good night. Started off in a new-ish bar called Brew Dog, I had seen it before but never went it. It is a real ale bar and they sell loads of their own real ales….But that is all they sell! Since I do not like that kind of beer it is no good for me, but it was an alright place. Went on to the usual places like The Long Bar and Revolution, and headed up towards The Gate and went to Indigo and Sinners. Also went to Label, which used to be Babylon, I loved it as Babylon, 90s bar, 90s music and called it the “Down to Earth” bar because it was something different to “The Diamond Strip” which I like but I like a change. Now it is like one of those bars, which I do like, but it’s a bit ‘same old, same old’ if you usually go down that end. Label was good though, good drinks, nice place, good music.
No pics 🙁 I wore my “Soft Kitty” T Shirt which I really like, with my All Saints grey denim jacket, Prada jeans and Kurt Geiger shoes.
So I got the Spain away goalkeeper shirt a while back, in fact before it had even been worn in a match. I was unsure about the colour the printing would have been, probably yellow, but maybe white. Iker Casillas wore it in their last game not so long ago and the printing is in fact yellow like I guessed.
I found a place who does the printing and bought it a while ago, it finally came last week which I blogged about. Today I printed it onto my shirt. I hate to do it, I always think I am gonna mess it up, and then i’d have to buy a new shirt and more printing! 😛
Anyway it turned out fine, here it is:
I am happy the way it turned out 🙂 Printing on the back and small number on the front too. I have some other names and numbers to print on the home and away shirts, I am leaving that until Euro 2012 starts just in case they change numbers or the players don’t get picked.
Close up pic below…
Hello blog!
Wow I have not posted all day. I was out in Newcastle last night, and it was a pretty good night. We went to a few different places that we don’t usually go to, to mix it up….Some of the places are not my scene but I like to go to different places because I get bored of the same old stuff. We went to Town Wall, Mimo, Jalou, Baby Lynch, Cosey Joes, Fleet Street, The Lodge and Ground Floor. Quite a few places! LOL!! Cosey Joes and Fleet Street are not really my thing, but they were alright I suppose 😛 Newcastle was packed because of St Paddy’s Day, so many people out, plenty wearing hats and green and things like that. O’Neils actually had a massive queue outside, something you’d NEVER normally see!
We were into Mimo and it absolutely STUNK! What is it with some of these bars that smell? There are a few which do, I could barely drink my drink it was so bad. I don’t understand why they don’t do something about the smell, it has put me off from going.
They had a sign which was already defaced, I took a pic for my Instagram…
We went to Jalou which used to be Destination, now it has a more “up market” feel to it, well apart from the alcohol. I asked for a Corona he said they don’t have that they have Desperado. I asked for a Budweiser he said we don’t have that we have Budvar. I got bored of asking so I had a vanilla vodka and Coke, which cost £6.40! Quite expensive. It may of been a double, the guy said something and I didn’t hear and just said “yeah” so maybe it was The pints were £4 and normal vodka and Coke over £5. I don’t really understand the places which try to be upmarket and have high prices, but sell rubbish/cheap vodka and bottles of beer. £6.40 is fine for a double of good brand vodka, like Absolut, but not generic cheap vodka.
Ended the night in Ground Floor, it was getting late in the night and it was only across the road from where we were, and I was so tired had to go home, via Subway and a turkey Sub of course 😉
This is a very rare shirt at the moment, it is the Spain away/alternative goalkeeper shirt for 2012. You may have seen my post with the Spain Casillas 2012 Goalkeeper shirt which I love, but I like this one just as much.
Before I bought it I had not seen it “in the flesh” before, it has not been worn in any Spain game yet, so maybe I have worn it before Casillas has! I could not get it printed, I wish that I could, but I imagine it is because it is so new, I have not even seen the colour which the printing would be, I would imagine white as I think that would look best, but it may be golden yellow or something.
Here it is…
Want more pics? Here they are!…
Michael 84 is often named amongst the best mens fashion bloggers in the UK and the world.
Please let me know if you have featured me in your blog, magazine or publication and I will add your button. Check out my Press Page here
