Our second day in Stockholm began at around 1pm, we were exhausted from our day of travelling and exploring so we deserved a lie in. Also the beds at Generator Hostel were ridiculously comfy so I think they were another reason we slept for so long, oh well! One thing we both found so strange through the night was how light it was at all times, the sun sets at around 11pm and rises around 3am but the sky still doesn't seem dark. You'd wake up thinking the day had already started and it was only 4am, it was so weird! Our first priority after we'd got ready was to go find some good food. We'd seen a brunch place not too far from our hostel the previous night so we headed there.
Tucked into a lil corner of the street was the sweetest, prettiest spot to eat called Stockholm Brunch Club. Their menu was a mixture of foods catering for all kinds of needs, from vegan to gluten free they had everything and it all sounded delicious. After scanning the menu for a good 15 minutes and deliberating between various options, I decided to get the Vegan French Toast and Ella got Avocado on toast. We devoured our meals because they were honestly incredible, I've eaten a lot of French Toast in my life but none was quite as good as that!
If you're visiting Stockholm I would highly recommend visiting Stockholm brunch club, it's a cash free restaurant which seemed bizarre to us but the food is so fresh and tasty, it's not worth missing.
After eating we wandered our way back into the city heading towards the Royal Palace as we'd somehow missed seeing it the previous day. Now for some reason I had envisioned a palace similar to Buckingham Palace which I suppose it is in some ways, but The Royal Palace in Stockholm is enclosed within the city streets, it's strange. From the front exterior it is such a grand structure and it is so beautiful however, you go towards the back and it connects straight onto the city streets filled with shops and people. You could also look around The Royal Palace which is something you can't do at Buckingham Palace so we decided to go and nosey around, pretending to be royals for the day! We spent an hour or so looking through all the different quarters in the Palace wishing we lived there and feeling upset at the fact this wasn't our home. One room we entered was a long, straight hall filled with 5 or 6 huge chandeliers and it really did take my breath away. I may have joked Sia would have a wail of a time in there but jokes aside, the Palace left me in awe. Seeing the Swedish Royal Palace was so interesting in comparison to ours, I got the feeling that the Swedish royals weren't much more 'superior' than their society. Their home felt very included within the city and it felt a much more personal experience being there.
Unfortunately I did not bump into any Swedish royal men so I am in fact not a princess of Sweden but may be one day my time will come...
The day panned out wonderfully, the sun had been shining none-stop and we found the perfect spot to soak up the sun. We ended up at a park called Kings Garden where there was some kind of festival on over the weekend. We found a bench, sat down and spent a good 40 minutes watching the world go by. Something about being in new cities can be quite overwhelming, you want to fit in as much as you can, see as much as you can but you can feel like you just don't have enough time.
It's funny because I feel like I learnt the most about that city from sitting still on that bench.
The different people who walked past me made me question who they are, what they're doing and where they're going? The music that played from the festival added a soundtrack to the city, all the food, flowers and fresh air surrounding created a perfume of Stockholm.
I really felt like I'd gotten to know this place.
Lucy Jane