Stockholm: Planes, trains and...hop on/off buses

Diane and I were sad to leave Vienna this morning, but I left feeling that I saw a lot of what the city had to offer. I can definitely see myself going back there in the future--I loved the city. We made our way to the airport and had an 11:00 flight to Stockholm. The flight was uneventful, which I guess is good, and then we took the airport coach to the city center. At the tourist center, we bought a hop on-hop off pass for the rest of the day and tomorrow since Diane and I are extremely tired of walking. We took the open air bus around the city and hopped off near our hostel.  Now for the hostel...it is called Gustaf af Klint and it is a real boat. Our cabin is pretty tiny and we are sharing with two other women, but it's pretty neat. Although...right when I stepped on, I could feel the swaying of the boat do sleeping tonight should be interesting. I may have to wake up and spend a few minutes on solid land. 

 After dropping off our stuff, we hopped on the bus and rode the bottom loop. It took us to along a higher road in the city so we had a good view of the harbor. Stockholm is comprised of a TON of islands so there is water everywhere. Diane and I wandered around Gamla Stan for a while and saw the Royal Residence, the Opera house, and many other beautiful buildings. Then the souvenir shopping commenced. We hit up almost every souvenir shop along the main road and we did serious damage. We got a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and then finished our shopping.  It was about 7:30 at that point and so we walked around some other parts of the medieval city center and saw the beautiful part where many of the photos are taken. We walked back to our boat and took a little break since we had been on the move all day. 

Around 9:00, a plan was set in motion. When Diane's mom and sister were visiting, they went to the ice bar and Diane was jealous. We decided after much deliberation to go for it. We reserved our spot, donned out warmest apparel, and walked to the Nordic Sea Hotel. They suited us up in our very trendy parkas with gloves attached and we headed into the -5 degree (C) bar. We took tons of pictures of the all ice bar. The bar was ice, the glasses were ice, everything! We each got the "snow flake" drink which was pretty tasty. Very touristy but very fun and certainly memorable.  I am now back on the boat and the plan is to sight see tomorrow!