Posted by Seth on January 25, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports | 
A trip from Stockholm to Istanbul shouldn’t take 4 days. That said, it can if you want it to thanks to the joys of airline scheduling and the rather impressive route network of Star Alliance within Europe, I managed to schedule just such a trip, with stops along to way to see friends and also three new (to me) cities. First on that list was Berlin and the flight down was on SAS.
The flight was relatively quick and uneventful. I actually remember very little of it thanks, in part, to a rocking hangover. But nothing really happened that was at all special. I was hungry so I bought the chicken salad snack box during the flight (all food AND beverages were BoB only!). The Swedish version of pasta salad isn’t really my thing, but it wasn’t bad. The chicken and the lettuce part of the salad were pretty good. I’d call it overpriced in general, though not really so bad once you figure in both the Scandinavia and airplane markups.
The most memorable bit of the flight for me was the final approach into Berlin’s Tegel airport. It was right a sunset and that let to some great views of the suburbs, Tegel airport and the general area as we made our way down.
Like most flights, this one wasn’t really all that special, either good or bad. That’s just the way I like them.
Tags: Berlin, Dining, EuroHopping, Flying, in flight, Photos, review, Star Alliance, Stockholm, Sweden, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
Like many of my stays these days my goal in Stockholm was to find a room which balances a convenient location and decent price with being clean and functional. I didn’t have too much to go on in terms of guidance, other than knowing that the western-branded chains were asking far more than I normally like to pay for a night so I went to my usual resource, hotels.com, and popped in my dates.
Serving up a room for two at about $100/night, Frey’s Hotel passed the sniff test and I booked, hoping for the best. The location was great, directly across from the train and bus station and a block from the metro entrance.
The room was small. There’s no getting around that. One of the beds was more like a couch converted to have a mattress instead of cushions, but it was basically the same as the other bed so no big deal there. And there was enough room to move around in the room and to stow our bags, though not much more than that. Not quite a shoebox, but we certainly wouldn’t be hosting parties in there.
The bathroom was a bit more cramped but, again, they made it work. The shower doors swing out of the way when not in use to allow a bit of room to move around though when actually using the shower there isn’t a ton of space.
The room rate also included a buffet breakfast which was pretty substantial. A variety of meats, cheeses and breads were available. There were also eggs and breakfast meats. I’m not a huge breakfast guy but I definitely hit the buffet hard our first morning to fortify for the long day and to hedge against the high food prices in Stockholm. The second morning I managed to sleep through breakfast (and almost through checkout) thanks to a great night out, but I’m assuming the meal service was quite similar.
Overall, the room matched our needs pretty well. I got a few points in my Welcome Rewards account and saved a chunk of cash over the other options. I also saw two rooms at the Sheraton (about 3-5 minutes down the block) and they were certainly a bit larger and a bit nicer, but they were also quite a bit more expensive (though I didn’t run through my list of corporate rates to compare completely) and I’m not so sure it was worth the extra cash. Plus, a bunch of friends were staying there so I got to crash the party in the lounge one night anyways.
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Stockholm’s city hall, situated on the waterfront more or less in the center of town, presents an image of great history and heritage. This belies its real age – only about 100 years old – but the work is impressive. The building is used to conduct the business of the city, of course, with the 101 seat legislative room shown off as part of the tour. But that is, at best, the fourth or fifth more impressive part of the building.
Vying for that top honor are a few other rooms. There is the Blue room, so named because the architect originally wanted to have the walls covered in blue plaster. This is also the largest room, built to look like an Italian piazza, with columns and arches surrounding the great space. The original plans also called for the room to be open at the top so that visitors could enjoy the space under the night sky, however that was scrapped one they realized the weather was not particularly cooperative on that front. This is also the room where the Nobel banquet is held each year.
Adjacent to the Blue room is the Gold room. This one actually lives up to its name, with the walls covered in mosaic that includes gold leaf in the tiles. The history of the city is told through the mosaics, including a massive display at one end showing Stockholm sitting at the crossing between East and West, with the US flag, Eiffel tower and a Native American headdress representing the west while elephants and Istanbul represent the East. It is a bit of a stretch, but I give them credit for trying.
My personal favorite room holds a number of tapestries in it. The cloth works are beautiful and the room is built specifically for them, with the size of the recesses where they hang perfectly sized. The room is also used each Saturday by the city to conduct civil marriage ceremonies. The ceremonies are quick – the long version is about 5 minutes – and they are something of an assembly line process, but they are also open to anyone who signs up (there is a bit of a waiting list to get a slot) and the setting is quite lovely.
As for the council room itself, it looks a lot like most other parliament rooms, though the ceiling is a bit different. The blue background is supposed to represent the open sky (similar to the blue room) and the beams across the top have a passing resemblance to an inverted ship, supposedly linking to the Viking history of the area, though there is some debate as to whether that was actually part of the design or not. Either way, it is pretty.
There is a bit of Nobel history also on display, mostly focusing on the gala dinner held each year honoring the award winners. A full place setting is on display and I must say that there is a whole lot of flatware involved for just one meal.
I was very impressed by the tapestries, and the Gold and Blue rooms were neat to see. Not the most amazing tour I’ve ever been on, but a good way to pass an hour or so while in town.
Posted by Seth on January 23, 2012 under Trip Reports |
I actually generally enjoy touring cemeteries. They offer a great view of history and also are generally quite peaceful places to visit. A short ride on the metro south of Stockholm sits the city’s most famous cemetery, Skogskyrogården. The space was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 thanks to its unique landscape and architecture and given my mild obsession with visiting such sites, this seemed like a decent way to spend a couple hours. The cemetery was built in the early 1900s so the history isn’t particularly extensive, but the serenity and beauty of the space make up for that a bit.
The landscape is quite beautiful. The entire space is not occupied with graves (though there are about 100,000 on the grounds and about 2,000 funerals held annually) so there is also open space available to wander through and vistas from which the surrounding areas can be viewed. The space is also built to take advantage of the natural space, with the forests integrated into the plan rather than cut away to make room for the site.
And, perhaps most impressive, the individual graves are quite lovely. The density is high (way more markers than there is space for bodies that they are marking) so I’m not entirely sure how that works out but many of the markers are also quite well maintained, showing the love of the current generation for previous ones.
It was a cold, gray day, with snow on the ground. Walking the paths cut through the trees and seeing the occasional candle lit marking a memorial was incredibly beautiful.
There are a number of chapels scattered around the grounds. These are only available for visiting as part of the guided tours which do not run in the dead of winter but we sill could peek in the windows of a couple of them. I particularly enjoyed the Heliga korsets kapell but the others didn’t really do much for me, at least of what I saw.
After a couple hours out in the cold the beauty of the space was outweighed by the numbness in my fingers and toes. Plus, the sun had set and it was getting dark in a hurry, with not much in the way of light available in the cemetery itself. It was time to head back into town.
I’m not entirely sure why the Skogskyrogården is considered so special as to rate a designation as a World Heritage Site but it was enjoyable to walk around for a bit. And without that designation I almost certainly wouldn’t have seen it, so I suppose that’s something.
Posted by Seth on January 23, 2012 under Trip Reports |
The Vasa set sail in 1628, laden with cargo, cannons and sailors for her maiden journey from the Stockholm harbor. She made it about a mile before succumbing to the sea, sinking before ever seeing the open ocean. The canons were apparently recovered relatively early on following the disaster, but the rest of the boat was left to sit on the bottom for over 300 years until she was raised – nearly entirely intact – and moved into a museum.
That the ship survived that long in such good condition is attributed to the low salinity of the water in the Stockholm harbor which prevents the organisms which would normally attack the wood from thriving. The net result is that the enormous ship – and it really is huge – presents a great point in time view of life at that time, particularly as it was lived on the ocean.
Huge probably doesn’t do justice to the size of the ship. The size was also likely a major contributing factor to its demise. Drawing a reasonably shallow 15 foot draft, and rising 3-4 times that height out of the water, the Vasa was almost certainly top-heavy to the point of tipping over once the winds picked up as she started to move out at sea. There were two decks holding 64 canons, with intricately decorated portholes out of which they would fire lining the sides of the ship, making it one of the more heavily armed ships of her era (though not the largest), able to discharge 300kg of shot at a time off one side.
The rigging that remains (most of the blocks are actually the original pieces!) is quite impressive. But perhaps the most amazing part about it is that the masts actually extended much higher than what is visible; the enormity that is on display actually doesn’t even fully show how big the ship really was. Outside the museum hall there are "masts" which rise up to show the full size the ship would have presented when she set sail that day. They extend up quite a bit above the roof.
The Vasa was not just an enormous ship, however. She was also quite beautiful. In addition to the cannon doors which were decorated the aft section of the ship was quite ornate. The wood carvings are quite intricate and there is evidence that the depictions were painted in bright colors originally; there are some artist renditions of what they might have looked like on display as well. It is quite impressive to see the level of detail that went into the decoration of the ship, especially compared to construction today where the details are generally completely ignored in favor of saving money. In the era of the Vasa the ornate details were generally showing homage to the king or patron of the vessel, meaning that without them the funding probably wouldn’t show up. I guess that’s reason enough to put in the extra effort.
The displays were not all about the ship itself; there were a lot of smaller details that were discovered in the salvage operation and which are also on display. Many skeletons were found, for example, and the study of their position relative to the ship, clothing and possessions makes for an interesting read of who was sailing and the history of their lives. On-board life was also somewhat well represented in the artifacts. A couple 350 year old backgammon boards were located in the wreckage, showing off part of the personal lives of those on board.
I was a bit skeptical when the Vasa museum made it on to the schedule for the day. That skepticism disappeared pretty much from the moment we walked in to the museum and caught a glimpse of the ship in all her glory. The level of detail they go to in showing the recovery process and the view of life at the time as shown from the evidence seen on the ship adds greatly to the experience as well. It was completely worth it to make the visit.
Posted by Seth on January 20, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Any trip that starts with a dozen folks hanging out in the lounge, enjoying a few drinks before the flight, has strong potential. That I had already been in the lounge 2+ hours when the others started to arrive didn’t hurt the situation either. And the fact that my upgrade into the BusinessFirst cabin on the 757-200 had cleared at the time of booking made things even better. So it was slightly lubricated that I made my way down to the duty free shop and then to the gate for a flight from Newark to Stockholm.
Boarding was a bit of a mess, even though we arrived at the gate towards the end of the process. We were awaiting the last of the duty free deliveries which took us precariously close to departure time and my mobile boarding pass failed, causing me to hunt down a printed one while the gate agent dealt with some other issues which involved the police. Still, I had sufficient time to stow my bags in the overhead and settle in to 1E with a glass of champagne prior to departure.
I also was able to find the International Concierge working the flight, despite his best efforts to remain invisible in the cabin. Somewhat critical to the success of our first day in Stockholm, I requested access to the arrivals facility that the BusinessFirst service provides. In Stockholm this is a day room at the Radisson Blu hotel in the airport. There were four of us in the forward cabin so four rooms were requested. And he actually followed through on the request; the agent meeting the flight knew that we needed the rooms and was ready for us (sortof).
I chatted with my seatmate a bit during our short taxi out to Runway 22R and the ~7.5 hour flight to Sweden began.
It turns out that there are only two bottles of Heidsieck Monopole catered in the forward cabin on a 752. Those went pretty quickly, starting with the warmed nuts service and lasting part of the way through the appetizer service. The nuts were not particularly memorable but the apps were. Both the cold seafood soup and the beef empanada were quite nice. There was a salad, too.
I took a risk when ordering dinner: I chose the miSteak. It is a complete crap-shoot taking that route. Sometimes the meat is horribly overcooked and miserable. For this flight, however, it was cooked to a reasonable medium doneness (still way overcooked for my tastes, but at least edible) and actually tasted pretty good. The accompanying sides (creamed spinach, asparagus and a potato patty of some sort) were not particularly memorable, either for being good or bad.
And then there is the hour-long foodgasm that is dessert on the BF flights. First was the cheese plate, served with a reasonable glass of Port. Not particularly great cheeses, but the flavors were where they should be for the types served. Next up was the ice cream sundaes. I only had one (caramel and chocolate, thank you very much), but there were extras making their way back to the galley which may have been waylaid by a couple of the other guys. And then there were the pastries. They’ve got nothing on Austrian, to be sure, but they were pretty tasty.
And then it was time to try for some much needed sleep. I actually managed to get 3-4 hours which is pretty good for an eastbound redeye; it helps that this is one of the longer flights being run out of Newark to Europe. Plus, I managed to sleep through the relatively poor breakfast offering which was a good plan based on the reports I got from the others.
The food was fine, as was the seat and the sleep. What truly made the flight for me, however, was the crew. It is usually easy to tell at the beginning of a flight if the crew is enjoying themselves or not, and that generally translates into a better in flight experience. This crew was having a great time from the get go and it really did play out through the rest of the flight. It really is great to fly with a crew that enjoys their job.
Overall the trip was a very good one. Most of that is attributable to the crew, combined with having a bunch of friends on board, but I’m not so sure the reasoning matters as much as the fact that it was a nice flight. Even with the very recent surprisingly nice flight on Lufthansa, I have to say that the legacy Continental product that United is offering these days tops it, both in food and seat. It is one of the better business products across the pond.
Tags: Continental, Dining, EuroHopping, Flying, in flight, Lounge, Lufthansa, Newark, Photos, review, Stockholm, Sweden, Trip Report, United, United Airlines, upgrade
Posted by Seth on August 16, 2011 under Hotel |
I’m having flashbacks to an era of travel that I never really got to experience. On-board lounges that were truly lounges and a social scene that is more party than utilitarian transportation.
Welcome to the Jumbo Stay hostel, a 747-200 that has been retrofit to provide accommodations for folks in Stockholm, Sweden. The property has been around for over two years now so I’m not entirely sure how I’ve never heard of it prior to now, but I’m pretty excited by it. The cockpit suite is particularly cool, though given my general budget I’m more likely to be relegated to a regular dorm bed.
Needless to say, on my next trip to Stockholm I know where I intend to sleep.
Posted by Seth on July 6, 2009 under Uncategorized |
One thing that Europe doesn’t struggle with is castles to tour. From the heart of Prague to the chateaux in France to the ridiculous number of fortified structures in the Irish countryside, there seems to always be a castle available when you’re looking for something historical to see. Denmark is no different with well preserved castles all over the country. There are a few right in and around Copenhagen that make for great visits when in the area. One of these is Kronborg Castle at Helsingør, home of the King, Queen and – in Shakespeare’s mind – Hamlet.
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| The courtyard of Kronborg Castle |
Hamlet does not really exist in history so claiming that the castle is his home is rather off. But there definitely is a royal castle there and it setting works quite well for telling the tale. Plus, it makes for good business with drawing tourists to the site. The Danes have readily adopted Hamlet into their lore and are happy to tell his tale in Helsingør as long as you’re willing to show up.
Helsingør is about 40 kilometers north of Copenhagen, an easy ride of about 55 minutes on the train from one city center to the other. The castle Kronborg is just a short walk outside of downtown Helsingør and is easily accessible to take a tour or simply to wander around the grounds and bask in the glow of royalty. In fact, large parts of the castle grounds do not have any access controls or admission charges. There were a large number of folks simply taking advantage of the well groomed lawns as a site for their picnics and other summer fun. Certainly it is possible to get a good feel for the castle this way, but to truly experience it takes buying in for at least one of the three tours that they offer.
Of the three tours offered the most enjoyable and focused on the history of the castle is that of the Royal Apartments. As it would seem, the tour covers the residential areas of the castle including the royal chambers, guest facilities and the great hall that is still used even today for some royal events. It is also available to rent if you’re throwing a party, though I have no idea just how ridiculous the rates are. There are occasional guided tours of the Royal Apartments and we were fortunate enough to stumble onto one. Having explanations of the history certainly was better than simply walking through the rooms and seeing old furniture and whatnot.
There are plenty of placards around if a guided tour doesn’t seem to be in the cards, but the guided tour is definitely recommended. Taking the guided tour exposes you to such details as the fact that King Christian IV had “seven children by his first wife, eleven by his second wife and five on the loose.” So maybe half the fun of the guided tour is the translations but it was still rather useful information about the history of the castle.
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| A close-up of one of the tapestries. The level of detail is truly amazing. |
The highlight for me of the Royal Apartments tour was the tapestries. They are incredibly detailed and ridiculously large. Some took four years to produce while others were made with threads of silk, silver and gold (that one is rather smaller). The fact that 500 years later they still show much of the same vibrancy and color is truly impressive.
Another impressive bit from the Royal Apartments was the globes they had on display. There are a couple that are about 500 years old and are not completely accurate but certainly give a great insight into how the sailors of that era navigated. Even with the less that perfect maps they seemed to do a pretty good job.
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| One of the 500 year old globes that they had on display. Truly amazing! |
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| Looking down on the courtyard from the tower in the Maritime Museum. |
Looking out through one of the leaded glass windows in the tower stairs. |
In addition to the Royal Apartments there are two other sections of the castle that require a paid admission. One is the maritime museum. There is a bit of older history there but most of that museum seems to be a display of random models of ships. They are pretty neat but not all that compelling, particularly as many of them are from the modern shipping era. But the Maritime Museum tour does include access to one of the towers of Kronborg. I’m actually convinced that the only reason to pay for admission to the Maritime Museum is to gain access to that tower – the views from up top are pretty amazing. That, or you’re a big fan of Maersk and their history as a shipping company.
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| The statue of Holger, the basis of the Casements tour. |
The other – and most strange – tour available at the castle is of the Casements. The Casements are essentially the damp, dank, dark basement of the castle. The folks running the show have purposefully kept the casements dark. As in black-out level. I actually used the flash on my camera to light up various areas along the way or I don’t think I would have been able to make it through. Of course they are happy to sell you a flashlight/torch as you enter the basement but it is very, very dark without a light. More than just dark, it is really rather strange. The entire area is set up as a tribute to the legend of Holger the Dane. The walls contain messages written in silver paint that tell the story of Holger, a great defender of Danish life and tradition. Still, without a light it is almost impossible to figure out what the hell is going on or otherwise enjoy the exhibit. Even with a light it still seems a rather strange way to experience the Casements, an area that has housed hundreds of soldiers at various times throughout history.
Beyond the Kronborg Castle there is really little else to recommend Helsingør. There is the church and a few other shops. And there is their single largest industry – selling booze to Swedes who come across to save money on the taxes. But otherwise Helsingør is pretty much just the town that holds Kronborg. Not a bad thing by any stretch, but don’t plan on seeing a lot of other things during the visit unless you head over to Sweden, too.
Note: This post is showing up a couple days later than it actually happened because I’m off in the middle of nowhere enjoying the fjords but didn’t want to leave the blog empty all week.
Posted by Seth on July 3, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Our trip to Scandinavia was supposed to only really cover two countries – Denmark and Norway. Still, when I learned that we were going to be visiting a friend of my wife’s up in Helsingør, Denmark – just a 20 minute ferry ride across the way from Helsingbor, Sweden – I became somewhat hopeful of adding that to the trip. That hope was realized yesterday as we headed over to Sweden on the ferry for lunch and to wander around for a couple hours.
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| One of the many ferries serving the Helsingborg/Helsingor route. |
The ferry ride between Helsingør and Helsingbor is quick, cheap and easy, with three different companies plying the route and ferries running several times per hour. And at less than $10 for a return ticket the ferry is actually one of the more affordable things in Denmark. We hopped on Scandlines’s ship Hamlet (cute, right?) and cruised across the sunny calm waters and docked in Sweden about 20 minutes later.
Entry into Sweden consisted of just walking off the boat. No immigration checks. No customs. Nothing. Even if we had wanted someone to check out our passports or if we had taxable items on which we needed to pay duty that would not have been possible as those desks were not manned at the terminal. So we successfully invaded Sweden. We then set off to wander about downtown Helsingborg and grab some lunch.
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Locals enjoying the beach near the ferry terminal in Helsingborg, Sweden.
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Helsingborg, Sweden is a much prettier town than Helsingør, Denmark so wandering around was rather more enjoyable. The shopping areas seemed to be a bit more upscale rather than focusing entirely on selling alcohol to Swedes who cross over to Denmark to avoid taxes on their booze (truly the backbone of Helsingr’s economy). There are also the typical tourist sites, including the 500 year old church and remnants from an old castle. Both are quite well done, actually, and worth wandering over to see.
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The only remaining bit from the castle at Helsingborg.
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A rose out in front of the medieval church. Lots of roses all over the region.
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| One of the many shops in the shopping area of Helsingborg |
We also dropped in to the local Italian restaurant for a surprisingly good lunch. My preferred choice was not available and so I ended up with a curried shrimp over pasta, decidedly un-Italian but still rather delicious. And the carbonara was pretty delicious. As an added bonus, I also got to sample the local beer, a lager by the name of Spendrups. Nothing to write home about, but it certainly qualified as cold, wet and beer, three things that I needed at that point.
Overall I must say that Helsingborg is definitely worth the visit. It is a fun, quaint town and has more to offer than Helsingør, assuming that you’re not looking for Hamlet’s castle. Plus it meant that I got another new country on this trip which is always a good thing!
