Day Two of our weekend trip to Stockholm and we started it off with a gym workout. Yes, that’s right, judge away, but that’s how I like to start my day! Once we were dressed and showered we head downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. I was a little skeptical about breakfast, as it was included in our hotel room rate, which usually means platters of cheese, ham and white toast are on offer. How wrong could I be! This was the buffet of champions, not only did the chef offer to make me gluten free pancakes, amongst a gazillion food items to choose from was a raw bar with jars of superfoods from chia seeds to hemp powder. I was in healthy heaven! The coffee was terrible though. Always a catch right? ;o)
We decided to spend the day in the area of Södermalm, the hip and trendy part of town. Exiting the train, we studied the map, turned it around a million times, trying to figure out which way to walk (for some reason Stockholm is the most confusing place to navigate, or maybe we just had a terrible map!), and our first port of call was good coffee.
Cykel Cafe Le Mond looked promising, and was full of customers so we wandered in.
The menu looked good and so did those cakes.
The barista did his thing and we waited for our coffee. No almond milk on offer, but lactose free milk seems to be the popular alternative in Stockholm.
Coffee in hand to warm us up, we head back outside to explore.
Saturday morning in Södermalm, was a lot calmer than a Saturday in London. It took us awhile to get used to the lack of people around, we’re so used to the hustle and bustle.
What quickly became apparent was how fabulous all the stores were, from homeware to bakeries that shared their space with florists, everything was certainly Scandi-chic.
Top of my list was a visit to the very popular Grandpa, a homeware, design and clothing store all rolled into one.
We spent a rather large chunk of time in this store, there was so much to see, and so many things we wanted to buy. If you like wearing shades of black, grey, white or navy blue, and you love the minimalist look, this is your kinda place.
Needless to say, we did not leave the store empty handed, and that look on TBND’s face is one of ‘that was the most awesome store but I still feel incredibly sick for spending money I shouldn’t have’.
Another obsession of mine, is beautifully packaged skin and body care products and L:A Bruket does not disappoint.
This place is a packaging whore’s dream.
It’s very Aesop in style, and that’s pretty much what I love about it so much!
We didn’t purchase, we just admired, but I know The Conran Shop stock this product here in London and that’s just a short bus ride away, so yeah I’m good ;o)
Next stop on my Stockholm/Södermalm list was the most beautiful store called Pärlans.
This truly is the sweetest store ever, in both design and what they offer! They make caramels in the most mouthwatering flavours you could ever wish to chomp on.
And again, in true Scandi style, the packaging was beautiful.
I scoured every inch of the store, trying to decide what to purchase.
We decided to try a variety of the caramels, and I am telling you these are one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten! Particularly the Passion Fruit Caramel, OMG!
In my happy place with my bag of caramels, we made tracks towards another food destination.
Urban Deli was not only recommended by a friend, it kept popping up on various travel websites when I was researching for our trip and I am so glad I didn’t leave this amazing spot off my list.
If you’re a foodie, or even if you love packaging and design, this is a must-see for you lot!
With a restaurant in the back, and the grocery store in the front, I was in foodie heaven.
And the packaging, oh the packaging! It was all so pretty!
See what I mean? Designed so well, I wanted to buy everything in that damn store.
Instead we settled for some chocolate, a jar of peach salsa (amazing!) and a couple of smoothies which we took over to the park to rest our feet and take in the local scenery.
Refreshed and re-energized we carried on with our day, and walked the streets popping into the most fantastic homeware stores which I would have loved to photograph and tell you about, but then this blog post would never have ended. Hence I’ve mostly stuck to the thing people love most, food.
Which brings me to our next stop later that afternoon. Juiceverket. This wasn’t on my list, we just stumbled upon it, and what a great find it was!
We entered the very cool juice bar, and browsed the menu, trying our best to decipher what all the Swedish words were.
In the end we gave up, and like everyone in Stockholm, the cafe assistant spoke perfect English, and helped us choose a smoothie.
Smoothies in hand, we slurped away and wow they were good, but then anything that contains banana, dates and almond butter is, right?!
Sluuuuuuurp!
Late afternoon we jumped on a train back to the central area of Norrmalm and I dived into the first H&M I saw, on the hunt for a coat I so desperately wanted to own, and once discovered and purchased we carried on walking all the way to our dinner destination.
We’d discovered K25 by accident the day before, and were determined to return hungry so we could enjoy all the foodie treats on offer inside the building.
K25 is a very trendy food court open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and full of so many delicious options I knew it was going to be tough to choose!
We scrutinised every menu trying to decide.
But the cuisine that always wins our hearts is Mexican. So we placed our orders.
My grilled chicken salad was super tasty.
We sat back and people watched for a bit, before calling it a day and dragging our weary bodies back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before our final day in Stockholm.
To Be Continued…