Easter Break in Stockholm
By Claire Pave
School: University of Pennsylvania, Class of ’26
Major or concentration: Economics
Semester abroad: Spring ’25
During Easter Break, my family decided to come visit me here in Stockholm. I was super excited to show them around the city, especially since it was their first time in Scandinavia.
When I first met with my family, I made them try a Swedish classic — salty licorice. It was quite humorous to see their reactions to the candy that is beloved among Swedes. After this I gave them a more palatable taste of Stockholm by taking them on a walking tour through the city. We visited Stadshuset (Stockholm’s City Hall), walked by Sergels Torg, and then went to see the cherry blossom trees in Kungsträdgården. Pro tip —you must try ice cream here with Swedish sprinkles — they are far superior to American sprinkles! After this we saw the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust monument, and then walked along Nybrogatan to see Ostermalms Saluhall (Östermalm’s Food Hall) and Hedvig Eleonora kyrka.
The weather was so pleasant — 50 degrees and sunny — allowing us to enjoy a nice lunch seated outside. Following lunch I took my family back to their hotel to let them rest for a bit before heading over to Gamla Stan, the Old Town of Stockholm. In Gamla Stan I showed them the Parliament and Royal Palace, and then we walked over to Stortorget, the square with the Nobel Prize museum and iconic houses. After taking a few pictures, we continued to walk through the charming streets of the island before dinner.
The following day we started off by visiting the Vasa and marveled at its sheer size and then took a boat tour through Stockholm’s archipelago. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch while sailing by the adorable summer houses. Later that night before dinner we went to Södermalm to stroll through the quaint residential streets along the coast as well as visit Ivar Lo’s Park and Skinnarviksberget for fantastic views of the city before dinner.
On Sunday we visited Drottningholm Palace, the summer residence of the Royal family. It overlooks the water and has a beautiful interior and garden. After our visit to Drottningholm, we took the bus over to Solna Centrum station, where we began our self-guided tour through the world’s longest art exhibition — Stockholm’s metro system! Aside from Solna Centrum, we saw Rådhuset and Kungsträdgården station before stopping for lunch. After lunch we continued with our tour, seeing Stadion station (and the Olympic Stadium!), Tekniska Högskolan, and Mörby Centrum. I think all of us agreed that Solna Centrum and Kungsträdgården were our favorite stations — we truly felt like we were in an alternate universe!
Monday was our last day together. Since my family celebrates Passover, we had to wait until the holiday was over to have a proper fika. The first thing we did on Monday was go to Storabageriet, a popular Swedish bakery, to have coffee and cardamom buns. All I can say is, the wait was definitely worth it. After fika, we stopped into a Svenskt Tenn, a beautiful Swedish interior design store that is known for its eclectic prints and furniture design. We pretty much spent the rest of the day strolling through the residential streets of Östermalm, admiring the beautiful apartment buildings and architecture. While it was a bit chilly outside, as the Swedes say, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes!
Lastly, I could not finish this blog without talking about the food. For almost every meal we ate Swedish husmanskost, sampling pickled herring platters, skagen toast, shrimp salad, and, of course, Swedish meatballs. Accompanied by several Hot Shots, our weekend in Sweden was nothing short of special!
