Solo Trip in Europe: Stockholm - Part 1

I've taken a solo trip before but it was to Phuket and so different from this time.

I've done quite a fair bit of research for the trip but once you arrived at the place, you can feel a bit lost.

I was lucky I started my journey from Oslo. At least I'm rather familiar with it now being here twice before. However, the first thing I did when I arrived in Oslo was to check out where the bus terminal was and to buy the bus ticket. 

And so, my trip started when I took the bus from Oslo to Stockholm. Since I already recee the place a few days before, I knew where I was going and was rather confident.

I was expecting comfortable bus like the ones I've taken before from Singapore to KL. When I got onto the bus, I realized I was so wrong, it was like their normal bus. I was planning to sleep on the journey, the purpose of taking an overnight bus. Seat is not too comfy, how am I going to survive the night? 

And the bus is not direct, making a few stops along the way. I tried to sleep but kept waking up because of people alighting and boarding and I wanted to stay alert since I'm alone. 

After almost 8 hours, the bus arrived in Stockholm bus terminal. After I got my luggage, I was thinking shit, which direction should I go? I don't want to appear lost and be a target. So I ended up going into the terminal to ask for direction. I got a general direction and started pulling my luggage along. After walking down 2 streets, I was starting to feel cold and it started drizzling. I started wondering if I might be heading the wrong way since I remembered distinctly that the hotel should be nearer to the terminal. I remembered too late that I can use my phone GPS! How stupid of me!

I found the hotel but the door can't open. Thank god there was a lady smoking outside who offered to use her card to open the door for me. I was super cold and miserable by then.  I was so thankful for the warmth in the hotel. 

Unfortunately I can't check in yet till afternoon. So I left my luggage at the hotel and went out, changing to my warmer jacket. 

I decided to walk to old town but somehow I kept walking and saw durgarden and decided to head there instead. It was probably a mistake, it was a damn far walk and before I got to the bridge that leads to durgarden, it started raining again and I was feeling super super cold and there was no shelter at all along the way. I saw a glimmer of hope when I spotted a cafe right after the bridge, even if it's not open, there is at least sheltered tables where I can sit down and rest my legs. There were people in the cafe! I went in and the staff said they were not really open yet but could get me a coffee. Thank god! A warm drink and a warm place to sit down.  I decided that I'm going to take my time drinking since most venues are not opened till around 10 and it was only 8:30am and still raining. No way am I going out walking in the rain again. 

I managed to get my Stockholm card from the tourist information in the cafe. And I tried to map out the rest of my day so that I can make full use of the card. 

Shortly before 10, the rain became light drizzle and I thought not to waste time and walk to the garden first before going to the museums. I think I walked wrong direction and ended up walking up and down but passed this nice little garden. 

A pretty garden I happened to came across

Haiz, so I ended gg to the Vassa Museet first. It was rather interesting to see the old vessel. Next, I headed to Nordiska Museet which was alright. 

Nordiska Museet

By now, my legs were aching and I was hungry so decided to walk to the food market as recommended. 

More walking, around 15 minutes and I finally got to the Saluhall. I walked around trying to find out what to eat. Finally found a place where they served meatballs! The lemon drink which came free was super nice too. 

I decided to walk back to the hotel to see  if I can check in. More walking again! And  I saw a group of people who seemed to be protesting. Interesting.

Is this a protest?  

After dunno walking for how long, I finally got to the hotel. Lucky they said my room is ready. Hehe...the lift reminded me of the lift in Nic and Shennie's home.

Woah, the hotel room here is damn small, just a small single bed, a little table and that's it. Super basic but can't complain since it has a private bathroom. Guess the hotels here are expensive and small. There's no kettle in the room and you need to pay for hot water! Damn, and I thought I can eat my instant noodle here. 

After resting for a bit, I headed out to the old town again. More walking, I think my legs were gonna break. The old town is rather quaint, reminded me of the place in Seville.  Since I was there, being the smart aleck and trying to maximize my stockholm card, I decided to walk to Sodermalm and visit the Fotografiska.  

Gamla Stan - old town in Stockholm. Very quaint and nice to stroll along.

I was so thankful when I finally got back to my room. End of day one! Yay!  And I made arrangement to meet Sara the next day. 

Solo Trip to Europe: Munich - Part 5

Today is shopping day.

Slightly before 9, I made my way to Sofitel where I'm supposed to take the bus to ingolstad. 

The bus was quite nice and we even passed by BMW welt to pick up more people. The place is huge and I was so tempted to go there to take a look. 

When we got to ingolstad, the information told me that Audi museum is not really that near and I would need to take a taxi. I decided to forgo that and I started shopping. 

The WMF is damn cheap here! So is Birkenstock but they are so ugly.  It took me less than 2 hrs to finish shopping and the bus is only picking us up at 3:30pm.

Lucky the weather is sunny today, I had coffee and my ciggie outside to kill time. 

I think I might not have bought so much if I didn't have so much time, I just went into almost all the shops just to see see look look. 

Finally the bus came and we got back to Munich by around 5pm. I bought some food and went back to the hotel to drop off my stuff and became too lazy to go out again. 

So I ended up packing my luggage. Lucky I brought along an additional bag otherwise I won't have enough space in my luggage. 

Solo Trip to Europe: Munich - Part 4

The plaster is a miracle! I woke up this morning and I can move my toe without feeling much pain. It felt less swollen too. Thank god as I need to walk a bit today to the Neuschwanstein castle.

I set off for the train station early as I wanted to catch the 8:53am train. Went to the counter to buy my ticket and got all the direction I needed. The only thing I need to do before boarding the train is to validate my ticket. I have less than 10 min to do so and I was trying frantically to find where I can validate the ticket. After asking several times, I finally found it. It was just a small machine while I was expecting someone with a manned counter. 

I got onto the train and It seemed that there were a number of people on the train are also going to the castle from what I overheard.  I felt a bit unprepared as I don't have any map showing how many stops etc.  I prayed hard that the weather would be good since most part of the journey was raining. 

It was relatively easy though with the information I found on the internet. I saw this chinese guy and went to talk to him. Turned out he's from China. We were so awed when we saw the first sight of the castle from the bus. 

I could only booked the 1:25pm English tour. So much time to kill and it started raining again. I decided to go have a hot drink in the cafe to kill time.

When I was warm enough and the sun came out again, I went to walk around the town and finally took a rare photo of myself. 

I took the bus up to the castle. Lucky as the information stated that it will take around 45 min to walk up. No way am I gonna risk hurting my feet again. 

I got off the bus and went to the bridge where you get the best picture of the castle.  Can't wait to go up close. 

There's a bit more walking before reaching the castle and I practically run as it was really close to the tour time but I made it in time.

The tour took about 30 min and we got to see some of the castle such as the king'a bedroom, servant room, etc. It was beautiful, all the paintings and carvings. 

After the tour I made my way back Munich. One day gone just like that.

Tomorrow is the last day and I was wondering if I should go ingolstad village or BMW Welt. In the end I decided to go shopping instead and see if I can make it to Audi museum since it's also in ingolstad. Will leave BMW to next visit. 

Solo Trip in Europe: Munich - Part 3

My flight was very early and I missed the hotel breakfast. I thought I would buy the cinamon bun to eat on the train but no time.  Their cinamon bun is super duper nice, unlike the one I tried in Bergen which sucks.

The train was pretty fast though I panicked a bit when the announcement came that the train will be making 2 stops. How the hell do I know which one should I alight? Lucky there was a booklet in the train which tells you which terminals are located in which stop. 

Sometimes I really like the European airports, so self service. You go to the machines and print out your own boarding pass and luggage tags then proceed to drop your checked in baggage. No queue at all. The only queue is at the immigration check.

While waiting for the plane, I tried to look for cinamon bun again but my leg was so tired that I ended up eating their burger instead - Max Burger. Taste pretty good. 

When the plane was landing, I was so happy to see that it's bright and sunny in Munich. I had enough of grey and gloomy weather. 

Now I have to figure out the way to take the train to the main station. There is no manned counter to buy tickets and the machine seems to complicated.  I was at one of the machine trying to figure out a way to buy my ticket when this lady offered to give me her ticket which is still valid for the day as she's departing already. Woohoo, such a nice gesture. 

Once again, I felt lost when I got to the main station, which way should I go to get to the hotel?  I'm smarter this time though, so I used GPS to make my way to the hotel. 

The hotel took in Munich is so much nicer, bigger and there's a kettle! I can finally have my instant noodle, need to offload them to make space in my luggage. 

After resting a short while, I headed out. I decided to walk to Marienplatz. Since I've been resting my feet. I thought should be ok. Haiz, after a while, my toes was hurting a lot. But I persisted. So I just walked around and also found the market. So nice, so crowded and so much nice food. I love Munich!

The weather here is rather unpredictable though, one hour it's sunny, then it started raining for around 30 min and it stopped and became sunny again. 

By now, my feet really hurt, I desperately looked for a pharmacy so that I can buy nail cutter to cut open the blister. I bought a blister plaster (I think it is since it looked like the 3M one back in Singapore) and also found a nail cutter. 

After I got back to the hotel, I couldn't find the 水泡. So I just decided to stick the plaster. 

I started reading more about the castle which I planned to visit tomorrow. I decided to go on an earlier train to beat the crowd. Hopefully I won't get lost! 

Solo Trip in Europe: Stockholm - Part 2

I woke up feeling fresh and my legs felt better.  Lucky breakfast was provided in the hotel, selection wasn't great but not gonna complain since food is so expensive here.

My plans was to meet Sara at 1pm to watch the guard changing at the Royal Palace. As my stockholm card is valid till 10am. I decided to go to the Ericsson Sky View. 

My first view of the Sky View left me hesitating if I should take it or will it give me motion sickness? 

Ericsson Sky View

I was very nervous when it's time to go into the little capsule. I didn't dare to look up at all. Just kept looking outside. To my relief, it was actually ok. After I'm done with the ride, I took the train back to Gamla Sta and started walking again. 

I met up with Sara and we watched he guard changing. To be honest, it was not very interesting, a waste of time. The best thing was the sun actually came out for a short while!  We then decided to walk over to Sodermalm for lunch. My legs were aching again and I was glad to finally be able to sit down. 

By the time we finished lunch, it started raining again!  So we decided to fika. After fika, I headed back to hotel. I think I'm having a bad blister in my toe. 

The weather in Stockholm has been miserable and I was more than ready to leave. This place is even colder than Oslo even though the temp is higher. The constant rain just made the air much colder. 

The buildings here are much nicer though. And this city is more vibrant. The people in Oslo seems more cultured while the people in Stockholm look more funky. 

Ostermalm - the upscale district in Stockholm