Stockholm: not for boozehounds

Stockholm is a beautiful city of storybook buildings, romantic bridges, great pie and the strangest alcohol purchasing system I’ve ever seen. Basically, if you want to buy alcohol you have to go to something that resembles a state run Argos for booze called the Systembolaget. The state-run monopoly regulates the sale of alcohol to: “help limit the medical and social harm caused by alcohol and thereby improve public health.” You go there, you get your ticket, write down which wines you want and you wait, wait and then wait some more. Anyway ,we were only in there to get one bottle. Guy made the epic error of not carrying his passport with him, so that when he couldn’t provide proof of grown-up-ness she couldn’t serve him. Turns out she wouldn’t serve me either, as I would be providing alcohol to Guy, who in the state’s eyes was now a minor. Anyway the scary bulldog lady behind the counter summarily kicked us out.

Other than that, Stockholm is a wonderful city. One thing I would reccommend for Stockholm and for most cities is the Wallpaper City Guide. You should probably use it in tandem with a more comprehensive city guide, as it doesn’t always give you details on all of the tourist attractions. However, it does provide a guide to some of the more stylish things to do and see in the city, with suggestions of where to go from locals. I suppose the concept is to provide a more authentic experience of the city. I see it as more an idea of where to see and be seen, rather than where you can pick up some dodgy tourist tat.