eautiful views, bridges, a small tourist grid of streets with everything you need, a spectacular square in Gamla Stan and lots of colorful old buildings housing cafes, bars and souvenir shops.

And an alcohol museum, why not? The Museum of Spirits has a museum devoted to the art of making booze, you can smell individual ingredients look through vintage labels, and even view their incredible art gallery that features Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, and Louise Bourgeois.

1. Things to see

Speaking of alcohol: It’s illegal to get drunk in bars. We had been out in the cold all day, my travel partner has naturally fair skin and his face was red with the cold and the windburn of being on ferries and in the open air all day. When we walked into a bar the bartender said she was unable to serve us beers as we were intoxicated. When he asked why she thought that (we had no alcohol for over 24hrs) she said the red skin and she could see it in his eyes. She went on to explain it’s illegal in Sweden to serve drunk people alcohol in a pub. So what is the point of a pub and who decides when someone is drunk? There should be some kind of system.

We simply went next door to another bar and drank as much as we liked until we were both drunk. So the system is obviously freaky.

If there’s one thing we disliked about the Nordic countries it was all the rules, they place on their citizens and how readily they accept them. Almost like children in schools. The loss of using paper money in place of debit or credit cards so purchases can be easily tracked. The fact that most countries publish on readily available websites how much you earn – so if you’re suddenly driving a Tesla on a low salary the police will be at your door. Maybe these are aimed to have a better and more honest lifestyle but I found thm rather draconian and anny state. If this is the future for the state to watch every little move you make and start social ratings etc – then I’m glad I still live in part of the world that has actual freedoms, for privacy and to have a beer in a bar without a bartender deciding if I am allowed.

Vasa museum is also pretty amazing, a 1600’s warship that sank on its maiden voyage because it was top-heavy. The craftsmanship and level of preservation made it one of the few Scandinavian museums I walked away from where I felt I learned something instead of just donated to their coffers.

Skansen Museum is an ‘open-air museum’ on the island of Djurgarden. Essentially it’s a huge swath of land housing historic buildings from all over Sweden, it was okay, but not sure it was worth the time or energy it took to make our way around it.

Statue

Square

Around town

Colorful houses

Sitting in Stockholm

Cute room

More Stockholm

Display windows

2. Nightlife

Think we already covered the adventures in Swedish bars.

In the bars

Careful to not get drunk in a bar

3. Spend

There’s a travelers ghetto right off the main square, full of everything you could want; bars, Ben & Jerrys, restaurants, shops, and upscale stores. You could probably spend your entire vacation within the 10 block area and enjoy yourself.

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4. Food

Typical tourist fare at every turn, some decent Thai food, fish and chips, and burgers.

Sweets

5. Getting Around

Walking, and the ferry to get to the other island.

6. Costs

Stockholm was pretty average for Scandinavia. A bowl of Spaghetti and a drink would run around 25 euro. A beer maybe 6 euro.

Beautiful little city setup for easy tourism. Not sure you can find anything authentic about in the center, but that might not be the point if you just want to have some fun.