Stockholm -extensive tour of city center and Sonisphere festival

[Nightsky]

I went to Stockholm with my friend to go to Sonisphere Festival, a rock festival headlined by Iron Maiden. We arrived late on Friday after a 7 hour road trip from Malmö.
The half Saturday and the half Sunday we had time to spend in on sightseeing in Sweden’s capital. The festival was on Saturday afternoon. The weather was a disaster; heavy rain and storm and nowhere to go inside during the festival. In the city the weather was better, only grey skies and summer showers.

I decided to show picture in chronological order for instance.

Friday:


SEB:s HQ in Sundbyberg. Sunny after a mostly grey road trip!


Solna Hotell, our hotel in a forest in the outskirts of Solna (all rooms where occupied in Stockholm).

Saturday:






Ibis Hotel in Hägersten, we had to change rooms cause no hotel had rooms for 2 nights available.

GAMLA STAN (OLD TOWN):

Gamla Stan is the oldest part of Stockholm, situated on a small island between Södermalm and Norrmalm.


Gondolen and Katarinahissen, the outdoor elevator that takes you down Södermalm to ground level.






A ferry to Djurgården.


Gröna Lund.




Slussen.

MORE FROM GAMLA STAN (OLD TOWN):














Stortorget. Svenska Akademins headquarters.




Stortorget.

[Nightsky]

Stockholms Slott, the Royal Castle. Europe’s largest of its kind.


Slottet is the Swedish monarch’s official residence.


Slottsbacken, the Castle Hill.




The view from there is nice.


This is Kaknästornet, Sweden’s tallest TV tower. It is 155m tall and was built in 1967.


Storkyrkan at Slottsbacken.


Sankt Göran och draken (St Göran and the dragon) at the small square Köpmantorget.


Köpmangatan.




Leaning coffee in Gamla Stan. Very expensive – 50 skr!






Österlånggatan?


Tyska Kyrkan. (German Church). A landmark of Gamla Stan.


Rock Town, a store for shirts and acessories associated with rock.
But all over the city, you can see people in Iron Maiden T-shirts because of the concert.


Västerlånggatan. The crowded narrow main street of Gamla Stan with many old fashioned stores, cafés and art galleries.


A typical narrow lane in Gamla Stan.


Gåsgränd, means Geese Lane.


This gate in the middle of Riksdagshuset, is leading over the bridge to Drottninggatan on the district Norrmalm.




Riksdagshuset, the seat of the Swedish government.

[ColDayMan]

Wonderful tour!

[LAsam]

What a fantastic looking place!

[stepper77]

What a great place to have a weekend excursion! Nice photos, thanks!

[Coldrsx]

My trip to Scandinavia won't come soon enough!

thanks

[sopas ej]

Great pics! Stockholm is one of my favorite cities in the world, I really should get around to visiting it again.

[OhioGuy]

So fabulous!

[KevinFromTexas]

Beautiful city.

[Swede]

Nice tour of my city! any forumer coming over here should drop me a PM and I might be free to do a tour

My aunt lives literally two blocks from that Ibis hotel

[Nightsky]

@Swede: We had just a few hours to spend before and after the Sonisphere festival since we had to get back to work before Monday (unfortunately), so it felt a bit to stressful for a meeting.
Next time in Stockholm, or if you come to Malmö, I'll call you for a tour and/or take a beer.

[Nightsky]

NORRMALM:


Stockholms Stadshus, the City Hall of Stockholm, is 106m tall and was built in 1923. This is where the world famous Nobelfesten takes place. It is located on the district Kungsholmen.


The gate to Norrmalm and Drottninggatan.




Skyline with Riddarholmskyrkan and Stadshuset.




Drottninggatan is one of Stockholm’s main streets, but it feels a bit stiff.


A store to go before the concert!


A silver building at Drottninggatan.


Sergels Torg, perhaps the most famous square in Sweden.


Sergels Torg has many problems with drug addicts. Many people dislike the way the square were rebuilt in the 60s, and there are serious plans to redevelop it.


“Plattan”, is what this problematic place at Sergels Torg is called.
The building with the clock is the large department store Åhléns City.


The glass pillar by Edvin Öhrström is 37m high and was erected in 1974.
Hötorgsskraporna is the name of the 5 so called “skyscrapers” situated between Sergels Torg and Hötorget. They are just 61m tall each.


Hötorgsskraporna are the most significant highrises downtown. They were built in 1962. Despite having just 19 floors, many people still think they are too tall for downtown Stockholm. May be it is the modernist design they don’t like…


Sankta Klara Kyrka (S:ta Clara Church) seen from Sergels Torg with Kulturhuset (a cultural complex) to the left. Klara Kyrka is 116m tall and was completed in 1590. It is Sweden’s tallest church.


Hamngatan with one of the new tram lines.
Both Olof Palme and Anna Lindh was murdered in this area.


NK on Hamngatan is Sweden’s largest and most exclusive department store.
The politican Anna Lindh was stabbed to death here in 2001.


Norrmalmstorg. Famous for the bank robbery “Norrmalmstorg drama” in the 1960s that lead to the new expression “Stockholm syndrome”.

[Swede]

Originally Posted by Nightsky

@Swede: We had just a few hours to spend before and after the Sonisphere festival since we had to get back to work before Monday (unfortunately), so it felt a bit to stressful for a meeting.
Next time in Stockholm, or if you come to Malmö, I'll call you for a tour and/or take a beer.

When I saw you were up here for the festival and stayed just a couple of nights I assumed that was the case
yeah, it's been too long since our last beer

[Infernal_Elf]

thanks alot for the tour havent been to stockholm for many many years great to see some pictures of this big scandinavian city

[SHiRO]

Great pics!

[Nightsky]

Thanks for comments!

Originally Posted by Swede

When I saw you were up here for the festival and stayed just a couple of nights I assumed that was the case
yeah, it's been too long since our last beer

You're right

[tdawg]

Stunning city.

[simms3_redux]

Love Stockholm and still have family there and in Uppsala and Varmland county. Great tour and loved the captions!

[Nightsky]

ÖSTERMALM:


Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, or simply called “Dramaten”, is located at Nybroplan.


Berzellipark is one of very few parks in central Stockholm. The park is very small.
Kungsträdgården (that I originally thought it was) is just one block away. It’s a bit larger but also a small park.


“Dramaten” seen from Kungsträdgården. Stockholm has very few trams, but this is a new one.


View towards the famous Radisson Strand Hotel.

Strandvägen, the harbour road on Östermalm:




Hotel Diplomat.


Södermalm skyline seen from Östermalm: From Katarina Kyrka to Södertorn.


Djurgården and Södermalm.


Gröna Lund, Stockholm’s most famous amusement park. On Djurgården.


Horse parade seen while having a beer at a restaurant on Strandvägen.
It is now starting to rain.


The bridge to Djurgården from Östermalm.


The old time trams to Djurgården has a mobile café!


Karlaplan, the end of the long Naravägen (and Karlavägen).


Karlavägen, a major street on Östermalm.




Hedvig Eleonora Kyrka.


Östermalmstorg with Saluhallen, the old market hall.


Östermalmstorg with Hedvig Eleonora Kyrka.


Sibyllegatan from Östermalmstorg.


Humlegårdsgatan from Östermalmstorg.


Östermalmstorg. Having lunch before going by subway to Stora Skuggan, where Sonisphere festival takes place.

Next: Sonisphere festival!

[Nightsky]

Sonisphere (also Saturday):

Sonisphere is an annual rock/metal festival that takes place in several different cities in Europe. This year it took place at Stora Skuggan (Big Shadow), a large field in the northern outskirts of Stockholm, near the university. The festival was headlined by Iron Maiden. Other big artists were Alice Cooper, Slayer, Mötley Crüe and Iggy Pop. We didn’t see the rest.

It rained heavily the whole time and there was nowhere to go inside! The arrangement was really bad, you had to wait for about 30 min to go to the toilet, the queue for the food stands were about the same. There were just about 30 toilets for 50 000 people. And 3,5% beer costed 50 skr!


Turning Torso like sculptures at the entrance.




Slayer, good and heavy as usual.






Wet and cold people heading to Alice Cooper.







Alice Cooper made a theatrical show.




After a while only mud and dirt was left of the ground.


Some people started to mud wrestle in this puddle!










When Maiden started to play it stopped raining. When the concert was over it didn’t only start to rain heavily, a real thunderstorm was taking place!

However it was my first Maiden concert ever, it was fantastic.

The day after Sonisphere moved to Poori, Finland and the weather became even worse there. A typhone was moving right through the area, leaving 40 people wounded, and destroyed one of Maiden’s planes!

Next: Södermalm and more of Gamla Stan!