Day 2 in Stockholm, Sweden: Södermalm and Glenfiddich Warehouse

Our last full day in Stockholm, Francine and I hit the hotel breakfast buffet to power up with more herring, more fresh fruits and more charcuterie before we walked around the hip Södermalm neighborhood. We scoured so many stores that we forgot to eat lunch. Towards mid-afternoon, we walked by Louie Louie and decided to join the pretty people inside–I was already convinced by the pretty typeface they used on their sign. (We later realized that it was on our list of places to eat that we’d left back in our hotel room.) While Francine saved a couch and coffee table for us, I managed to talk to the guy at the counter and asked him to order two things he would like for us to try. He chose a warm open-faced roast beef sandwich and a blueberry pie. How do you feel about vanilla sauce? he asked. I flirted back that if he liked it, I would like it. It was an eye-rolling experience. The pie and the vanilla sauce, of course, not the guy, though he was very easy on the eyes. By the end of our day, I ended with vintage dish towels, a clutch and a necklace while Francine fell in love with another hat. Both of us had several items of clothing on our tallies.

We put our feet up back in Gamla Stan at Wirströms Pub and drank a couple of pints to while away the rest of our afternoon. We were pretty desperate to eat reindeer during dinner time. The one place I was dying to go to was closed for the day (also used a good-looking typeface in their logo) and the one recommended by the concierge didn’t serve it. (Thirty-one countries and not once did concierge ever give me a good restaurant recommendation.) We remembered seeing reindeer on the menu when we walked by Glenfiddich Warehouse back in Gamla Stan the day before, so I called to confirm.

We expected a dark and cavernous space full of old barrels and the menu to have some heavy stews. It had been drizzling all day and we were quite ready for a satisfying meal. To our surprise, the kitchen whipped up some beautifully-presented dishes that you would see at a modern restaurant. Ordering veal carpaccio for an appetizer before the reindeer fillet main course sounded a little much at first, but they were perfect split in two.

For a nightcap, we stopped by Akkurat for some scotch before we decided to end the night with a second one in the lobby of our hotel. We counted down the minutes until Francine’s birthday and then toasted turning a year older before we called it a night.

It was a little sad back in our room, packing up and saying goodbye to Stockholm. Though we felt like we did a lot in the short time we had, we agreed we could stay for another day, but alas, real life was waiting for us back in New York City.

Louie Louie is at Bondegatan 13 in the Södermalm neighborhood of Stockholm. Glenfiddich Warehouse is at Västerlånggatan 68 in Gamla Stan.

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Stockholm, Sweden photos on Flickr