Today I left home early in the morning and caught a flight to Stockholm. I made my way from Arlanda airport via a train, then a t-bana ride to my hotel. Unfortunately the short walk from the metro to the hotel involved a sudden downpour so I got a bit wet. No matter, I dried off then went for a late afternoon walk around.

One reason I wanted to visit Stockholm is the metro itself- not for trainspotting purposes, but because many of the stations are uniquely decorated with artwork. I found two stations today I wanted to check out, and I’ll find some more tomorrow. For today, I headed back to T-Centralen, then dropped down never-ending escalators to the blue line. The other lines at the central station are rather plain, but the blue line is more impressive. The bare rock was painted by Per Olof Ultvedt in 1975, the vines and flowers theoretically offering travellers a moment of calm.

From here, I caught the eastbound train to the next stop, Kungsträdgarden. This station was painted by Ulrik Samuelson in 1977, and contains a colourful mosaic near the escalators, and a variety of roman style pillars, statues and even a small excavation. The red and green colour scheme of the floor apparently symbolise a baroque garden.

From here I headed south across the bridge (Strömbron) towards the old down Gamla Stan, and was greeted with a nice sunset behind the Parliament House, Riksdaghuset.

Once over the bridge I wandered along the water to the small island of Riddarholmen. The waterside here gives a nice view over to the city hall, Stadshuset. Apparently you can walk up the tower- maybe tomorrow. The sunset was still playing along quite happily here too.

Next, I headed into the narrow streets of Gamla Stan to find dinner, ending up with a decent pizza. Before heading back to the hotel I crossed south onto Södermalm and walked up the hill in search of a footpath along a park, Monteliusvägen. It was pretty much dark by this point, and from here you get a great view looking north over the city. I took a few pictures, the one below is of Riddarholmen, the small island I took the photo of Stadshus from.

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