After spending time with our family in England, the boys headed back to Brooklyn to see their dad, and Freddie and I stayed to visit friends in Scandinavia. What a magical place! Here are a few photos, if you’d like to see…
Right before leaving London for Stockholm
Our first stop was Stockholm. Have you ever been to Sweden? (Or are you lucky enough to live there?) I’d never visited, and damn was it gorgeous. When I think back on the week, my mind fills with images of sparkling water and green grass and blue skies.
My friend Jen, who lives there, highly recommended the hotel Ett Hem. It was definitely a splurge, but since we’d stayed with family for most of our trip, we decided to go for it.
The hotel wants guests to feel like they’re staying with family friends — and we really did. Every corner offered a cozy nook for reading books or playing games, and they had honesty bars set up around the hotel so you could pour yourself a glass of wine. They also had an open kitchen where you could help yourself anytime to afternoon cake.
The breakfast, which was included with the stay, was extraordinary. Our first morning, we sat by a big bookcase, and the plates just kept coming — farm fresh scrambled eggs, sliced cheese and ham, lettuce and tomatoes with flaky sea salt, and bread rolls with butter. This isn’t sponsored — it was just an incredible place!
After breakfast, we biked to the ABBA Museum (big fan) and the Vasa Museum, which features a giant warship that sunk…20 minutes after setting sail. A real example of hubris, gahh. Also, while biking around town, I was struck by how closely people followed the rules. In New York, where I’ve ridden bikes for 25 years, it always feels like a bit of a free-for-all where you could tumble off at any time — car doors open unexpectedly, pedestrians walk in bike lanes, delivery trucks block pathways. I’m used to it, but in Stockholm, the system just ran…according to plan.
Our second day, we took a ferry into the archipelago, a stunning group of 30,000 islands in the Baltic Sea. Public transportation can get noisy, but people were surprisingly quiet on the ferry — and I thought about lagom, a concept in Swedish culture where people live together with moderation, fairness, and simple satisfaction. Apparently, the Swedish proverb “Lagom är bäst” means “the right amount is best.”
Side note: I loved these girls’ braids!
We then met up with my friend Jen, her husband Nik, and their twin boys. She’s American, he’s Swedish, and they moved to Stockholm a few years ago. We went to a classic restaurant called Pelikan for meatballs, potatoes, and lingonberries and played a rip-roaring game of Ono 99. (The other restaurant we loved during our stay was Bar Nîmes.)
Next, we headed south to Copenhagen, Denmark, which is a five-hour train ride.
The design of everything, even the bike racks and airport carts, was beautiful.
Everyone we met advised us to get pastries — especially cardamom buns — so we went to Juno. Another day, we had delicious folded eggs at Studio x Kitchen.
We also biked to La Banchina, an all-day café, where you can also swim in the harbor.
We then headed to our friends Maz and Lee’s house, where they live with their two boys. She’s Danish, he’s American, and they’re splitting their time between Copenhagen and Queens.
While snacking on apple cake and coffee, their older son told us about school in Denmark. “We learn math and science, of course,” he said, “But we also learn life skills. We went mountain biking this week, and we’re learning to sew by hand and with a machine.” And the coolest part? Teachers recently asked the students to come into school wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants over swimsuits. “We learned how to fall into water and take off our clothes efficiently,” he said. “Because if you unexpectedly end up in water, you’re usually fully dressed.”
Their younger son picked more apples.
Our final day, we walked around town and peeked into little shops…
…and spotted a pacifier tree, where toddlers hang up their pacifiers when they’re all done.
That evening, we had dinner with my friend Miriam. The boys and I visited her family a few years ago, and they now live in a different house with a wild garden. “We considered putting up a sign saying it was on purpose, so our neighbors wouldn’t worry,” she laughed.
Miriam and her husband Monty now have four kids, and we played in the garden before dinner.
She made a delicious meal, including smashed beef with cucumber yogurt.
And apparently Freddie juggles, haha.
Have you ever been to Copenhagen, Stockholm, or anywhere in Scandinavia? I’d love to hear any more insights or anecdotes. I fell so hard for both cities and am still pinching myself for the time we spent there. Thank you so much for reading. xoxo
P.S. The weirdest best part of trips, and four things I always pack for a trip.
This story originally appeared on Cup of Jo
