There's no stopping me and my camera

Me, Tina, Sonja, and Noemie in Stockholm

I have a bizarre, almost uncontrollable need to take several shots of the same scene, and so I often end up with about five pictures in a row that are practically identical.

When I go traveling, this obsession with picture-taking becomes unleashed (and yes, I still make fun of the silly tourists in Vancouver).  And to matters more complicated, I am finding it difficult to keep my hands from constantly holding the "peace" sign when someone takes a picture of me.  It seems as though the two weeks I spent in China still haven't rubbed off..

This weekend, Sonja, Marisa, Tina, Noemie and I left Uppsala to visit Stockholm, which is conveniently only an hour bus ride away.

As Stockholm is made up of 14 islands, you're surrounded by the Baltic Sea.

I have fallen in love with this city.  So historical, such beautiful buildings and architecture, so European!

The Royal Palace, from a distance.

We first hit up the Royal Palace of Stockholm (the Royal Family does not actually reside here).

Famous chocolate cafe in Gamla Stan

Next, we visited Gamla Stan, or "Old Town." This is kind of like Gastown (minus the sketchiness and dirtiness), with cobblestone pedestrian streets, cute little cafes in the alleys, (overpriced) tourist stores, famous chocolate shops and restaurants...

The Vasa

We then walked towards Djurgarden, but stopped short to visit the Vasamuseet, the most-visited museum in all of Sweden!  It displays  the intact (95% real) Vasa, the ship that sunk 20 minutes into its journey from Sweden to Poland in the 1600s.  I'm not much of a museum person, but this is one museum that I highly recommend going to!  It costs 80 SEK for students.

Note to self: turn on the flash!

After lunch outside in the sun, we wandered through Ostermalm, and into the Saluhall.  This is just like Granville Island!  A foodie's dream!  Artisan cheese, chocolates, Swedish (and French) pastries, breads, coffee, even reindeer meat.

The Princess Cake

 We ended our day with fika at a lovely little cafe in Gamla Stan.  I tasted my first Swedish dessert, called the Princess Cake.  I was honestly not impressed, as I found it way too sweet and bland for my taste.  But I did feel somewhat royal while eating it..

This one's for the Sisterhood. Teddy had a blast!

Not bad for just one day in the capital city of Sweden!  I will definitely be coming back again to visit more of its sights, or for its Christmas markets.  And of course,  my camera will be there to capture every moment :)