Part one of our Nordic August was a weekend in Stockholm. We flew into Stockholm on Friday night and spent the night in a hostel with a difference. The hostel was an old airplane which had been converted into accommodation. We stayed in a room with bunk beds and an accompanying overhead luggage compartment. The next morning, we took the bus into town, dropped off our bags and headed out to explore Stockholm. We were just in time to see the changing of the guards which has some similarities and differences with the British changing of the guards. Instead of red and black the guards are in bright blue uniforms. The changing even involved a band on horseback. After this we headed across to Djurgarden - a separate island which is part of a national park with lots of greenery. Here we visited the Vasa Museum which houses a huge 300 plus year old boat that was salvaged from the bottom of the ocean this century. The museum was really impressive with the salvage and preservation amazing. We then hired some bikes and biked around the whole of Djurgarden, passing many locals lying outside enjoying the weather. Next off was Skansen - an open air museum displaying Swedish life through different periods. Being quite tourist-ed out we headed to Sodermalm - the hipper area - of town to find a drink and some dinner. We walked quite far trying to find a bar which was recommended and when we finally arrived it was closed! Luckily there was another bar/restaurant across the road which looked very appealing. We headed there and had some really good food and enjoyed the lay-back outdoor atmosphere. We started walking back to the hostel but stopped for a hot drink and to enjoy the views across the harbour and islands. The next day we joined a free walking tour around the city which took us around the new town which we hadn't really explored yet. Despite getting some good history and knowledge, the sites we stopped at weren't the greatest. After the tour we headed to Fotografiska which is a photography/modern art gallery which was probably a bit more alternative than we were expecting! We found a good spot for lunch and people watched for a while with some good food, coffee and beer. We then wandered our way over to City Hall where the Nobel Prize banquet is held. It was a really nice spot here on the harbour so explored it a little before picking our bags up and heading back to London.