I took a really short trip to Europe last week. I don’t even know how I managed to fit in Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn all in 7 days, but with really meticulous planning it went off [mostly] without a hitch!

On my first day of travels I flew from Toronto to Stockholm with a transfer in Frankfurt. I’ve heard horror stories of FRA because of how big the terminals are. After this experience I would have to agree it is exactly as they say. Even though I had about two hours to make my connection, I ended up waiting about 45 mins just to pass through passport control before dashing all the way to my gate. I was honestly the second last person to board and I was just relieved that I managed to make it on the plane.

However, it was only when I got to ARN that I realized my luggage did not make it on the flight and was still stuck at FRA. (T__T) They couldn’t confirm an actual ETA for my bag so I ended up just leaving the airport with only my carry-on. Since I had to stay longer than anticipated to file my baggage claim, I didn’t actually make it out to the city until 5:30pm. By then it was too late to visit the Vasa Museum, which was where I had planned to go that evening.

Instead of just wasting the night away, I decided to go for a nice dinner at a restaurant called Nomad Bar. I had read their reviews online and a lot of people recommended their Swedish meatballs and their herring and cheese appetizer. I was definitely too ambitious ordering both, but it was a very good first meal in Sweden.

Prior to heading back for the night, I made a quick visit to Gamla Stan just as the sun was starting to set. There’s really not a lot of people on the streets in the evening, but it was still nice seeing the buildings at dusk!