For this years winter REM, Rotaractors had the privilege of visiting not only one, but TWO nordic capitals in one trip! PreREM was held in Copenhagen, home of the world-renowned rød pølse, and PostREM took place in the beautiful city of Stockholm.
On Sunday the 20th of January, twelve Rotaractors from The Netherlands, Egypt, USA, Switzerland, Turkey, Germany, Romania, Italy and Austria got on a train from Malmö and arrived in Stockholm some hours later for three days of fun, sightseeing and bonding in the capital of Sweden.
After settling in at the Skeppsholmen hostel, which actually is an old sailing ship offering a unique hosteling experience, the PostREM:ers got an evening city tour of Stockholm - with celsius temperatures well below -0!
German PostREM:er Alexander approved on the view from the ship, overlooking the royal castle.
The first PostREM-dinner in the capital of Sweden
Timely enough, our international guests was in Stockholm the same Monday as the new Swedish government took office, 136 days after the election. After a tour of the parliament building, they got front row seats for the prime minister inauguration.
Enjoying the parliament as well as the warmth inside - this was one of the coldest days in Stockholm this year!
Did you know, that the old town of Stockholm was partly built on garbage and landfills? Our Swedish capital city has a lot of interesting history to unveil, which is one of the reasons multiple museum visits was on schedule for PostREM.
After some free time and souvenir shopping, our PostREM:ers visited the Vasa museum which is the most visited museum in Stockholm, displaying the Vasa ship which sank on its maiden voyage in the harbor of Stockholm 1628 (it was salvaged 333 years later, in 1961). The Vasa is the only preserved seventeenth-century ship in the world and a unique art treasure, as more than 95 percent of the ship is original! Now that's a piece of old wood worth seeing.
PostREM:ers with the Vasa Ship in the background
Some of our guests had never been ice-skating before and had a shaky (but fun) experience in Kungsträdgården (King's Garden) ice skating rink in the heart of Stockholm Monday evening. They also had the chance to walk on ice in front of the Stockholm city hall earlier that day, as the lake was completely frozen.
Happy ice skaters in the beautifully decorated Kungsträdgården!
Alia from Egypt was super excited to be walking on a frozen river.
When asking foreigners what they know about foods in Sweden, 90 % of them will say meatballs. So when deciding on places to eat, the "Meatballs for the people"-restaurant on Södermalm (also known as hipster island) was a must. And the PostREM:ers got the full Swedish experience: enjoying authentic tasting platters of delicious meatballs.
Wine tasting? No way, in Sweden we do meatball tasting!
Since the PostREM:ers (for some reason) wasn't fed up with icy adventures, we went to the very exotic Stockholm Ice Bar after the meatball tasting. And yes, it is exactly what it sounds like: a bar entirely made out of ICE! Even the drinking glasses are pure ice and the bar has a steady temperature of -5 degrees celsius. We put our anoraks on and willingly went into the bar - who doesn't wanna turn into a human popsicle, right?!
Happy PostREM:ers with ice drinks and anoraks (a winning concept for sure)
On the last day of PostREM, a visit to the Swedish National History Museum was on the schedule and then it was time for the last supper (like, literally).
The last supper
All in all, Rotaract Stockholm Djurgården would like to thank all PostREM:ers for coming to Stockholm and making this such a great event with lots of laughter and new found friendships! We would also like to send out a huge THANK YOU to project manager Monika Lionaite, for making all of the arrangements and being extremely dedicated in making PostREM successful. None of this would have been without your commitment and dedication!
/Maria Waldekrantz Vice President Rotaract Stockholm Djurgården
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