Having a lovely time in Stockholm. Was able to obtain entry as an EU resident with the EU digital pass which I got from my doctor from my CDC card (vaccinated on a US base).
We flew Stuttgart to Riga to Stockholm. Had to fill out a form no less than 24 hours in advance to transit through Riga, no such requirement for Sweden but I did upload a picture of our pass to the airline's website (Air Baltic) and showed it at check-in.
It's our 1st time in Sweden and we're loving it. We held out visiting in the past due to the high cost, but after 10 years in Europe and 1 1/2 without normal travel and going out expenses, we could finally comfortably afford it.
We arrived Wednesday evening, and went straight to our AirBnB, a lovely but tiny flat in the southwest of Södermalm. The nice couple that lives there are spending their time at their summer cottage. We were instructed to tell neighbors that we're just friends visiting if asked. We actually almost cancelled the trip due to my cat being in not-great health, and when I messaged thr owner about whether I should cancel when I was waiting to hear from the vet, she told me to cancel the AirBnB booking and if we could go, pay her directly with a significant discount over the AirBNB price. We were happy to do so. So very good value, a full sunny flat with balcony for less than $100/night.
We finished with check in at 20:00 so only had time for our dinner reservations at Bird, a hip fried check restaurant that was fabulous. I can't recommend it enough and the prices are decent for Stockholm. Afterwards we wandered a bit in the hipster neighborhood and had a drink at a popular casual local pub where we shared a table with another American who'd lived in Sweden. We had very different opinions about COVID and it was a little awkward.
Speaking of, we chose Sweden for this trip because rates are very, very low here. We'd actually originally hoped to visit the UK but we weren't allowed to until last week by which time we'd already bought tickets, but the high rates there does make one pause a bit. There are no restrictions here anymore except for a limit on the number of people inside but it's quite generous by the standards in say, Germany. No mask requirements. That feels a bit weird but I was in the US in June so I experienced that there, too.
The next day we were woken up by very early, very bright sun. We lucked out with the weather, and decided to take slow boat to Grinda in the Stockholm Archipelago. Sunny and about 70 degrees, just perfect. Grinda was nice but definitely felt like a summer camp, and it was packed. We ended up having a sandwich from the general store just because the restaurant and cafe were packed. It was an awesome day. When we got back we wandered around Gamla Stan for a bit before having a quiet but very tasty dinner of British/Swedish pub food at The Flying Elk. Loved the place, but it was empty on a Thursday which seemed odd, except for a few people sitting outside. I had fish and chips and my husband had crispy pork belly on potato puree with roasted marrow veg. Great beer selection - the Swedes and the Danes are super into cutting edge craft beer and you can get good beer almost everywhere, but expect to pay for it.
Had an early night as it was getting chilly post sunset. Made a note to reserve a table in the sun at a waterside cafe for the next day.