noplasticshowers

Though NPS has been to Sweden a handful of times, this was our first trip to Stockholm, and it probably won’t be the last.

Ett Hem is a tiny luxury hotel  that does every single thing right.  The staff is so professional that they feel like really particularly helpful friends, the food is absolutely world class, and the grounds (two buildings with a few rooms in each) are gorgeous. Needless to say, the showers are not plastic.

After a delayed arrival (on Swiss Air, whose business class equipment and service did not match United’s standards(!!)), we all met in the second floor common room in the building with the restaurant (that is, the building that includes its own bakery where they mill flour).  We had a Negroni from the honor bar and caught up after some years.  It’s always fun to introduce good friends who have yet to meet, in this case a Finn and a Norwegian.

Of course there was a mandatory hot shower and checkin in to the rather small but well appointed room 29.

The shower was most excellent.

The fact that the bedroom is small is made up for by the extensive common rooms (like the one where we met) and run of the entire well-groomed property.

We snagged a dinner reservation at Matbaren Mathias Dhalgren, the kind of resraurant designed and executed for foodies.  Dinner was excellent and service was just as fun as our furnishings were quirky.

Then we had a nightcap at the Grand Hôtel bar.  The cocktails were good but not fantastic, and the vibe of the space is pretty much what you would expect from such an old school hotel. Ironically, my two friends decided to get another drink and I left the scene early since my reason for being in town was a breakfast seminar a couple of days later at the ungodly hour of 8am.  I guess that’s one way to avoid jetlag…just blow right through it!

After sampling the outstanding Ett Hem breakfast we made a quick visit to the photography museum.

Then we shot some video of our own, but with more clothes. And played some team building company trivia games. After which dinner at Soho House was an excellent experience.  Always fun to hit it off with friends of friends.  It was taco Tuesday in Sweden, and, well, Swedish tacos are hilarious.

On our way to A Bar Called Gemma we stopped in at Grodan for a cocktail or two.

Gemma was a much better craft cocktail mixology joint than Grodan, but it was also slightly slouchier and grimy.

Then it was up way early to give the talk. We decided to try out the restaurant at Ett Hem for lunch. Outstanding.

Ett Hem is worth a visit to stockholm for all by itself. Magical. Fiver showerheads with no reservations at all.