This is just some short feedback from my visits to Stockholm and Helsinki. The trip was brief and I was with my very aged parents who needed accompaniment most times so unfortunately I didn't get a chance to make any appointments with well known northerners on
Forum. Stockholm has a simply marvellous numismatic museum, possibly the best I've ever seen, spread over three floors and with well designed themed exhibition areas e.g. on
hoards, on savings, on Nobel prizes etc. Very nicely done. I saw some coins in the National Museum in Finland, but not so much. Aside from
numismatics, the highlight of Stockholm was the Vasa, the massive warship that sank immediately after its launch in 1628 due to its design (too narrow, too high, insufficient ballast), which unlucky incident has led to it luckily being completely preserved in a dedicated museum. The highlights of Helsinki were everywhere around me, stunning home-grown
architecture and design, of a
quality and richness that could only match Florence. Apart from the brilliant highlights of the Vasa and the Numismatic Museum, Stockholm struck me as a rather dull city for a visitor, somewhat mono-cultural (I might say the same about my native Dublin), and I
ran out of things that interested me or places to go rather quickly. Helsinki was simply marvellous, and aside from its home-grown design and
architecture it seems amazingly receptive to external influences, full of
ethnic restaurants and considerate people, literary, artistic, really vibrant, very easy to get around and simply stuffed with small, high
quality and interesting museums, I can think of few cities with so much to see in such a small
area. I will be back again, without my parents, perhaps with my daughter who would really appreciate it, perhaps on my own or with a friend to explore the
music and nightlife scene.