Stockholm in Winter – Katarinahissen and checking out the Second-hand shops in Södermalm

22 January 2017

The plan for the day was to go check out the second-hand shops in Stockholm, as requested by the young adults in our travelling group. The market for used items and clothing has really exploded in Sweden over the past years and there were quite a number of such stores in town.

Most were found in Stockholm’s SoFo district, located on Södermalm, near to where we were staying. A quick check on google map helped mapped out some of the closest stores.  One of the store my son wanted to go to was the Emmaus, located at Peter Myndes Backe 8. We actually walked past it on the day we went to Monteliusvägen but it was closed in the early morning.

We walked from our apartment in Södermalm to Emmaus.  It was still closed so we went to Katarinahissen (or Katarina Elevator) first. The views of Stockholm city from the top of Katarinahissen’s tower was supposed to be good. There is also a posh restaurant called the Gondolen at the top.

Katarinahissen.


Katarinahissen was built to help connect the lower streets of Slussen to the heights of Södermalm. The original lift construction dates back to 1881 and some renovation was done to maintain it. However, the lift had ceased operation for some time already. To access the top of the lift, we had to walk up the stairs by the side.

Once at the top, there were several information signboards explaining the history of various locks that were built in this part of Stockholm over the years. They were quite interesting to read and I especially like the pictures depicting how it was like in the old days at this part of Stockholm.

 

 
Panoramic view of Slussen and the bridges linking Sodemalm to Gamla Stan. Photo taken from the walkway to the Katarinahissen lift.



View of Katarinavägen. Walking this way down Katarinavägen will lead to some nice viewpoints as well at the end of this road.




It was much colder at the top of the lift due to the wind that was blowing on this day. The lift was not in operation for the longest time but the lobby served as a good “warm” shelter from the wind.

We went back to Emmaus when it finally opened. Emmaus has two stores, located right next to each other. The one on the left was bigger and sold all sorts of second-hand stuff like clothes, books, textiles, kitchenware and household display items (which could be good souvenirs). To my surprise, there were even ladies undergarments on the rack!

The store on the right is actually down in the basement. The stairs leading down was decorated with flowers on the ceiling. Quite cool.





The youngsters were particularly interested in those “one of a kind” T-shirts.


The youngsters in our group were happy with their purchases!


We walked down Sankt Paulsgatan to check out a few more thrift and second-hand shops in the vicinity.





Sculpture at a park in Mariatorget.


We stopped for hot drinks and snacks in the cafe next to the Mariatorget park. A good snack to try in Sweden is the semla, a local speciality.

I liked it that most cafes and restaurants in Stockholm had lit candles on the tables during winter.  Nice!


Semla is a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off, and is then filled with a mix of milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Swedes traditionally eat them for lent in February.  Semlor (plural for semla) are now eaten on a daily basis by semlor addicts in Sweden from Christmas until Easter.

It was really a day of random wandering along Sankt Paulsgatan and later Hornsgatan, towards Hornstull. On hindsight, we were crazy to go street shopping in the cold winter’s day.