Sweden
I love Cafe String. It's a really cosy retro-cafe with huge windows made for people-watching. And all the things in there, furniture included, are for sale.
Cafe String, Nytorgsgatan 38, Stockholm.
Tel : (00 45) 8 714 8514.
www.cafestring.com
Serves, I believe, the best hot chocolate in Stockholm. It is in the middle of Gamla Stan on a main square, so also great for watching the world go by.
Stortorget 20
Great in the sun in Summer - Mosebacke in Södermalm where you can sit watching the city at your feet whilst partaking in the odd beer. This place also does live music.
Mosebacketorget 3
Created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, the Utter Inn is half art installation, half hotel. Essentially, it's a watertight box - just big enough to house two single beds - suspended beneath a small floating platform on Lake Malaren, off of Västerås, near Stockholm. Atop the platform is what looks like a garden shed housing a cooker, curtained off toilet and the hatch through which you enter the bedroom.
You pay around £50 for a night's stay, which includes lifts to and from the Utter Inn in Mikael's boat, a take-away dinner and picnic breakfast. We spent a great evening watching the sunset and drinking wine, entertained by a variety of passing boats, kayaks and seabirds.
In the bedroom, windows look out into the murky waters of the lake, so you can watch what perch and pike are getting up to beneath the surface. There's an inflatable kayak onboard the platform, so if you go stir crazy you can always try to paddle your way back to civilization. Mind you, when I tried, it seemed to have sprung a leak - I had barely gone 20 metres before I started sinking...
Enquire at Västerås Tourist Office, Stora Gatan 40, Västerås (email: info@vastmanland.se, vastmanland.se.
Search Been there