The Stockholm archipelago is full of islands dotting the Baltic Sea.  Many of which offer a wonderful day trip away from the city center.  Some allow you to escape completely into nature.  Others throw you into a flock of tourists enjoying the Swedish summer.  Vaxholm is that island.

A beautiful island full of classic Swedish summer homes, Vaxholm crawls with tourists during the summer months.  They come for the view.  The water.  The 16^th century fortress guarding the town on a tiny islet.

Unfortunately, it is for these very reasons, and the accessibility from Stockholm, that makes Vaxholm an expensive town to visit.  Luckily, public transportation can get you there on the cheap.  There are even boats running daily during the summer months for about 150 SEK roundtrip.

Once you’re there, the area allows for plenty of opportune picnic places.  So bring a lunch.  Sit on the beach and admire the view.  If you’re feeling adventurous, splurge on one of the killer ice cream concoctions that can be found at the various ice cream parlors along the dock.

Despite the expensive reputation, Vaxholm, Sweden can still be a great day trip away from Stockholm with a little bit of planning, public transportation, and a picnic.

I stayed at the Parc Hotel during the Cardiff stop of the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour. It’s a recenly renovated grand Victorian building, right in the middle of the city centre, literally a stone’s throw from M&S. I wasn’t disturbed at all by external noise during the night. It’s only a few minutes walk from the hotel to Cardiff Castle and the City Museum.

Exterior of Parc Hotel, Cardiff

Check in at reception was informal, I was partly mesmerised by the white branches on the glossy black background behind the receptionist.

Reception at the Parc Hotel, Cardiff

Room 215 was enormous, even having a raised setting area by the bay window. The style was minimalist. The room was very comfy with a lovely big bed. The bathroom was a fair size with a shower head over the bath. Breakfast was good overall but marred by a rubbery friend egg which had overstayed its welcome in the hot buffet.

My main criticism of the Parc Hotel is that you have to pay for wifi. In my opinion a hotel of this class should offer guests complimentary wifi. It’s a BT OpenZone so the wifi is excellent.

I found standard double rooms on the 30%off Summer Offer from £48 on a room only basis. If you’re looking for somewhere central and comfortable to stay in central Cardiff, you should check out the Parc Hotels.

Have you stayed at the Parc Hotel in Cardiff, how would you rate it?

Restaurant Review:

I had planned to walk around to find a restaurant for lunch during the Belfast leg of the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour. However it started raining and I was in the Victoria Square shopping centre where I’d noticed several restaurants so decided just to eat at one of them. I selected the Spanish Tapas restaurant, La Tasca. It turned out to be an excellent choice.

La Tasca, Victoria Square, Belfast

There are tables outside but I thought it was rather cool to sit there so plumped for the interior. I decided to go for the offer of 5 tapas for £10, available Sunday to Friday until 5pm, which was described as lunch for two. However based on previous experiences in tapas joints I thought it’d probably just be a decent lunch for one. I selected fried fish, meatballs, aubergines, vegetable paella and a salad. Everything was delicious and would have almost been enough to feed two (no, I didn’t scoff the lot).

Tapas at La Tasca, Victoria Square, Belfast

Overall I’d recommend La Tasca for a tasty, value for money lunch in pleasant surroundings. There are seventy La Tascas around the UK, although I’d never been to onc before. They do various promotions currently including 50% off food bills vouchers and Tapas for a Tenner Sunday to Tuesday 5pm to 9pm.

I loved the water feature, which I’d probably call a pavement fountain, at Custom House Square in Belfast. The water feature was just around the corner from the Malmaison Hotel where I was staying during the Belfast leg of the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour.

The 84 water jets are powered by the River Farsett which flows beneath the ground. The jets vary in height and intensity and it’s a favourite game to dare your mates to run between the jets without getting soaked.

Water feature, Custon House Square, Belfast

Custom House Square was revamped in 2005 an outdoor events venue. The Albert Clock sits at one end of the square and it’s a short walk to the River Laggan.

Estonia is full of cute surprises and in my (perhaps) favourite Estonian town, Tartu, there’s a great one: the Tartu Art Museum which is housed in a really crooked building!

It’s right in the centre of Tartu near the town hall, and although I don’t actually know why the building has ended up on such a lean, it’s obviously considered safe enough because it was freshly renovated back in 1988 for the museum to move in to from another location. Apparently the locals call it the Leaning House and of course it gets likened to Pisa pretty often. But it’s one step more interesting than Pisa because, apart from not being crowded out with tourists, you get to experience the leaning building as well as a collection of thousands of pieces of (mostly) Estonian art.

If you visit this leaning art museum make sure to avoid its closed days (Mondays and Tuesdays); other than that it’s open from 11am to 8pm and costs 35 Kroons (just over 2 Euros).

When you’re in Tartu why not visit one of my other favourite attractions there, The Students Lock-Up at the University.