Norrmalm and Ostermalm

North of Old Town Stockholm are the impressive avenues of downtown Stockholm in the Norrmalm and Ostermalm neighborhoods. The streets here are lined with grand buildings that showcase just how wealthy this empire once was. Walking these neighborhoods we found plenty of impressive old merchants' homes, parks, shopping streets and, of course, lots of overpriced name-brand shops. To give us a better taste of the ostentatious history of this district we visited the mansion museum known as the Hallwyl Museum. Central Stockholm surprised and impressed us -- it was more than we expected!