{"id":364,"date":"2011-08-25T00:26:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T00:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrnystyleandtravel.com\/?p=364"},"modified":"2017-05-01T12:21:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T16:21:19","slug":"a-grand-life-stockholms-grand-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/?p=364","title":{"rendered":"A Grand Life: Stockholm\u2019s Grand Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"grand_hotel\"<\/a><\/div>\n
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For many people who visit Stockholm, there\u2019s only the Grand. Madonna, for example. Or Greta Garbo who holed up here, taking her meals in privacy. Charlie Chaplin hosted Ingmar Bergman in his suite. Princess Grace and Prince Rainier arrived with great fanfare. Sarah Bernhardt was welcomed, with her 22-person entourage. And every year, since 1901, the Nobel Laureates are in residence.<\/p>\n

Long considered the flagship hotel of Northern Europe,\u00a0the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0opened in 1874 with the King of Sweden on hand to inspect the premises. Built by a Frenchman, Regis Cadier, a former chef to the Russian ambassador, the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0has, for more than a century, exemplified Cadier\u2019s motto to “always treat the customer as if he were a king.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

From the moment of arrival at the massive baldachin entrance, doormen and porters are immediately present to insure a gracious introduction to the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u2019s many pleasures. A bastion of Old World charms and decorum, the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u2019s lobby, with its royal blue and butter yellow color scheme and its double marble staircase, is a feast for the eyes – and almost immediately, a guest is transported to an age where proper dress and protocol are inherently understood to be a sign of a society\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n

Now celebrating more than 125 years of impeccable service and refined hospitality, the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0has been recently renovated to meet the needs of today\u2019s discerning clientele – wireless is available throughout the hotel, as is 24-hour room service, and nearly every television and movie channel – and yet the hotel retains its Belle Epoque elegance at every turn.<\/p>\n

Wander down the wide and quiet hallways and into the public areas, and if you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019ll glimpse the Spegelsalen, the “Hall of Mirrors,” inspired by the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles, where the Nobel banquet was held every year from 1901 through 1929.<\/p>\n

\"(Source:<\/a>

(Source: Grand Hotel Stockholm)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Cadier Bar was named one of the world\u2019s top four bars, according to Newsweek – and Mathias Dahlgren\u2019s Michelin-starred and award-winning restaurants, Matsalen (Dining Room) and Matbaren (Food Bar) are located in what was once the Bolinder Palace, which was acquired by the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0in 1889 to house Cadier in a 13-room apartment.<\/p>\n

Currently, one of the more impressive accommodations is the Princess Lilian Suite, an Art Deco aerie atop the hotel, complete with library, sauna, grand piano, a dining table seating twelve – as well as a sumptuous 12-person screening room that evokes the setting of films such as “The Way We Were.”<\/p>\n

Raison d\u2019Etre<\/a>, the in-house Nordic-Roman spa, is a sanctum sanctorum created by the Leading Spas of the World spa group, which has worked with Four Seasons and Aman Resorts. As a homage to the first Swedish bathing house (founded in 1269), the scent of birch pervades the spa, which highlights Nordic bathing rituals, including sauna, cold water bucket showers, steam, and cold water plunge pools, as well as a luxuriously heated lap pool and whirlpool. The sense of well-being and calm is as therapeutic as the waters – and complemented by a comely and efficient staff that stocks the spa with lingonberry smoothies and ginger teas.<\/p>\n

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The in-house Nordic-Roman spa is a sanctum sanctorum. (Source: Grand Hotel Stockholm)<\/p><\/div>\n

The recent kitchen renovation included the world\u2019s largest stove, weighing in at more than 4,000 pounds, a fact that becomes more understandable when confronting the breakfast smorgasbord on the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u2019s historic Veranda. Originally, the hotel\u2019s verandas were built annually as a rite of spring and a harbinger of summer – and it was here on the Veranda that Garbo (before she became a hotel hermit) would take her meals.<\/p>\n

If you are so lucky to be in residence at the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>, breakfast on the Veranda is one of the most appealing experiences the hotel offers. The sumptuous buffet encompasses an entire ancillary room off the Veranda and is the equivalent to entering the most well-stocked larder in all of Stockholm. Nearly everything your palate desires is available, including roasted vegetables and pickled beets, herring and gravlax, passion fruit and melon, brownies and crepes, pastries and tortes, cheeses and meats – and everything so beautifully prepared as to merit a photographic spread in a gourmet magazine.<\/p>\n

To eat breakfast at the Veranda at an early hour, while gazing at the Royal Palace across the Norrstr\u00f6m is to understand completely the hotel guest who remarked, “As far as I can see, the only difference between me and the King is that he lives on one side of the water – and I on the other.”<\/p>\n

Surely, this is a sentiment that has been well understood by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, the Emperor of Brazil, Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as Japanese dignitaries, European magnates, Russian aristocrats on the run from the Revolution, and just about every other luminary who has claimed the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0as home, however temporary.<\/p>\n

And to be housed in one of the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u2019s waterfront rooms, with a balcony overlooking the river, is to realize that you might have been ruined for any other style of life hereafter. Rooms at the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0are decorated in a classic contemporary Swedish style that evokes Fifties Paris and the celebrated interiors of designer Dorothy Draper.<\/p>\n

Bathrooms are capacious, with walk-in rain shower and separate full-size bathtub. As for the staff who attend to these accommodations, they are as discreet and thorough as Santa\u2019s elves, insuring that every detail for your comfort is considered – from in-house chocolates on the night table to slippers and turn-down service. Fresh bath linens appear magically and every surface is immaculate.<\/p>\n

In short, a stay at the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u00a0Stockholm puts you in the company of Albert Einstein, Gary Cooper, and Marlene Dietrich – and when was the last time you walked such hallowed halls?<\/p>\n

Cross this legendary threshold and make yourself a part of the\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a>\u2019s illustrious history.<\/p>\n

LINK:<\/strong>\u00a0Grand Hotel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many people who visit Stockholm, there\u2019s only the Grand. Madonna, for example. Or Greta Garbo who holed up here, taking her meals in privacy. Charlie Chaplin hosted Ingmar Bergman in his suite. Princess Grace and Prince Rainier arrived with … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[430,113,65,25],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hotels","tag-grand-hotel-stockholm","tag-hotel","tag-stockholms-grand-hotel","tag-sweden"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/grand_hotel.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31sdB-5S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11405,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/11405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}