A Sensational Trip to Stockholm, Sweden
Ahh, finally some good weather for a trip! Stockholm was absolutely fantastic, one of our best trips yet! We highly recommend it and would love to go back if time and our budget allowed. It really felt like home to us, which is probably one of the reasons we loved it so much. On the bus ride from the airport to the hotel, the trees, plants and rocks looked just like the north shore in Minnesota! It made us more homesick than we already are, it was beautiful to see. The city was one of the cleanest we have seen thus far, very nice and refreshing! The Swedes are very environmentally conscience and it was apparent. There was very little rubbish around the city, very refreshing! Stockholm is built on 14 islands and the surrounding water is so clean you can safely swim right in city center (given the opportunity we would have!).
We stayed at the Rica Hotel Kungsgatan (a Swedish chain) which was centrally located in Stockholm's oldest market place, Hötorget. The hotel is located on the 5 uppermost floors of Stockholm's oldest warehouse dating from 1876. It is a short distance to the city's sight so public transport was not needed. The hotel was great--extremely nice compared to the last one in Amsterdam. The room was small but clean and looked exactly like the pictures on the website.
While Sweden is part of the European Union (EU) it has maintained its own currency called Kronor or SEK. Thus we had the opportunity to use another form of currency.
Most people speak Swedish and English so communicating was not a problem either since we know absolutely zero about the Swedish language. The people were friendly and it is a city we could even see ourselves living in if given an opportunity.
Friday, June 2
After getting settled in the hotel, we immediately needed to find some lunch. I was so hungry I ordered off the menu written in Swedish and got a sandwich with ham on it which I had to peel off--bummer! Parma means ham not parmesan cheese in Swedish fyi.
We walked around the "city" area of Stockholm first. There was some type of celebration going on in the Kungstradgarden or King's Garden, which is a popular place for Stockholmers to meet and hang out. Since the Stockholm marathon was the next day it was set up like the city of Duluth does for Grandma's marathon with tents, booths, food, drinks and music. Too crowded for us with a buggy...
Since the area of Gamla Stan or Old Town was also close by we spent a majority of our time there, walking by the Royal Palace, new and old Parliament buildings, and of course shopping. We got pictures of the Marten Trotzigs Grand or the narrowest street in the city, which is only 3 ft. wide, but it is quite the tourist attraction amazingly.
Saturday, June 3
Our mission on Saturday was to conquer the Royal Palace and all it had to offer. It was one of the highlights of our trip! The Royal Palace is the Official Residence of His Majesty the King of Sweden. The current king is King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife Queen Silvia. A significant proportion of the King and Queen's official entertainment functions take place in the large apartments, in between events it is open to the public--which thankfully it was when we visited. The Palace is the largest working palace in Europe today. All the rooms available to view were incredible! By far the best Palace we have been to thus far! The detail and design were incredible, sculptures coming out of the top of the walls, fresco paintings on the ceilings; we just wish we could have taken some pictures! Amazing!
There is also a Changing of the Guard ceremony at this Palace which we watched in full in the front row! There was a small rope seperating us and the guards. Women are allowed to be guards unlike in England. The ceremony was really something! Sophie watched intensly for an entire hour! The band plays while mounted and walking around on their horses also, which was cool to see. We videotaped almost the entire thing, it was so great to see up close!
Our admission to the Palace also included access to several other exhibitions. We visited the Tre Kronor Museum, which focused on medieval history. It was quite boring and we were only there for a short bit. Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities, one of the oldest museums in Europe holds two galleries of sculpture. We are not huge fans of sculpture, but this was a nice display. The Treasury was very cool! It is deep in the Palace vaults housing the most important symbols of the Swedish monarchy, the state regalia including crowns, septers, keys and swords used at royal weddings, christenings and funerals. The Royal Armoury was also an interesting exhibit of suits of armour and weapons, wedding and coronation robes and state carriages. There was also an area for kids to play and dress-up, giving Sophie some fun kid time as well.
In the afternoon we visited several churches. First was the Tyska Kyrkan, a German church which was of German Late Renaissance and Baroque style, gorgeous. The second church was the Storkyrkan. This cathedral is 700 years old and is of great national religious importance. It was built in Italian Baroque style and includes some beautiful art pieces, gorgeous royal pews for the royal family of course and an amazing organ which was playing while I was there. Lastly we walked by and briefly looked in the Riddarholmskyrkan, best known for its royal burials.
It was such a gorgeous day that we next walked to a public area to sit by the water and enjoy some down time with other Stockholmers....ahhh what a day!
Sunday, June 4
Stockholm has over 100 museums on every subject. We had time to only visit a few and Sunday was our day of museums. Our first visit was to the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art). They had some great pieces by some of our favorite artists including Picasso, Dali, Pollock, Braque, Klee and more! Next, we visited the National Museum. This museum was beautiful in itself! It houses some 16,000 paintings and sculptures! Really incredible! Highlights for us included a beautiful sculpture by Degas, pieces by Renoir, Monet, and Rembrandt, and of course too many others to name. Both museums were well worth the visit.
After lunch we visited the first floor of the Hallwylska Palaset or Hallwyl Palace. It was beautiful and the courtyard amazing. Sophie was too close to nap time and buggies were not allowed inside so this visit was a short one. This palace was built as a residence for immensely wealthy Count and Countess von Hallwyl. The little bit we saw did look unbelievable. Maybe our next visit...
Monday, June 5
Since our last day was a short one due to travel, we decided on a 2-hour boat cruise of Stockholm. This tour passed under 15 bridges and went through two locks. It was actually a bit disappointing, we wished we had chosen another tour instead. The weather was good and we all enjoyed ourselves, but it was not terrible informational. After the tour we found a Swedish restaurant recommended to us for their Swedish meatballs. Jeremy loved them! Sophie not so much, and of course I did not try them. Then some quick shopping on the way back to our hotel to pick up a few last items and still 10 minutes to spare before we caught our bus back to the airport. All in all a great trip! As the Swedes say--adjo!
posted by Chris @ 3:31 PM
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