Last Day in Stockholm

Here we are, relaxing after our last Swedish dinner at a restaurant in Gamla Stan. The week was certainly a memorable one as we learned all kinds of things dealing with Swedish History and the Swedish culture.

We nearly walked our feet off today touring Skansen, a 75 acre outdoor open air museum, the first in the world of its kind.  It was the brainchild of the same man who built the Nordic museum and has been in existence since the late 1800's. The old town not only featured houses that were authentic from days past, but it was also a living history museum, with people dressed in period clothes assuming the personalities of people from past days.  Marty and I had quite a laugh from some of the antics of these characters, one of whom was the "Doctor" who claimed to have some pills in his doctor bag that would be of great benefit to me, and to Marty as well!

There was just so much to see and we spent at least 4 hours walking through the various displays that are beautifully presented.  It was certainly a fun experience for us. Marty's favorite part was the matchstick museum.  Go figure.

We began the day at the Vasamuseet.  This was a fascinating museum that involves a warship that was built by Gustav II back in the early 1600's.  The maiden voyage of the boat lasted 20 minutes before the sail got caught in a gust of wind, resulting in the boat  leaning to one side, water filling into the cannon wells, and the ship sinking in a manner of 15 minutes.  The vessel sat in the mud until the mid 1900's until the Swedes decided to make the effort to rescue it, move it to a museum building, and restore it to its original glory.  It contains 98% of the original materials.  It is certainly awesome to walk into this building and see a huge Viking ship in tact in the middle of the room.

The history behind the ship involved Gustav II and his cousin, who was the king of Poland at the time.  Poland and Sweden were at war at the time, and Gustav insisted that he needed to have a larger,  more impressive ship than Poland would have ever seen, in his fleet of ships.  The king was so worried about making a "bigger, more impressive" ship that he never took the time to look at the structural logistics of the ship.  So, as a result, he had this fabulous looking ship that ended up sinking in short time on its maiden voyage. So, the king was denied of his bragging rights without ever even setting eyes on the vessel, as he had been off the shores of Poland, awaiting the arrival of his brainchild, when the maiden voyage took place. Obviously Gustav was not happy with the end result, but the good news is that no one was punished for the mishap because the man at fault for the demise of the Vasa was Gustav himself, and you know well enough that he was not going to incarcerate himself for his own stupidity!

Well, the Stockholm adventure is drawing to a close.  Tomorrow night Marty and I should be, once again, hanging with the dogs. I hoped that you enjoyed our adventures!  I know that I did.

The Wonders of Gamla Stan

Yesterday's tour of the Royal Palace on the island of Gamla Stan was wonderful! English descriptions were on every placard, side by side ,with the Swedish, making the whole experience much easier. I toured the Royal Apartments as well as the Kronor Museum as well as Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities.

What is fascinating about the museum is that it has been in existence and open to the public since 1790.  I found it amazing that the King had these artifacts on display for the public to view since that time.
I also toured the Palace Treasury, where crowns and Royal items are displayed behind glass.  No photos were permitted, so I cannot share the beauty of these items, some dating back to the late 1400's.  One of my favorite displays held 4 crowns, each one ornate but similarly decorated. There were two large crowns for the King and Queen, and two smaller crowns for the prince and princess.  Very cute.

One of the highlights of the Palace is watching the changing of the guard everyday at noon.  The Royal band heads out of the Armee Museum in Normalm and processes down the streets across the bridge to the palace.  Everyone squeezes into the square, behind barriers to watch the event.  I managed to peek through some heads to view some of the festivities, but it was difficult to get the full effect with so many tall bodies in front of me.

During the event, a man described what is happening in several different languages, and he announced that the band would be performing.  "The music is what it is", he said.  For the most part, the music had a strong marching beat.  At one point, however, I was surprised to hear the band play, "Nine to Five", the old Dolly Parton hit from years ago.  I still can't figure out how that fits into Swedish culture.  I actually laughed out loud when they began to play, and waited for a twist in the music, thinking it was something similar to another song.  But, nope! My ears were not being deceived.  I kept the chuckles to a minimum when I noticed that I was the only one who seemed to think this performance was amusing.

Gamla Stan is a breathtakingly beautiful island, with cobblestone streets and tall building preserved from the 17th century, giving the observer the idea of what the area looked liked during the Middle Ages. Marty and I actually walked over there three nights for dinner.  We have tasted some excellent Swedish Meatballs and Swedish Hash. Today's blog photo features Marty enjoying a pork tenderloin on the outside terrace.

Today I'll have Marty along with me, since his work week is over.  Today's adventure will include Skansen, an open air museum, and the Vasa, a museum that involves a ship that sunk in the late 1600's.

Photo upload has been painstakingly slow, but you can scroll down to the bottom of the blog and look through what managed to get online.

Taking in the sights of Ostermalm & Djurgarden

With coins in my pocket and an umbrella in my purse, I headed out on a lovely excursion by foot through the area of Ostermalm.  The buildings are in Renaissance splendor; the streets are lined with lime trees.  Truly a lovely stroll, particularly with the beautiful weather that I as blessed with.  I was amused by the large boat that boasts a "Hop On....Hop Off" sign on its side.  It seemed to me that once on that boat and cruising across the water, it would not be in anyone's best interest to decide to hop off!
After venturing through the town I decided to head over to Djurgarden and tour the Nordiska Museet, the museum of Sweden's history.  I find the place to be fascinating and was not sorry that I made the extra effort to walk over.

I was fascinated by the dollhouses, which were actually what we call curios.  They did not look like "houses" at all, but they were set up to have rooms and floors just like our dollhouses.  The details were amazing and I probably took way too many photos, but each one brought a smile to my face when I thought about the entertainment that it must have offered so many years ago.

The museum offered so many delightful displays from various subject matters as toys, fashions, bathing suits, dinnerware, traditions, furniture, housing, and more.  They were uniquely presented and the experience was not only informative but also entertaining.  Many of the displays were behind glass to protect the items from light, but there was obvious some sort of light shining on many of the displays because I had a difficult time taking photos with my no-flash setting. But I think that I managed to capture most of the subject matter fairly well.

When I got back to the room, my feet were hurting, but I'm all recovered today and ready to head off to Gamla Stan to hopefully tour the Royal Palace and the beautiful streets of that island.  The weather is looking grand and I'm looking forward to the adventure.  The tourists are in full force, so I've been priming my elbows for my hike over to the island!  One thing that I've learned here, other than in Great Britain, people do not know how to queue and they will take up the entire walkway, headed towards you, sometimes 6 bodies astride, no one making the move for you to get through.  Annoying, I must admit, but there is enough entertainment around for me to take this in stride.

Surprises in Norrmalm

Just within a few blocks of the Nordic Light Hotel there is this lovely Lutheran Church, St. Clara's, hidden among the tall buildings of the city.  I spied the large steeple and ventured into the courtyard to take a peek. It's not mentioned in any of the tour information, and there isn't even a notation of a church on the map, so I was certainly surprised to stumble upon this gem.

As I was attempting to decipher the Swedish information in the doorway, this young man came out and began to speak in Swedish.  When he realized that I spoke English, he mentioned that there would be a free performance at noon in the church.  There were only a handful of people in attendance but these two musicians played beautifully together.  I was surprised that no one applauded until the very end of the performance. The one thing that I have learned as the foreigner who does not speak or know the language is to wait and watch what the locals do.  I went up to the young man after his performance and thanked him for having invited me, and mentioned that in the United States we applaud after every piece, not just at the end.  He said that is not typical for Sweden, particularly since this was in a church, but he thought that it was a fabulous idea and one that he would certainly enjoy himself.

When I exited the church, I was surprised to see that the beautiful blue sky had clouded up and rain was falling.  I was not prepared for rain, so back to the room I hiked to change  my shoes, don my raincoat, and grab an umbrella.  By the time I was outside again, the wind was whipping up and the rain was falling steadily.  I headed out with my tour book, determined to follow the suggested Tour of Norrmalm listed and found it increasingly difficult to follow the pages with the rain downpouring.

Again, I was surprised to hear thunder creeping up on the city, and there I was, walking along puddled roads once again, convinced that the weather must have hidden in my suitcase and followed me from Edinburgh.  Lightning began to flash along with the thunder and I wondered just how long I was going to be able to continue before I became drenched!

I ducked into the Dansmuseet, which is the Museum of Dance in Stockholm, located near the beautiful Opera House.  I had hoped to tour the Opera house, but since everything was written in Swedish, I was not able to determine just where the entrance to the tour would have been.  But the museum was free and I enjoyed the shelter from the storm as I looked at some of the unique and interesting displays.

Since the clouds were getting blacker, the thunder continuing to boom, I decided that it would be wise to return to the room. Once again, I found myself blow drying my shoes which were totally soaked, along with the bottom of my pants.  And you can just forget that "Good Hair Day" shampoo treatment that my day began with!  And, I do have to admit that the mood lights were not very effective in improving my mental state at that point.

But the blue skies broke through again in the early evening, and when Marty returned we walked to a restaurant in Gamla Stan where we enjoyed a tasty Swedish meal and an evening stroll through the lovely surrounds of that island.

Oh, and one more surprise worth mentioning.  When I found an information center, I asked if the woman could direct me to a bathroom, which she did by telling me to follow the blue arrows. (Kind of like 'follow the yellow brick road').  What she did not mention is that one needs to pay to enter the bathroom, which I am certainly not opposed to, but considering that I had no Swedish Kronas on my body, and I was relatively certain that the attendant was not going to take my credit card, I had to hike the 10 blocks back to my hotel which was a bit of a challenge considering the circumstances.  Good thing those mood lights were in the lobby greeting me!

You can be assured that today I am armed with plenty of coins and my plans are to attempt to tour Ostermalm.  I'm hoping for only pleasant surprises.

The Nordic Lights

Can you tell that we are staying at the Nordic Light Hotel?  This photo doesn't do justice to the red glow that  greeted us as we walked into the room last night. The receptionist tried to get us to "upgrade" our room to one with Mood Lighting, a bathtub and a larger room, but we declined.  We certainly don't need our senses getting too overloaded!  Besides, you could stick two of the rooms from our last B&B into this one. And the shower is twice as large as well.  Plus we even got a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo called "A Good Hair Day" which seems to live up to its name. Or it could just be that the hotel blow dryer actually had power, unlike the last place!

The lobby is equally entertaining with tree trunk slabs for tables and interesting lighting displays along with what I presume one calls "mood music".  I believe that it is supposed to be calming.  Can't say for certain as there were several men at breakfast this morning who appeared to be in a bad "mood".

And, speaking of breakfast, you better believe that I'll be going to bed a bit hungry tonight so that I have room tomorrow to dig into the fabulous foods that they have presented so beautifully.

Now that I'm armed with a satisfied tummy, great hair and a happy mood, I'll be off to explore the city of Stockholm.  Better bring my umbrella.....grey clouds seem to be rolling in!

The Sun Shines down on Edinburgh

It's difficult deciding which of today's events is one worth highlighting. The most exciting part of the day was actually seeing the sunshine, and I am pleased to be able to feature a photo of Marty and myself actually squinting from the brightness of the sun. What a welcome relief not having to come back to our B&B and blow dry our shoes! We still have wet pants waiting to dry!

But back to the dilemma. Could it be the floral clock in the Princes Street Garden? Perhaps at another time, but today it featured a ladder strewn across it, definitely diminishing the impact that it could have made.

Was it the statue of William Pitt standing high in the middle of the intersection of Frederick and George Street, offering an awesome view of the Firth of Forth? Or could it be the yellow and black striped lights that stand in his vicinity which Marty is convinced was the precursor of the Steeler Nation?

Could it be the Georgian Era house that we toured that took us back to that time period? Fascinating, indeed, with excellent tour guides to show us life back in the late 1700's when Edinburgh's New Town was built?

I'd say that I'm leaning towards St. Cuthbert's church, sitting somewhat in the shadow of St. John's, but offering fine views of the castle from the grounds. Besides being the oldest church in all of Great Britain, it holds a memorial to John Neperi, the founder of logarithms. How great is that?

But the real 'pièce de résistance', according to the locals, is the fact that Agatha Christie was married to her second husband in the chapel of this church. We were exuberantly showed the copy of her marriage certificate by the curator of the church and the woman who was the chapel tour guide delighted in describing the details of the "exciting" event, as she put it. After all, not too many people have the opportunity to have the bragging rights to such a happy occasion occurring in the same place where they worship daily, you know!

To be quite honest with you, it wasn't these bits of history surrounding this church that made my day. It was this same effervescent woman, who obviously loved her role as tour guide. She described in detail the construction of this chapel which was a memorial to the 115 young men who were parishioners who lost their lives fighting in the Great War. The best line of the day was when she said, "Now I can't say for certain, because I was only born in 1920, but I have been told that the cost of just one letter inscribed on the wall would be one day's wages at the time." This spunky wealth of information who was bouncing around with such excitement describing the history of this church, and bragging about the notoriety of Agatha Christie, was born in 1920? You do the math. And this same woman admitted to us that she could thank John Neperi for many a nightmare in her days when she was studying Math. Truly amazing, and well worth the highlight of my day! Although Marty is probably still sticking to that Steeler Nation theory.

Edinburgh: What an Experience!

      This photo shows Marty and me, relaxing at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, after another crazy day of touring in the rain.  We began our day at Edinburgh University's Chapel of St. Albert for Sunday Mass.  The chapel is located on the second floor in a house (once occupied by Arthur Conan Doyle ) while a new Chapel is under construction behind this building. The music accompaniment was an accordian, played beautifully, and adding much charm to the whole experience. (Definitely a first for us!) When mass was over, Marty went to talk to the musician, and we found ourselves invited to coffee in the lower room where several of the parishioners were eager to talk with us.  What a great way to start off the day!

     We headed towards the Royal Mile and  Edinburgh Castle. We soon found ourselves in the former Castle School building, now the home of  the"Whiskey Experience."  Before you knew it, we were sitting in an oak barrel, traveling through the process of making whiskey which is, by the way, distilled twice. The tour was topped off by "tasting" the whiskey of one's choice. How appropriate to receive the lesson of making whiskey in an old school house!  

   We exited the tour and headed up to the castle when the rain really began to pour again.  The castle is a history lesson in itself, going back to the 800's.  There are some spectacular views from the grounds but, unfortunately, our photos are filled with rain clouds.

   After a full day of touring in the rain, Marty and I headed to the Balmoral Hotel for High tea.  We were just outside the door when a bus came by, hit a puddle, and soaked my legs and shoes completely through.  We walked in the door to the restaurant and the concierge took one look at me and insisted that I be escorted down to the "Spa" so that I could use a blow dryer to get my pants dry. I certainly had not expected such attention and would have been happy just to sit down in a warm room at that point, but I relented and soon found myself in a posh room holding a warm hair dryer to my pants. I joined Marty in the dining room for our meal, and we had a delectable High Tea, but not without several of the employees stopping by to be certain that I was "recovered" from my drenching.

   I asked if I would be able to take the scrumptious shortbread cookie that was left home with me in a bag, and I was assured that they would be happy to box it up for me.  I was handed this very cute box with a handle to carry my "cookie" home.  When we got back to the room and made ourselves some tea, imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found no less than four of the melt-in-your-mouth treats in the box. How's that for hospitality?  It may be horrid weather, but we are still having fun!

Don't forget to check out the newest flickr photos.

     

And Then came the RAIN!!

The day began with a bright blue sky and puffy clouds, seemingly perfect, particularly for Edinburgh where it rains most of the time.  Marty and I managed to climb to the top of Arthur's Seat...not an easy feat for someone existing on just 2 and a half hours of sleep! The views were spectacular, as predicted.
How lucky were we to manage to view these spectacular vistas?  Within an hour of our descending the trail,  we felt the raindrops so typical of this country.
Within the hour, drops changed to torrential rain, soaking us to the bone, despite being armed with appropriate rain gear.  We both spent some time blow drying our shoes when we got back to the B&B.
Despite the weather, the city is filled with people hoping to celebrate the festival of the Fringe!  Narrow sidewalks and umbrellas make it challenging to maneuver, but so far, everyone has been in quite an upbeat mood.
My favorite moment was in the pub ladies room last evening.  There was this charming older woman fretting about how wet she was.  I mentioned how comfy her woolen shawl looked, and she made a comment about the horrid weather.  I looked at her and said, "You could have traveled all the way from America for this."  And she said, in the cutest Scottish accent, "That's it!  I am NEVER complaining again!"  How cute!
Gotta run.
Check out the flickr photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrcrazy/sets/72157627250134323/