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.
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