After the flight and long bus ride we finally made it into Stockholm central station. Eventually after sorting out money and our Stockholm card we got to our accommodation which was on a boat. All 4 of us shared a room, and it was tiny. It barely fitted the 4 bunks and there was just enough room for two people to move at a time, but it was clean and was fine as it was just a place to sleep.
After sorting out bedding etc, we made our way into Gamla Stan (the Old Town) for
somelunch. We found a homely cafe and had some good food - a nice large chai latte and my pasta salad was amazing (full of olives, gherkins, sun dried tomatoes, grilled caps etc on top of the pasta). Once we had filled up, we went to check out the sights. We walked along cobbled streets with colourful buildings and saw the royal palace.
From there we headed into the main part of Stockholm where there was some event on with snowboarders and lots of prizes being handed out. Soon it was time to find a place for dinner and we headed back into Gamla Stan where we had previously seen lots of restaurants and found one which was serving elk meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberrys (traditional Swedish food). Which three of us had and was yummy.
As it was the day the RWC semis were being played (All Blacks vs France), we found an Irish pub to watch the game, to our horror and disappointment, as the All Blacks lost. Even I was upset and this is someone who's never been a big fan of rugby!
Next day we headed to the Vasa museum which is a museum containing a salvaged warship (The Vasa) from the 1600s which had been built for the king but sank because it was top heavy. It was retrieved in the 1960s and has been restored and located within the museum. It was a beautiful ship with lots of carvings. There was also a display showing the remains of some of the survivors and it appeared that there were alot of malnutrition and dental problems in those days.
After that we headed back to Gamla Stan to go through the royal palace, unfortunately there was a function on, and most of the royal apartments were closed. When we arrived we saw the changing of the guard ceremony.
We went through the Treasury and initially started with a guide but found that she wasn't great so we left the guide and went through the rest of the Treasury on our own - which wasn't that big and to be honest a little disappointing. We saw some of the royal apartments which were open and these were also a bit disappointing as they don't appear to have been maintained very well.
Anyway, following that we had tea and cake in a cafe (yum, more food :-). As Andrew & I had our Stockholm card, we were entitled to a free boat cruise, so we decided to check it out. The cruise left from the mainland and went around Djurgarden island (which is where the Vasa museum and Skansen are). It was a nice cruise and we got to see parts of Stockholm we wouldn't have seen otherwise, along with a commentary. We then joined back up with Kirsty and Dan for dinner in a nice Italian restaurant before they had to catch their flight home.
As it was now just the two of us, we had to check into another room. This time the room was on the boat next door. It was bigger than the room we had previously even though it only had 2 beds in it! There was a couch and a wardrobe too. Unfortunately the facilities on this boat weren't as clean as the last one, but we made do. Below is the view from our room.
After an early night with lots of sleep, we awoke to a brilliant sunny day. We got breakfast on the run and stored our bags at the bus station before going up the Katarina lift which had some nice views of the city. Then we checked out the Skansen museum which is a large open air museum with buildings from several parts of Stockholm over a range of years, which was interesting. There were some very quaint buildings. We also saw some wolves, a large elk, bears and lots of squirrels running around.
Then it was time to get back on the bus and head to the airport for our flight home.
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