Despite all the big booboos we encountered coming here, Stockholm remains my favorite of all cities this trip.
Our tour guide Nicklaus greets us this morning by giving us a brief introduction of Sweden. It is the country of the midnight sun (there are times when the nights are as bright as day), it is the 3rd biggest country in Europe, it has a population of about 10 million people, etc. etc. etc…
He also mentions something about not asking Swedish people where their mushrooms are. Apparently, fungi are very big things in Sweden. Swedish families go on mushroom-picking trips every year and it is a big deal for them to keep their favorite hunting spots top secret. If they tell you, they’d have to kill you. So remember, do NOT ask.
I wish our guide took us mushroom-hunting this morning. It would have been swell to feast on chanterelles for brunch.
Instead, he takes us to Stockholm City Hall. Yawn.
Where's your mushrooms, Nicklaus? Where???
In fairness, Stockholm City Hall is a sight to behold. Built using eight million bricks and adorned with statues and decorated balconies, it makes me feel like I’m inside a
medieval Venetian castle
One of the many rooms
The Rådssalen or the Council Chamber is where Stockholm’s municipal council meet
Erwin and Frances at the entrance to the Golden Room
The Golden Room or “Gyllene salen” is…. well, very gold. This is where the Nobel Prize winners, royalty and guests dance after the Nobel Banquet at the Blue Hall.
18 million gold mosaic tiles decorate the Golden Room, depicting scenes from
Swedish history
This is national romanticism in architecture
And this is Felisse feeling romantic
At the start of the tour, everyone is given a City Hall sticker pass. At the end of the tour,
everyone sticks the used passes on this board.
Stockholm Waterfront Building
Statue of Charles XIV John, former king of Sweden, in front of the Royal Palace
Beautiful art nouveau buildings
Our next stop is the Vasa Ship Museum
The Vasa is a Swedish warship built in 1626. The 69-meter ship is a thing of extreme beauty, my jaw drops at my very first sight of it. Unfortunately, beauty is all there is to the ship. Vasa was built top-heavy and had insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, King Gustavus Adolphus allowed her to set sail in August 1628 as he was impatient to see her join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years' War. He also gave instructions to load 100 more canons than the ship can take, and so less than a nautical mile into her maiden voyage, the beautiful Vasa foundered at her first encounter with a wind stronger than a breeze. It’s tragic.
Poor, beautiful Vasa
Like most warships at the time, Vasa was heavily decorated with sculptures intended to glorify the monarch and taunt the enemy. The 500-something sculptures carved out
of oak, pine and linden added considerably to Vasa’s weight, thereby hampering its maneuverability.
A 1:10 scale model of the Vasa Ship
The bold and vivid colors on the model is believed to be the original colors
the entire ornamentation was painted in
The aunties pose in front of modern replicas of some of the sculptures
Frances and Felisse time-travels to Sweden in 1628
Lunch is at Trattoria Romana, the restaurant that didn’t want to
serve us food yesterday. Hmp.
Ham and avocado salad with what feels like a whole jar of mayonnaise. Eeew!!!
A very tough piece of steak
Fish for the non-beef eaters
Tiramisu
IKEA, my favorite!
After lunch we travel about 70km north of Stockholm to Uppsala, the ecclesiastical center of Sweden. That is our tour bus with free wifi connection (iloveit!!!), and towering over it is Gustavianum, the former main building of Uppsala University
The Uppsala Cathedral is the tallest church in all of Scandinavia. It is so tall you can see it from almost all parts of town. And it is so tall that taking a photo of the façade requires a lot of strenuous kneeling, squatting and back-bending. Ouch.
The construction of the cathedral began in 1287 and took a more than a century to complete
Felisse and I light candles and say our secret prayers
Tomb of King Gustav Vasa
Creepy statues on display
We are given some free time to walk around the city center and experience Uppsala. Here are some of the sights I love:
I couldn’t resist going in the convenience store and a trying out this mixed berries
smoothie (leftmost) that is oh so good!
Then Stephanie buys ice cream for everyone because today is her special day.
Happy birthday, Stephanie! May it be your birthday everyday! Hehehe.
Uppsala Botanical Gardens
Ruins
Uppsala Cathedral behind me, and a canon pointing at me. Yikes.
And we’re back in Stockholm, and back to Trattoria Romana for dinner
Bruschetta a la Romana is as fresh and delicious as it looks
Poached salmon is disastrously overcooked
Aside from the set dinner arranged for us, we order an additional plate of cannelloni with ricotta, mushrooms and truffle. There is no taste of truffle but the richness and creaminess just hits the spot.
Vanilla and strawberry ice cream
After dinner, we refuse to go back to the hotel with the rest of the tour group. We stay on and explore the streets of Gamla Stan on our own.
I explore Lisa’s
I zoom in
I zoom in more. Drools.
There are so many shops and nice buildings
And rows and rows of restaurants
And more restaurants. Why do we have to eat in Trattoria Romana three times
during our 2-day stay in Stockholm. WHY?!?!?!!!!
The famous children’s book and TV series character Pippi Longstocking is born in Sweden
More Pippi stuff
I swear, they are Viking hat whores!
Sundbergs Konditori, the oldest confectionary in Stockholm
Café at the corner
Please! Do not close on me! Pleeeeaasssssseee!!!
Goodbye, pies. Sniff.
Florence imitating the statue (but overdoing it a little)
From Gamla stan, we walk to the city center and we pass by…
One of the fountains at the back of the Royal Palace
The National Museum
St. Jacob’s Church, popularly known as The Red Church
A building I can’t identify…
that has these beautiful wall lamps
And then we see this local burger fast food chain
Of course we just HAVE to go in and try
Grand deluxe burger with UMAMI dressing. Really, how can we resist?
The burger is rather ordinary, and the dressing isn’t THAT umami
But I love the cheesy fries with mushrooms and jalapenos
Ernest, Felisse, Erwin, Me, Frances
Vibson, Florence, Sarah, Stephanie
Nightlife and alfresco bars
Do you know that education is Sweden is free? Yes, all levels from kindergarten to university. Social welfare pays out 6,000-7,000/month to the unemployed. Medicare is free. Pregnant women get 480 days maternity leave. They can choose to share this with their husbands.
I love Stockholm. I want to live here forever.
