Stockholm - Chocolate Rain

Not to be confused with Purple Rain ... but the feeling was similarly extatic!

Getting up at 08:00 is about as early as is decent when one is traveling ... the Swiss princesses come in late so quietness has to be considered and also a time not so early as to disturb ... it always seems to take till around ten to get out and start the days exploration.

1. Go to neighbourhood postal outlet in Tobak store ... woman immensely helpful ... green fleece left for homeless person ... would have cost 350SEK to send ... that's $60 .... other stuff I sent went as letters.


2. The Vasa Museet ... a huge ship... ornate as all get out ... two years to build ... wood from all the Baltic states and Holland ... over sixty cannons ... to impress the multitudes ... Gustav orders the ship ...not their for maiden voyage ... the first time out of the docks and in 50 min the whole thing sinks ... whole story with dates and details at <//www.uh.edu/engines/epi873.htm> .... cannons rescued using diving bell developed by Albrecht von Treileben.

See Diving BellChronology <http://library.thinkquest.org/28170/221.html>

3. Literally ran to the Palace to be in time for the 2:00 guided tour of the Royal Apartments ... should have stayed at the Vasa! No pictures allowed. Apartments still used for official functions four five times a year. Furniture for these occasions stored behind the doors of the rooms on display. Rooms as seen by the guided tour groups are quite sparse. The tapestries hang on the wall; the paintings are all there and a few chairs and cabinets are displayed. No real treasures. Some amber, crystal and ivory but these were not mentioned by the guide. Someone from Bulgaria at the hoste/hotel said it was a great tour ... I've been to Casa Loma ...OK?

4. Thought of returning to the Vasa since it was open till five but in my wander to the bus stop happened upon the Nobel Museet ....so..... decided in there and spent a nice two hours out of the pissing cold rain, with a nice coffee and bun and all kinds of new info to fill my head about Nobel, Galileo, prize winners and impressive display methods.
Dec10 is the day Nobel died ... the prize giving is a really huge deal here ... there can be only a maximum of 18 winners ...this year there are 13 ... only the Peace Prize is presented in Oslo ... the rest are all presented in Stockholm.

5.By five I wandered around Gamla Stan -The Old Town- took wet, glossy pics of lit streets.... and grabbed the 53 to go to the ChocolateFabriken. Ate Pad Thai ... nice presentation... good taste .. noodles a bit undercooked...in the restaurant beside the Postal Outlet and then made my way to the chocolate workshop.
As per usual the right time but the wrong place ... the shop sent me to their other location by taxi ...they paid... once in the right place the fun began. Did not give one thought to the fact that I had no idea what part of the city I was in ... just had the best time ever with three other great ladies ... a daycare teacher, a lawyer and an economist. Marcus, the choclatier was fantastic ... after four hours we had our pralines wrapped, had eaten enough chocolate for a week and all went home happy. The ladies helped me find the Tunnelban. It had stopped raining. My feet were happy to hit the bed.


... it was a busy day .... could stay another week here...sadly have to leave on the Viking Ferry for Helsinki on the 6th at 16:30 so that I can take the train to St. Petersburg on the 7th at 07:35 ...that's the day the visa goes into effect and that's when my stay at the apartment begins.

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