Advertisement
I had a lazy, but busy day today! Def took advantage of the noon check-out and got some good sleep compared to on the bus =)
I started my day back at the Royal Palace - very beautiful. I super hate when you pay to see something, and you’re not allowed to take photos though… bah. Normally I have my blackberry to get around that (… shhh haha), but it wouldn’t have helped here either because you’re not allowed cell phones either. Tsk.
Anyway, I walked through the Royal Apartments - the guest apartments for visiting Heads of State, the Bernadotte rooms (presentations and formal stuff), the banquet hall, ball room (most recently used at the princess’ wedding! ohhhh haha) and other rooms used for various state functions. I also went through another wing that would be the equivalent to Rideau Hall back in Canada - for award ceremonies and such. The designs are so intricate everywhere you go… you can’t help but wonder how much did all this cost, especially looking at the time it was built, and why on Earth do you need all this? Haha.
I understand wanting a big house and all, but the
Statue in the main entrance
... before the "no camera" ruleamount of paintings, tapestry, fine art, sculptures, ceiling murals, thrones, fancy chairs, gold design/statue things on virtually every ceiling corner… like, it’s insane! Beautiful, but insane.
I think my favourite room was actually the most current one - one that had been redecorated in honor of the current King’s silver jubilee. It was actually kind of Ikea-like haha, but fancier of course. But nice clean lines, beautiful colour palette, and just an easy-breezy feel to it.
After the apartments, I went down into the cellar vaults where they house the Treasury - again, no photos allowed. The regalia was stunning to see though - they had crowns, sceptres, orbs and swords of State from various monarchs… again the intricacy in all the details is unreal. The crowns were the best - sparkle, sparkle!
I grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to Globen for a view of the city. I went to get my ticket and apparently the next available time-slot they had was 2 hours later. Uh, thanks but no thanks. I headed back to the core and did the hop-on-hop-off boat tour. The breeze on the water felt oh so good - it was gross-hot
today… I’m actually stunned I didn’t burn haha.
After a loop on the boat, I headed off to the Vasa Museum - a huge war ship that sank on its maiden voyage (d’oh) in the mid-1600s and was only pulled from the water in the 1950s range. The boat is really something else - the back is entirely covered in sculptures, and of course there’s tons of room for cannons galore. Didn’t get amazing photos - the hall is dark to help maintain an ideal environment for the ship. Hm.
From the Vasa Museum, you could see the amusement park, Grona Lund Tivoli… and I could see one of their coasters… I couldn’t resist. I headed there next lol. I went on the aptly named “Insane” … holy shit. I don’t quite know what to compare it to, or how to explain it… essentially you’re suspended with your feet dangling - but it’s not “locked-in” so to speak, so when you drop, you spin forward/backward depending how you’re sitting, so you flip around as you go. (Ok, that was a horrible description, google it and you can see a video if you're interested lol). It was quite the
Always and forever, xo
I lit 3 candles in memory of everyone we've lost over the past couple years... we miss you, xo experience… although personally I prefer “normal” coasters - the speed and the drops.
(Sidenote: I came within a cm of losing my glasses on this one! When you drop and keep going, you drop straight down and are then lurched backwards while flipping… it’s a good thing I have quick reflexes… I‘m not sure why they let me keep my glasses on, ahem.)
The second coaster I went on was a “normal” one - it had mad braking issues though which severely hurt my neck/head because of height of the back-piece. Ow… I swear I almost got whiplash on that thing. I did a spinny-upside-down thing (like Shockwave at Wonderland) and then wrapped things up with Tilt - it’s Drop Zone, but at the very top your seat tilts forward so you’re staring at the ground as you plummet. So. Cool.
I was quite dead at this point (sun was boiling and my back’s been acting up), so I took the “historic tram” back to the core - it’s actually an old tram, they haven’t refurbished the inside so it’s quite neat. I headed back to the hostel to get my stuff, and then ventured off to
Stumpy Jesus..?
Why does Jesus have no legs? my next hostel.
Screw staying on a boat, I’m now staying on a plane!!
Yep, right near the airport they have gutted a jumbo-jet and refurbished it into a hostel. Very, very cool. Also, very useful since my fight’s early tomorrow morning =D
It’s been a blast Sweden… I’ll be back. But on to Latvia I go!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0337s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Joan O'Connell
non-member comment
What a trip
Hi Julie, I'm really enjoying following your adventures this summer. Highly entertaining, and informative. Stay safe! Joan