Day 9 - Stockholm again as tourists

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Today was the second day of heading into Stockholm on transit to be tourists. Today we took the bus from outside our house directly to our destination. Our first stop was the Skyview which is a glass ball that moves on a track up the side of the Ericsson Globe. The Ericsson Globe is one of four different arenas in Stockholm that are used for hockey, soccer, and concerts (and they are all 100m from each other). We were right beside the Tele2 Arena which is where we will go to see the soccer game next week. As it is a glass ball, the views in all directions are spectacular. Needless to say, I stayed on terra firma (as always this is Lori blogging). The rest of them enjoyed this bubble ride. Next up was a boat tour called "Under the Bridges of Stockholm". It took us from the main docks in Stockholm past the Palace, under a few bridges, through a lock system that separated the Baltic Sea from Lake Mälaren. Once on the lake, we passed Längsholmen beach and the vodka distillery (Absolute vodka - the tour guide talked about Absolut's inventor theorizing that it's the impurities in alcohol that give hangovers, not the ethanol. He was wrong). The whole boat tour was just over two hours and there was a commentary where we heard some new facts about the area. The lock was very cool (it allowed us to rise or fall the 1 metre difference between the lake and the Baltic Sea). We missed the 1:00 boat tour and ended up on the 2:00 tour so by the time we got back, the other things I had planned to do had closed. So, back on the metro/bus to chill for the evening. The last picture below shows an example of how at the World Fair in 1930, Sweden introduced Functionalism which was a new form of design that was founded on Light, Function and Space. After this, in certain areas of Stockholm which had become overcrowded and run down, buildings were torn down and rebuilt in this style which remains today.

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Photos

Skyview
Going up the side of the Ericsson Dome

Functionalism
A typical example of Swedish urban living