Stockholm - what a beautiful city

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This was our second time in this beautiful city. Having briefly spent just a day here several years ago, we were determined to see more of what Stockholm has to offer. Ogling at the amazing architecture, visiting the museums and riding the canal boats were but some of the activities we enjoyed. The hop on and hop off buses were very useful to get a good overview of the city especially as it is quite well spread out. Add the boats to the mix and transporting oneself around the attractions was easy-peasy.

The main highlights for me were the Vasa museum, the Fotografiska exhibitions and of course the Abba museum. It was hard to believe we spent four hours at the Vasa museum as the history of this ill-fated ship was so fascinating. The queue at the Vasa was quite reasonable although I would recommend buying tickets online to ensure a smooth entry. Even though there were many people there, it was so well laid out this was not noticeable. I would have appreciated better lighting although I think this is a deliberate choice to preserve this treasure for as long as possible.

After a quick stopover at the changing of the guards at the royal palace (where the band played Abba) we arrived at our designated entry time to the Abba museum. Again I was pleased to have purchased the tickets online - more time to spend revisiting the music, learning more about the stories behind the music and have fun singing along as the 5th member of the band. Great fun to have interactive activities to sing along with and an audio guide as a follow up from the well displayed exhibits. You can even retrieve your own efforts and download them for yourself later. Not sure if I should have inflicted that on my facebook friends but it is just all part of the fun.

The fotografiska exhibitions featuring Nick Brandt 's work was quite a contradiction when paired with an exhibit of Greta Garbo's life of beauty. Nick Brandt's images were very powerful and thought provoking about the destruction of the habitat for wildlife in Africa. Amazing photography. Amazing visit to Stockholm.

Next stop: Gotland

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