Sunny and wet

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Geo: 59.3328, 18.0645

Costa drove us into town this morning. The roads were very quiet, as it is a public holiday here, Midsummers Eve is tonight. It is the longest day of the year and it is a big celebration for the Swedes. We got dropped off at the Town Hall. Half of the group were going on a tour of the Town Hall for an hour, the rest of us had a brief guided tour of the city with Fred who has spent his childhood in Stockholm during summer.

Stockholm is made up of many islands. We walked along the water and he pointed out places worth visiting. I then went to the Info Centre to get a decent map of the city. The ones Topdeck give us are crap and made to get us lost. Then walked back to the bus and met the rest of the group. We drove to the Vasa Musuem where we were all dropped off. I spent the day sightseeing with Jen and Anita. First we went into the Vasa Musuem, which has a huge war ship that sank soon after leaving port. It sank in 1628 and was recovered in 1961. It was too heavy. The ship was decorated with many carvings.

We then walked to the Old Town, known as Gamla Stan. As soon as we left the museum it started to pour down rain on us! Earlier on it had been sunny. We were drenched, so we took shelter in a Shell petrol station. Once it stopped we continued walking. Walked past the Palace, where we saw the end of the changing of the guards. Walked along the many cobbled streets in the old town. There were many cafes and souvenirs stores.

Feeling a bit tired after our lunch, we decided to go on a cruise around the city. The cruise went for 2 hours. I was very tired and nodded off quite a few times and so did the other two. Was a bit of an expensive cruise to spend sleeping. When I wasn't sleeping I saw a lot of the city and lots of expensive boats.

It was time to walk to our meeting spot to meet the crew and the rest of the group. As we began to walk, it started to pour rain again. This time we took shelter before getting too wet. We met the group and then walked to the Ice Bar. The bar stuffed up our reservation so we had to go in as two groups. I put on a big coat with a furry hood and gloves. It didn't seem that cold in there. The glasses are made of ice and we got one cocktail. I chose a minty one. It was fun and a real novelty. The bar and stools are all made of ice.

Then drove back to camp for dinner and had to put up with noisy Swedes all around celebrating Midsummer's Eve while trying to sleep.

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Photos

01 Stockholm
First view of Stockholm.

02 Town hall
Town hall and its tower.

03 Bridge
Bridge with the old town behind it.

04 Entrance
Entrance to the old town.

05 Vasa
The ship that sunk.

06 Carvings
Beautifully carved front of the ship.

07 Ship
The side of the ship.

08 Ship
More carvings on the ship.

09 Front
Front of the ship.

10 Lamp
Lamp post at the end of a bridge.

11 Boats
Boats in the harbour.

12 Royal Palace
Swedish royal palace.

13 Square
A square in Gamla Stan.

14 Old town
The streets of old town.

15 Me
Me in the old town.

16 Exit
The exit to the old town.

17 Along the water
Some of the grand buildings along the water.

18 Old town
Old town from the boat cruise.

19 Riddarholem Church
View of the church from the water.

20 Town hall
Town hall from the water.

21 My drink
My chilled drink. The glass is made out of ice!

22 Anita and I
Anita, I and the huge iced vodka bottle.

23 The Ice Bar
Everything made out of ice!!

24 Glasses
The glasses are made out of ice.

25 Group
Our group in the ice bar.