Living History.

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Geo: 59.3327, 18.0645

We had two main objectives today and we achieved both.

Our first foray was down the hill and into the Old Town, Gamla Stan. This, like all old parts of European cities, is the most attractive . Here there are narrow streets, mostly now pedestrians only, lined with cafes and souvenir shops. Strolling along we saw many attractive buildings and interesting small shops.
We came out next to the Royal Palace. Our Stockholm Card gave us entry into this so we decided to go into the Royal Apartments. We first went into the Hall of State which was a Throne Room. This, like most of the rest of the palace was marble, mainly green and grey, with statues as decoration. Not much glitz. From there we proceeded through several rooms dedicated to the various orders of chivalry, as was in the Kremlin, but here they were not as ostentatious in decoration. They did have displays of the medals and chains of office, encrusted with jewels and golden chains etc.

The Guest apartments were next. Here, visiting heads of state are accommodated . There are several salons and the Great Bedroom in a rich red colour. I would be too scared to touch any of the antique furniture if I was staying there! These rooms were in the same green marble but with decorative ceilings painted in allegorical scenes with golden adornments. Then we went into the State apartments which are still used by the current king for Cabinet briefings and ceremonial receptions etc. These are more splendid with tapestries on the walls and very ornate ceilings. Karl XI's Gallery contains portraits of the preceeding Royal personages and is similar to the Hall of Mirrors as it has mirrors on one side each faced by a window so there is much more light in here. The Don Quixote room has tapestries illustrating that story while the White Sea Hall is a beautiful large room now used as a ballroom and reception area particularly by the queen.

The final section were the Bernadotte Apartments. This is the current dynasty so these are more 19th century in furnishings and style. There is one modern room, the Jubilee Room which is very contemporary in style with mid to late 20th Century Swedish furniture and colourful modern portraits of the current king and queen. An impressive building but certainly not as glitzy as the Kremlin Palace!

We walked around until we found the entrance to the Royal Armory. This contained an interesting exhibition of the clothes, weapons and furniture of Swedish Royalty. We got a history lesson about Sweden as we looked at the various exhibits. Again not as lavish as the Russian Royals but certainly still adorned with wealth. There was an interesting special exhibition about Queen Christina who abdicated, became a Catholic and lived in Rome for the last part of her life. She was called the androgenous queen as she acted more manly and was seen as almost transgender. She is evidently a gay icon in Sweden.The visit here ended with a collection of Royal Carriages including sleds for winter.

After our dose of history we found an Irish pub, O'Connell's and had fish and chips for lunch sitting at a table on the street.Towards the end Fletcher went inside to the loo and discovered they had the first day of the Fifth Test on TV. So we had another beer and watched until lunch. Then we went to the local underground train station and caught the train to Stadion station which led us to the 1912 Olympic Stadium. Fletcher has been to about 15 Olympic stadia around the world so we had to add this to the list.

They were preparing for the Diamond League meet on tomorrow and nobody questioned us as we went through the gate and into the grounds. This is still much as it was built, with wooden pillars and benches and brown stone towers surrounding it. Of course there is a new track and lights but no new plastic seats or other modern improvements. We walked to the far end and out though an arched entrance. There were several attractive sporting statues and plaques listing the winners of gold medals in all the events including ones for Art, Literature and Music. We were really pleased we had come. Not the usual tourist attraction but an interesting one for us.

Back to the Old Town and to O'Connell's to watch some more cricket and then back to the hotel for a rest. We returned to another Irish pub, The Liffey about 2 hours later to watch the last half hour of the day's play. Then we went to a Swedish Restaurant, C & C, for dinner. Here we were served by an Australian girl, Sophie, who was lovely. We ordered local specialties. I had a chanterelle (mushroom) soup followed by wild boar in ligonberry sauce and Fletcher had fried shrimps and then reindeer in a cheese sauce.
We had a glass of house white which was a tad sweet then a bottle of Penfolds Kalimna with the mains. It was a lovely night and as we finished the red we had a long chat to Sophie whom we found had been at Kembala school in Sydney and knew our friend Kathy Sambell who taught there. Amazing how small the world is!! We finished with dessert, ligonberry mousse and icecream with cloudberries, two new fruits for us. All in all an excellent meal and another memorable day.

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