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We arrived at Stockholm Airport mid afternoon. Massive terminal area, open, clean and empty of passengers. A far cry from what we had left behind in Berlin. The airport itself though is 35km, or 40 minutes, out of Stockholm itself.
So we grabbed a light late lunch, sorted out our bus transfer tickets and boarded for the 40 minute drive, complete with free wifi to pass the time. Arriving at central station, we bought metro passes and grabbed a train and then a tram to get to our hotel where we checked in.
That night we grabbed Thai for dinner (menu entirely in Swedish which proved entertaining, but a green chicken curry is much the same in every country!).
Next morning we wandered down the street to find breakfast (pastries covered in sugar seems to be the norm) and a juice before heading into Gamla Stan where we were doing another one of the free walking tours.
Our guide was Ukrainian and walked us past the main sites; including Parliament House, Royal Swedish Opera, the PM's official residence (ironically a fairly modest white house), Royal Dramatic Theatre, and the Royal Palace.
We walked over a few
of the bridges that connect the various islands that make up Stockholm, plus saw a few of the squares, statues and plazas. Also saw the building where the robbery happened that led to the 'Stockholm syndrome' term.
We finished the tour at the Royal Palace where we managed to catch a little of the ceremony that goes with the changing of the guards - we were in the right place to see the horses and men riding them both arrive and depart but couldn't get a view of the actual guard ceremony!
We then grabbed a sandwich at a little cafe not far from the royal Palace before hitting up the Nobel Museum.
The museum was only small but very well done. Some interactive sections to find out more about the lives and achievements of winners. Whirling round on the ceiling are banners of each and every winner, including those who declined the award.
Essentially what happens is that people get letters asking them to nominate people. They can then nominate whoever they like - the nominees are 'closed' from public knowledue for some 50 years. Apparently people like Adolf Hitler were previously nominated But didn't
win an award.
However, if the person who is nominated and wins doesn't want to accept, they don't have to. However, those people are still awarded the Nobel Prize, on the banners whirling around the city these people dont have photos included.
The awards were actually established in 1895 by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel who was super super rich (vicinity of €150m) and when he died requested in his will that these awards be set up and is fortunes used to support them. And they still are today.
The part of the museum I found most interesting (as let's face it, 90 per cent of the people who have received awards I had never heard of!) was a section out the back where a photographer had asked various winners to draw something that represents what their award was for and hold it for a photo.
The stories behind these photos and how they drew the photos showed the creativity and uniqueness of each person. Some used one or two colors, others multiple colors. Some just held their pictures, some bit the corner of them. Odd but interesting.
From there we walked across town up to
the Photography Museum. Odd place as it turns out.
While I like photography, a lot of the exhibits on display weren't for me. There were a couple I did like though - the main one being photos of people from the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.
Over the course of the protest (about greed and corruption) the photographer shot photos of the people who were protesting, watching, working or simply passing by. The other photo exhibitions though largely didn't do it for me.
By that stage of the day we were pretty done so we walked back to the station and got a train and tram back to the hotel where we grabbed pizza (Italian, wood fired) for dinner.
Next morning was a bit of a sleep in before heading out to a 'proper' breakfast cafe for poached eggs. Expensive but tasty. Cafe appeared to be run by some Aussies, or at least some Western tourists. Fresh OJ was good too.
Then it was another walk and a bus to the Vasa Museum. The museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that
sank on her maiden voyage in 1628, just 1500m from where her journey began.
You can see the ship from six levels, from bottom to top. Surrounding the ship were various exhibits and models showing the construction, sinking, location and recovery/preservation of the ship.
The displays also included the skeletons and stories of those on board the vessel.
Ship itself was massive, it sunk because it was essentially too narrow and too top heavy, it simply tipped over when it was hit by a second wave, having survived and righted itself after the first one.
After spending quite a while learning about the Vasa we grabbed a late lunch and walked back into town. We grabbed an ice cream and chilled down in the Eurovision Village Centre where they were busy setting up with less than 11 days to go.
From there it was back to the hotel and dinner. Then it was a few drinks at the pub while Stuart watched another Manchester City game.
Next morning it was up to pack to leave. Had a basic breakfast of pastries from the supermarket next door before leaving to get a tram, metro and
then a proper train, this time to Copenhagen.
While waiting for the train we grabbed some snacks and lunch. The train left on time and we even managed to find our seats and the correct carriage very easily which was nice.
You'll notice there are a few pics of Stockholm's subway stations. It is described as the world's longest art exhibition at 110 km long. In various stations there are paintings, sculptures, mosaics, tiles and other art displays.
More than 90 of the city's 100 stations have something. Some of the more dramatic stations which we saw on our travels were Kungsträdgarden and T-Centralen.
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