Cranky Old Hag in Scandinavia: 8 Stockholm Gamla Stan

Eventually we decided to walk over toward Gamla Stan, the Old Town, on its own island. I was a bit adrift because most of what I wanted to see there was related to the royal palace, the royal armory, the royal treasury (you get the idea). But it was great to just wander and look at medieval buildings and streets—some of them really, really narrow streets, full of touristy shops. There are a few longitudinal streets that are pretty narrow, more or less without cars.

Then there are the walkways crossing those streets, that are about 6 feet wide (slightly wider than I can reach). With little hole-in-the-wall shops and bars opening onto them.

We saw the Royal Palace from a distance, and it was downright unattractive. But we ended near it, and I noticed that there was an open door to a ticket office. Turns out 2 parts of the complex were NOT closed today—Gustav III’s Antikmuseum, and Museum Tre Kronor. The Antikmuseum contains Roman statuary purchased in the 1600’s by the then-king on a visit to Italy, sold to him by—the Pope! There were a couple of halls of statues and a few urns and other items.

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Travel Journal Scandinavia 7 City Hall

Our room, not surprisingly, is a boat cabin, with a smallish double wide bunk, a shelf/desk, one chair, a few hooks on the walls for coats, clothes, etc., and a private bath with shower. Oh, yes, and a porthole that opens! Fortunately we pulled the shade over it last night, because the sun was trying to shine in at 4 am!

Friday, June 12.  It has been quite warm since we got to Stockholm—highs around 76. Warm night last night, too. It seems a very quick transition from trying to dress warmly enough to trying to dress cool enough.

After breakfast in our hotel, we got directions for public transport to the city center. They we got directions to the city hall. We were looking for a boat tour through the canals of Stockholm, which we found. Thought it might get us off to a good start, but it wasn’t all that great. Then we headed over to the City Hall nearby. This is where the Nobel Prizes are awarded (except for the Peace Prize, which is awarded at the City Hall in Oslo, Norway). There are also tours. Except today the tours stopped at noon, because “an event is being held.” Bet it’s related to the royal wedding tomorrow. So we just looked around the outside of the building.

Cranky Old Hag

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Travel Journal Scandinavia 6

I went to Visitor Information (which was also a little hard to find) to check on getting a Stockholm card, and discovered that there is a royal wedding this weekend, which means several of the places I planned to go will be closed. (L note: Evidently our invitation was lost in transit. Since we were not formally invited, we will not attend.) But we will adjust.
 We eventually found our way to our hotel. It is a boat moored on the waterfront and turned into a hotel. We decided to eat at the restaurant here—beer and pizza. Prices here seem to be about half what they were in Norway. Beer was about $5 instead of nearly $10, and the pizza (thin, crispy crust) was $15, and more than enough for both of us. Best of all, we sat on the upper deck of the boat, in the fresh air, next to the water, in the sun! All’s well that end’s well.
Cranky Old Hag
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Travel Journal Scandinavia 5 Stockholm

 Finally we all left the train about noon so it could return to Oslo (I think the passengers from the eastern end of the trip arrived by bus). But no one told us where to go. Eventually, we found our way down to where there were a couple of buses, got our luggage loaded, and climbed on. We then had an hour-and-a-half bus ride to Hallsberg, where we were left to find our own way to the appropriate platform and the right place on the platform. Eventually we got back on a train and waited some more, perhaps for the rest of the passengers to arrive on later busses. Do I sound aggravated?
We got to Stockholm a little over 3 hours late. This was less of a problem for us than for others, because we had no connections to make, and no specific plans for the rest of the day. It was irritating that the railroad made little effort to keep everyone informed and let us know where to go and when. It was also irritating that we arrived at the downtown train station in Stockholm during rush hour. (L note: Unlike Norwegians, Swedes rush.)
Cranky Old Hag
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Travel Journal Scandinavia 4 Sweden

Our train left Oslo at 7:32 am, so we were up early to have breakfast at the hotel and get to the train station. This train is run by the Swedish railroad and is a little different from the Norwegian trains we have been on. No assigned seats, but plenty of room. The seats recline strangely, but there are cupholders. The trays and armrests are wood.
(L note: On the train we heard Swedish for the first time. For those who remember and love the Muppets, the Swedish Chef was NOT a joke. That’s the way Swedish sounds.)
So we left Norway and entered Sweden. Then they announced that the overhead cable for the electric train was down in one section, and we would have to switch to busses for that section. About 10:30 we stopped in Karlstad, and were told we would have to wait until noon for busses to arrive. We could wait on the train, or we could go onto the platform. They also offered free coffee, pastries, and sandwiches from their “Bistro” car. So we hung around for an hour and a half. There seemed to be just one conductor providing information for maybe 250 people in I don't know how many languages. Anyway, we felt uninformed. 
Cranky Old Hag
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Travel Journal Scandinavia 3 Chicken Caesar Salad

 By 5 pm we were exhausted. The problem with museums is that there is too much standing and not enough opportunities to sit. So we caught the ferry back to the harbor and a tram back to our room to rest a while before dinner.
Finally decided to go back to the place where we had enjoyed dinner the night before. Our experience was not as positive this time. It took a while for them to take our order, then apparently they lost the order. About 1/2 hour later they came by bring us our drinks and to apologize and say our order had now gone to the kitchen. When our dinner finally arrived it was after 8 pm, and they gave me a spaghetti dish instead of the chicken caesar salad I had ordered. It was good, but much too heavy and too late for me. Grump! At least they gave us a discount.
Back at the room we got ready for an early (L note: Early as in really early; 5 am alarm time) morning departure and went to bed.
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Travel Journal Scandinavia 2 Kon-Tiki

  Next was the Kon-Tiki museum, documenting Thor Heyerdahl’s several voyages. There is a full-size reconstruction of Kon-Tiki, the balsa wood and bamboo raft he and 5 others sailed from Peru to Polynesia in 1947 to prove ancient peoples could have done it. Also Ra II, the papyrus reed boat used to sail across the Atlantic in 1970. There are also exhibits about Easter Island, the Galapagos, and other places Heyerdahl went.
 Finally, the Fram museum is about various Norwegian polar explorations (both Arctic and Antarctic. It contains the actual Fram wooden sailing ship that was used for both. It was interesting to tour the ship and to see the exhibits about the hardships of the explorers. (L note: The Fram was built so that it could be frozen into the ice and not be crushed. It worked.)
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Travel Journal Scandinavia

Slept a little later (gotta catch up sometime). Breakfast was included with the room—pretty good buffet selection. Then we took the tram to the waterfront and the ferry to Bygdøy peninsula, where we went to three museums.
  The Viking Ship museum has 3 wooden Viking ships that date from about 900 AD when they were used as burial vessels. They were found and dug up in the last 150 years, and are in varying states of decomposition. A couple were pretty well preserved; a third, not so much. There are also some artifacts discovered with them—a wagon, a few sledges, barrels, daily tools and utensils. The gold and silver were long since stolen. Preserving the wooden ships and artifacts is an ongoing dilemma. Pretty interesting.
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