Then we went to Museum Tre Kronor, which means Three Crowns Museum, and which was in the basement of the Palace. It contained a lot of history of the palace, and areas that used to be the foundations, exterior walls, a kitchen with a hearth and a well that had been excavated under the present palace, etc. The palace was begun in the 1200s and grew through the 1600s, when it burned and had to be rebuilt. So we have seen another medieval castle/palace on this trip! Many of the rooms we saw had barrel vaults, and we saw places where the defenders climbed up the inside of the exterior walls to shoot crossbows at attackers. What was the top of the exterior wall is now in the basement!
Following this, we decided to look for a place to eat in Gamla Stan, and we found a small cafe that sold sandwiches and baked goods. Larry got a roast beef sandwich on a really good small loaf of bread, and I got an open-faced sandwich with shrimp, hard-boiled eggs, mayo, and arugula. We split a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Very cool cafe.
Thus fortified, we walked back to our hotel. We found a route that did not involve any steep hills and just enjoyed the sun and the water and the scenery.
(to be continued)
