Days 7 & 8

Saturday (Day 7) was a continuation of the Midsummer celebration in Sweden. As tourists, we didn't anticipate how many museums, restaurants, and shops would be closed in honor of the holiday. We quickly found out that the answer is a lot!

We wanted to see some of the archipelago and the Baltic Sea so we took a 1 1/2 hour boat trip out to Vaxholm Island. We were able to see some other islands and a little of the archipelago in general on the ride out. There is a fortress on the island that you can tour, however, it was closed for Midsummer. The shops and cafes on the island were as well...boo. We walked around the island for an hour or so, but once we discovered it was pretty much shut down, we took the boat back to the city.

We had intentions of visiting the history museum which has a huge collection of Viking history and memorbilia. However, it too was closed for Midsummer. So, we spent the remainder of the afternoon cruising around shopping in Gamla Stan and seeing a bit more of that part of town. We did see the narrowest street in the city, random, but cool!


We headed back to the hotel earlier than usual (we usually didn't make it back to the hotel until 9:30 or 10 p.m. because it's so light outside until around 11 p.m.) and started packing up for the trip home.

Day 8 (Sunday), we took the Arlanda Express to the airport about 6:15 a.m. We left Stockholm at 8 a.m. on Sunday & arrived in home-sweet-home Nashville about 5 p.m. Sunday.
We had a wonderfully fun trip and enjoyed spending so much time together!

Day 6

Saturday (Day 6) we took an off-the beaten path adventure!
We had high hopes of going out to tour Gripsholm Slott (Slott=castle) in the town of Mariefred until we found out at the Visitor's Center that it was "an all-day affair".
We had hoped to spend 1/2 day or 2/3 of the day there and still have time for something in the evening.

Saturday was the celebration of Midsummer when everyone in Sweden celebrates the summer solstice. There was a celebration at an open-air museum that we wanted to go to on Saturday afternoon.

The traditional route to Mariefred to see Gripsholm Slott is via a 3-hour steamboat (S.S. Mariefred) and either the steamboat or a 2-hour steamtrain ride back to Stockholm. We discovered that an express passenger train runs to a small town about 2 miles from Mariefred. So, we bought tickets, took a map, and took the 1-hour train. We high-tailed it down Route 223 and about 40 minutes later we were in Mariefred! The train ride was less than scenic, but the walk through the countryside to Mariefred was amazing! Touring the castle was so much fun and we enjoyed our short little walk around the town itself. I fell in love with Mariefred & would have loved to spend all day there.

We returned to Stockholm and headed to Skansen, an open-air museum that displays replica buildings and houses in various regions of Sweden. They also have regional animals on display, have a zoo, an aquarium, and craftsman shops. We so enjoyed watching an artisan create glassblown figures. It was amazing! We brought home a beautiful blue & yellow (Sweden's colors) glassblown bird and a lovely glassblown flower bloom. Because of the midsummer festivities, Skansen was beyond crowded. We were able to see some of what the celebration is like, and indeed it is a celebration.

Sweeds typically celebrate the summer solstice by singing & dancing around a maypole. The women and children wear handmade flower and greenery wreaths around their heads. There are picnics on the lawns around the maypoles with traditional Swedish fare (lots of herring & other fish, breads, & cheeses).

It was another busy, fun day!

Day 5

Thursday (Day 5) was another rainy summer day in Stockholm.
Our plan for the morning was to walk to the museums we wanted to see. Not anticipating rain we set out for the day with inappropriate attire and no back-up transit plan. So we pretty much got soaked! It's a bit funnier now thinking back, but it certainly wasn't funny at the time.

We spent the morning at the Vasa museum and the Nordic Museum.
The Vasa museum houses the famous Swedish warship that set sail on its maiden voyage in 1628 less than a few miles from port. It was excavated in the 1960s & restored. It's now housed in a massive museum. The ship itself is inside, 1 level of sails sit atop the roof of the building, and the other sails on the masts were not recreated. It's hard to fathom just how large the ship was.
Unfortunately, the museum is quite dark & because the ship is so huge it makes is quite hard to capture a picture of it. Below is one picture of the ship and a picture of a small scale replica of the Vasa.

We didn't have much time, but did stop by the Nordic Museum which houses multiple collections related to the lifestyle and culture of the Swedish through the country's history. It was definitely interesting to learn a bit more about Swedish holidays and festivities, home decor, and such. The most amazing part of the museum was definitely the building it was housed it. It was gorgeous!

Thursday afternoon, we took the ferry to Drottingholm Palace on Lake Malaren. Lake Malaren is huge and gorgeous, as is the palace! The current royal family resides at Drottingholm, so you cannot take pictures of the palace as you tour it and only a small section of the palace can be seen on the tour. You can tour the grounds at your leisure which was so fun. It was definitely a beautiful place.

Stockholm Day 4

Let the major sightseeing begin!!!
With the conference over, we had all day to do as we pleased.

We spent the majority of our day in Gamla Stan (the Old Town) and spent a little time in the evening walking to the island of Skeppsholmen.
We started the day by visiting Storkyrkan, a cathedral built in 1279 that sits next to the Royal Palace. It houses the famous statue of St. George & the Dragon and is also the site of royal weddings and ceremonies. It was stunningly ornate!


Our next stop was the Royal Palace. Most of Sweden's prized historical posessions are housed throughout the palace. We toured the Royal Chapel, the Royal Apartments, Gustav III's collection of antiquities, the Treasury Museum, and the Tre Kronor museum. They have so many great things on display, but by far one of my favorite collections was the Royal Attire and Royal Crown Collection.

Although the Swedish royals no longer live in the Royal Palace in the city, it is still guarded on all perimeters by atleast 10 guards 24/7. The changing of the guard ceremony occurs everyday at 12:15. It was quite crowded, but we were able to see it from a distance. It was quite a ceremony!


We also toured the Riddarholmen Church also in Gamla Stan. The Riddarholmen was built in the late 1200s & is the only remaining medieval abbey in Stockholm. Many Swedish monarchs and aristocrats are buried in tombs inside the Riddarholmen Church.


We left Gamla Stan and headed across the harbor to tour the impressive City Hall. The City Hall building is set-apart from other buildings in the Stockholm skyline by its tower with 3 gold crowns on top. We took a guided tour of the building including the banquet and reception halls where the Nobel Prize laureattes and their guests gather every December for the Nobel Prize ceremony.



We left Gamla Stan for the day and walked to Skeppsholmen Island. On the way to Skeppsholmen we walked by the af Chapman, a ship turned into a guest hostel.


On Skeppsholmen, we walked to a church and took shelter there while it rained (again!). We walked to Kastelholmen, an old castle/fortress built on the edge of the island. We couldn't go inside, but it was neat to see from the outside.
Day 4 was definitely a packed day, but we were able to see so much & had a blast!!!

Stockholm day 3

Tuesday (Day 3) I spent the morning cruising around the shopping district of town with one of Chris' colleagues who was skipping out on some conference activities to sightsee.

Bruce & I shopped around, had lunch, and headed back to the hotel to meet up with Chris.

The conference was over in the early afternoon, so Chris & I checked out of the hotel and made the move to "the other Clarion" hotel across town.

We settled in, walked around the part of town near our hotel and found a cozy little Italian restaurant for dinner. It was soooo delicious! Apparently Sweds love Italian food!

Food was one of the things I was concerned about because in reading about Sweden we learned that their typical diet consists of lots of fish, especially herring, cheeses, and meatball-centered dishes. I was pretty pleased to find that Stockholm had quite a variety of restaurants to suit my needs! Street food vendors are also very popular in the city so nearly everywhere we went there were stands with ice cream, burgers, hot dogs, kebabs, even fish.

We spent the rest of night 3 planning for a very busy Day 4!

Here are a few pictures of Day 3...

Stockholm Day 2

Chris' conference was in full-swing on Monday (Day 2), so I had the day to amuse myself.
I took the free bus from Central Station to the IKEA (not just any IKEA, but the original IKEA).
It was overwhelmingly large & I spent about 4 hours exploring & having lunch (Swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, & ligonberry sauce) there.


I also spent more time exploring the streets near our hotel & snapped a few more shots of the city sights.


One of the highlights of our trip was the conference's Gala Dinner on Monday night at the Grand Hotel. Every December Stockholm hosts the Nobel Prize award ceremonies. The Nobel laureattes and their guests stay and dine at the Grand Hotel. We had the privilege to dine in a ballroom where they have often dined! The hotel and ballroom were beautiful (too beautiful to be captured with pictures), and the views from the hotel's balcony were equally amazing.


We dined on "typical Swedish appetizer fare" (scallops, salmon, and various pates-mind you I did not so much enjoy this part of the meal!). We had veal and filet for dinner with potatoes and green beans wrapped in bacon. Desert was Swedish strawberries (smaller & much sweeter than strawberries you find here...delish!) with fresh cream and ice cream. Each course was served with wine and the company could not have been more enjoyable. We had a great time!

Stockholm Day 1

We left Nashville for Stockholm at noon on Saturday.
After a short flight to Newark & a layover there, we boarded the 8-hour, overnight flight to Stockholm. Unfortunately Chris & I did not have seats together, but my saving grace was that I had an exit row seat so I could enjoy some extra leg room.

Neither of us got much sleep on the plane, so we were pretty exhausted when we arrived in Stockholm at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday.

We managed to take the express train from the Arlanda airport to the Stockholm Clarion hotel. Unfortunately, it was raining (pretty common for a Stockholm summer) so lugging around ourselves with luggage was less than thrilling. We knew we couldn't check in but were anxious to atleast deposit our bags.

Chris goes to check in while I guard the luggage, yet he returns to tell me that there are not 1, but 2 Clarion hotels in Stockholm. Apparently the conference & our reservation for the 1st 2 nights are at the Clarion across town (oh goody!). The remainder of our reservation is at the current Clarion. I was pretty stressed initially, but quickly regrouped & decided I wouldn't let it be a big deal.

We made the 20 minute trek across to the other side of town to the "correct Clarion" in the rain. We deposited our bags and found a quick lunch. Chris' conference started at 3 p.m. & we couldn't get into our room until 2:30 p.m. He headed to the conference & I settled in for a nap.

I spent the rest of Sunday (Day 1) exploring the sites near our hotel and enjoying kebab for dinner while Chris was at a conference social function.

I didn't snap too many pictures on Day 1, but here are a few...


(Swedish currency-kronor; Clarion Sign hotel room & hotel)

July already...

Time just flies by when you're traveling.


We have safely returned home from our travels to Sweden & Yellowstone.

Hopefully over the next week or so I will be recapping our trips & of course posting my favorite pictures.


It's soooo good to be home!