Day 24 - Monday 16 May - Stockholm to the Baltic

So the day started grey and rainy and miserable. Decent breakfast at the hotel then we headed out into the rain.

View from the north side of our hotel
Photo by Mum

We had a tour with a local guide. Got driven around Stockholm to the town hall, where they have the receptions for the Nobel prizes. That was all quite nice.

Stockholms stadshus (Stockholm City Hall)

Interior courtyard of Stockholms stadshus

Blue Hall in Stockholms Stadshus
Photo by Mum

Rådsalen (Council Chamber) in Stockholms stadshus

Roof of the Council Chamber

Rådsalen (Council Chamber) in Stockholms stadshus

Prinzengalerie (Gallery of the Prince)

Golden Hall in Stockholms stadshus

Saint Eric mosaic in the Golden Hall

Golden Hall in Stockholms stadshus

Blue Hall in Stockholms stadshus

Dinner service for a Nobel Prize Banquet

Then to a spot to see the old town from another island.

Sergelfontänen - fountain in Sergels square

af Chapman tall ship

Amiralitetshuset (Admiralty House)

Kungliga slottet (The Royal Palace) with Eurovision pavilion being setup in front

Then into the old town for a walking tour.

Cobblestone alley on Gamla Stan

Nobel Prize Museum

Medieval buildings and square on Gamla Stan

Storkyrkan (Great Church Cathedral)

By then it was mid morning and the program was done for the day.

Yeup.

There was an optional tour to go out to the Vasa museum so we decided to go on that. I'd toyed with the idea of doing it myself, as it would have been a lot cheaper. But then we would have had to negotiate public transport. But given how little time we had there on the tour, I'm regretting that. It would have been better to have done it ourselves and not been so rushed. We could easily have spent a lot more time there :(

Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum)

The Vasa

Ballast boulders from the Vasa

Cross section of the Vasa

Recreation of figurines on the stern of the Vasa

The stern of the Vasa

Ropes salvaged from the wreck of the Vasa

The Vasa

Cannon in the Vasa
Photo by Mum

Utensils salvaged from the wreck of the Vasa

Model of the Vasa
Photo by Mum

Skeleton dubbed David recovered from the wreck of the Vasa

Got dumped in town and told to entertain ourselves. We really had no idea what to do so ended up wandering at random. We thought about going up a temporary tower thing, but they wouldn't take credit cards (and we had no cash) so gave up on that idea. Just wandered around at random. Bit silly really.

Eric Ericsonhallen

Kungliga slottet (The Royal Palace)

Riksdagshuset (Parliament House)

Black-headed gull in Kungsträdgården

Dramaten (The Royal Dramatic Theatre)

Norrbro

View towards old town on Gamla Stan island

North gateway to Parliament House

Ledamotshuset (City Government Office)

Troops outside the government office

Kungliga Operan (Royal Swedish Opera)

Got picked up at 3pm and driven to our hotel for the night - the Baltic ferry the Silja Serenade. Quite nice for a ferry. Also probably the biggest passenger vessel I've been on. And it has free wifi!!

We went for a wander around the ship before the 5pm dinner sitting. Quite a big buffet of food, although pretty chaotic. After dinner we went to the Grease stage show. We'd gotten seats once we got on board, advertised as "obstructed" viewing. We expected to be behind people, but still be able to see. But no, you literally could not see the stage at all. So we moved to somewhere we could. Mum sat on the floor and I stood for the entire thing. Silly really. Although it did mean we missed pretty much all of the view - either while at dinner or while in the show.