Stockholm, Sweden part 1

 After a good visit to Gothenburg we were “ on the road “ or in this case “ on the rails “ again with a 3 hour train ride to reach Stockholm.

We decided to stay for six days in Stockholm to catch our breath and have a rest as we have been moving every three or four days since we left Reykjavik. 

Stockholm is the capital city of Sweden with a population of almost a million people. It is a very attractive city spread out over 14 islands and connected by 57 bridges. 

Stockholm was founded in 1252 on the small island of Stadsholmen which is now known as the Old Town with many medieval buildings. 

On the way to the Old Town we passed this impressive looking building which is the City Hall built between 1911 and 1923…

There were many places to sit and enjoy the views…

Lots of large squares that reminded us of Western European cities we have visited and so many impressive churches…

This is the Riddarholmen church which is also a museum and the burial places of the royalty of Sweden. It is one of the oldest preserved building in the city being built by the Franciscan monks in 1290. 

There are royal coffins everywhere…

Then there was the German Church built in 1571 and is the tallest building in the Old Town. It is very ornate and when we were there we enjoyed a music recital…

The final church was the Stockholm Cathedral or Storkyran which was built in 1279 on the highest point of land on the island and very near the Royal Palace. Many Royal weddings have taken place here as well as many cultural and music events. When we visited there was a wonderful choir practicing and the acoustics sounded great…

 

Here you can also see the altar made of silver and ebony…

Ornate fixtures everywhere…

These are the Royal boxes where the King and Queen sit when they attend church.

I loved this modern piece representing prayers for world peace…

Here you can see the size of the main part of the church…

The Royal Palace which is huge sits right next door to the Cathedral…

It sits up on a hill overlooking the new city…

And here is a view of it from the water…

It was built in the 18th century and is considered one of the most beautiful palaces in Europe. It is the official residence of the King of Sweden and has over 600 rooms. There are guided tours of the palace which we passed on but I think it would be fascinating.

Here are the Royal Guards on duty…

There is so much history here in the Old Town but also lots of places to sit and enjoy the sunshine…

Here is the central square where The Nobel Prize Museum is located featuring the history and works of the winners…

We stopped at the fish wagon for some grilled herring…

I am not fond of herring but this guy makes it taste delicious! 

Stockholm’s history was on display here in Old Town but you can’t visit this city without visiting a very large IKEA to see if it was different than ours but no it wasn’t…

And their meatballs tasted the same as well…

And of course just as IKEA is synonymous with Sweden so is ABBA!

Their museum is located on one of the other islands along with a lot of other museums but this day we chose ABBA and the museum was so well done. The audio guide featured the voices of Benny, Bjorn, Anni-Frid and Agnatha telling their own stories.

We spent almost two hours there and could have stayed longer as there was so much to see. Of course there were their costumes…

These are the costumes they were wearing when they got their first big break at Eurovision in 1974 with the song “ Waterloo “.

The Polar Studio in Stockholm where they recorded and at the time it was a state of the art studio…

The little cottage on one of the islands near Stockholm with the white piano where they wrote many of their songs…

I really liked this room where Agnatha talked about the sorrows of having to say goodbye to her children when they were on tour. In the end they seldom toured longer than 3 weeks so as not to be away from their children and often would take them with their caretakers on tour.

You could sing with the group, I did Dancing Queen but unfortunately or fortunately Don didn’t get the picture so here is someone else singing with the ABBA holograms! It was a lot of fun…

Finally on the way out there were life size silicone fiqures of the group that were so real you thought they were looking at you…

So if you are a fan and ever get to Stockholm put this place on your list. There is so much more to this city, our favourite so far that I need another post to remember it all!