Stockholm, Sweden
Riddarholmen, Gamla Stan
The temperature is mighty cold out there, folks--39 to be exact. The feels-like temperature is about 25 or 30, to me, at least.
Anyhow, this morning after an excellent breakfast (Walkin' in Memphis played during that, btw), we walked across the island of Gamla Stan towards the Royal Palace. Once there, the Royal Navy Band was marching through, and something occurred that we didn't understand because it was Swedish, but we watched for awhile anyway.
We stopped in the Wooden Horse Museum. This isn't part of the museum. This comes from the little gift shop out front. The wooden horse is a traditional Swedish symbol. Horses signified wealth and status. They come in all colors and sizes. I want one, but they're kinda pricey. I'm hoping for a bargain sale somewhere... This shop also sold these really cute chickens which I also want, but I'm holding out in case I find something I want more...we shall see!
After that, we walked down the street to the Nobel Museum which is housed in the Stock Exchange Building--also the sight for the Nobel Prize for Literature announcements. This was really interesting (and free!). It told about the history of Alfred Nobel and how the Nobel prizes came into being. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite when he was 30 years old. He was also a world traveler, and from letters, we learn that he felt more at home away from home. He also invented smokeless gunpowder which really revolutionized cannon warfare because there was no loss of visibility upon firing.Sadly, Alfred Nobel had no children. Nobel died at age 63 and willed the majority of his fortune to a fund to support the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. This museum contains trinkets from several Nobel prize winners that are related to their accomplishments in interesting ways. For instance, there were some shoes, an ear of corn, letters, a beret, different machines for monitoring clouds, paper models, etc. We also got to see a camera which pictured atoms--this was really neat considering that we're science nerds =)
From there, we went to the museums of the Royal Palace. We started with the Royal Treasury. Here, we caught up with a tour in English! I personally have to recommend this. I get so much more out of tours than I do out of just reading the information. Our tour guide was in the midst of telling stories about the various queens and kings and their preferences for crowns. Here is a little bit of what I remember.
Queen Christine was one of the most extravagant queens. She became queen at age 6 upon the death of her father. Once she reached coronation age, she had quite the royal air. Her coronation lasted 50 days, and was held in Stockholm, rather than in Uppsala (in the Domkyrkan). From another guide, we learned that she had wine flowing out of the castle wells during her coronation. She is also responsible for the vast number of tapestries throughout the castle. She also ordered that they be spread throughout the city and that the city be well-decorated. Queen Christine eventually decided that she no longer wanted to be Queen of Sweden, abdicated her throne to her cousin Carl Gustav and moved to Rome.
The crowns have an interesting story as well. I believe that the crown made for Carl Gustav was thrown together quite hastily. It was fashioned from a pre-existing crown, but the hat underneath it was quite fashionable. In fact, it looked like a reddish brown cowboy hat. The crown is still in use, but the hat has since been discarded and is located in another museum somewhere in Stockholm. The hat beneath it now is a simple rounded bluish green color. The crown is pointy and bejeweled.
The next crown we discussed was actually a queen's crown, with a rounded top and a pinkish red hat beneath it. The story behind this one is that one of the king's decided that he liked that crown better than his other options and adopted it. A new crown was then made for his queen. This one is smaller and red with only diamonds--but 695 of them to be exact. This queen was from a different country and decided that she wanted to end the Swedish tradition of democracy. She attempted to accomplish this by selling her 695 diamonds and replacing them with rhinestones. Unfortunately, her mission was discovered. The 695 diamonds have since been recovered.
One of the most famous kings of all is Gustav Vasa. He was a rather extravagant king who actually performed theatrically and spent extravagantly. He is responsible for many of the countries museums, libraries, and universities. Gustav Vasa based his extravagance on his discovered "drop of blood" which linked him with the original Gustav Vasa lineage. Rather than using the Gustav Vasa swords in his coronation, he had his own set of swords fashioned for the occasion. They were adorned with a sheaf of grain. Crowns were made with alternating point and sheaf design with blue centers. His family did not like this at all, but eventually his coronation was performed with his family in the royal crowns they did not like. These crowns are now worn by the princes and princesses as well as the king and queen. There are more crowns than necessarily at this time, BUT the country is hopeful that Queen Victoria's upcoming marriage June 19 will bring some children in the coming years.
There are more crowns, swords, chairs, and such in the Royal Treasury. It's a very small museum, but is very interesting if you get the opportunity to listen in on an English tour.
After that, we made our way over to the Royal Apartments. There are three separate sections. Photography was not allowed.
The Bernadotte Gallery which is a series of hallways and rooms. Two are octagonal rooms. They are very ornate, but kind of sparsely decorated as far as furniture goes--lots of chairs mostly. There are also a lot of chandeliers and paintings. There was one room which was wall-papered in red velvet with red velvet chairs and couches.
The Guest Apartments were more American-sized. They held lots of chairs, but I think I'd have been most comfortable there as opposed to any of the other areas of the castle.
The Royal Apartments were the most beautiful part, I thought. These were even more ornate than the Bernadotte Gallery. We actually ran into the English tour there as well and learned some interesting facts. The chandeliers are cleaned once every 4 years and weigh half a ton, and there is more than one chandelier in this place...some of the ceilings are painted, but everywhere has ornate moldings. There was one room with a vaulted ceiling which was the King's quarters. There were two large columns in this room which don't actually support the structure, thus there are cracks in the ceiling. Something interesting about this room was that there are four men depicted, one for each corner. These are kind of like statues, but just half of them. These men represent the four vices, and angels are fighting them back because the king does not need to be plagued by these vices. Another fun story is that the king who occupied this room became ill and was given fresh air to cure his illness. Sadly, he died of pneumonia two weeks after being brought to the room where the fresh air was let in.
The third section is the Tre Kronor Museet (or the Three Crowns Museum), but we didn't get to go to that one because it closed before we could make it. We plan to take that in tomorrow.
This is a view of the Storkyrkan which is the church next to the Royal Palace. This is a monument to Gustav III seen in front.
After the Royal Apartments, we ate lunch at a little side restaurant. We ate in their downstairs room which was basically this rounded cellar. It wasn't easily photographed, so I don't have that. But I do have a view of my scarf =)
For lunch, I had a baked potato with cream cheese, olives, and red onions. Josh had lasagna. Then he got this cinnamon roll-type dessert with these glazed almonds. Tasty!
From there, we went back out into the cold, saw what I believe is Parliament, but may find out differently. Soon thereafter, we decided it was too cold to be walking around outside and went back to our hotel.
Back at the hotel, I took some pictures of hotel room. It's small, but we have bunkbeds. Josh can be seen here showing you that our hotel and the view of the church behind it is actually featured on the front cover of my guidebook. Later, he found out that before the ship was converted into a hotel, it was called the Vanadis. Coincidence? Perhaps...
It's a WC...
But surprise! It's also a shower! It's kinda ghetto, but also kinda neat too.
And you can see one of my favorite features here on the wall--the hair dryer! We also have a tv and a closet that are visible in this photo. Oh, and our room key has a float attached AND a bottle opener. Classy, eh?
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