Day 2! I survived the night, which, I suppose, is an accomplishment. I woke up an hour later than I planned to, but considering that I had planned to wake up at around 7am, I don’t think I did that badly. I left the house soon after 9am, got to Stockholm Central before 10am, and even managed to buy a SIM card and a plan for my phone before 11am! Truth, the data on the card didn’t work right away, but I figured that out later with the aid of the internet and Swedish to English translation.
I got a map from an information center, and decided that my first objective of the day would be to see the old town. It’s and easy walk from Central Station, and within minutes I was crossing one of the bridges that connects the historical island with the modern mainland. It’s a pretty stroll, although currently marred by some pretty constant construction work going on in the water. The little streets on the island, however are clean, pretty and neat, although they don’t evoke the…nostalgia? or some other unexplainable feeling that some other “Old Towns” I’ve seen have. There is none of the color and decoration of Venice, nor the periodic architecture that I have seen in Krakow, or the mesh of historical and modern that I saw in Bern. It’s very organized, very aesthetically pleasing, but in the parts that aren’t specifically styled to be so, not very old. The Royal Palace is located on the very tip of the island, and although very large and ostentatious, it is not particularly ornate on the outside. Actually, unlike many royal palaces if have seen, it is very boxy and gray. Entrance into the Royal Apartments, Treasury and Three Crown Museum costs 150 SEK altogether. The most developed segment of the three exhibitions is definitely the Royal Apartments, and this is the part that I found most enjoyable to wander through. The apartments are still used for formal occasions today, which makes it so much easier to imagine them having been used in the past. The best part of visiting these sort of places is trying to see the people that had passed through there: maids, waking up in the morning to light or stoke the fires, to clean and to cook before the royalty awoke; the royalty passing through oblivious to all the hard work that went into making their days posh and easy. The Swedish Royal Apartments are much less ornate than they had the potential to be, which is, in my opinion, a choice made in good taste. Was the whole experience worth the money that I paid? I can’t say that i will ever visit the palace again, even if I do revisit Sweden in the future, but it is worth visiting at least that one time.
After a few hours, I left the palace and the island behind, and started down a large street that was quite similar to New York City’s 5th Ave, although I suspect that I would be able to say the same thing of many of Stockholm’s streets; it’s not exactly a poor city. I observed a low-speed road rage incident between a biker and driver, which very politely climaxed with both of them spitting at each other. I saw a girl unseasonably undressed in a crop top and short skirt, in the rain. I saw a presentation of the royal arms, complete with marching band and stiff legged soldiers.
And then it got cut short by my getting sick.
Yup. It sucked. I ended up aborting sightseeing for the day to go home, to try to feel better. Unfortunately, I didn’t even make it, I had to barge in to a senior citizen’s center. I even completely forgot the Swedish word for bathroom, which is pretty much exactly the word toilet (toalett). I even managed to get lost on the way from the train to the house, barely making it before getting sick again.
So, now it is dark, and soon I will have achieved my second night in Sweden. I have a plan for tomorrow, a plan that I hope my stomach will allow to come to fruition. In my sights are the Vasa Museum and the Nordic Museum, two of the more recommended attractions I have heard of. I hope that they deliver!
For now, dobranocka!
Wandering Owl 