Stockholm Part 2a

Ok now that I have recapped through friday we have the weekend in stockholm.I will skip to the end first because it is boring. Monday was pretty much a nothing day. We had a late breakfast in the hotel and then packed up and took a taxi to the airport where I left my family. I took a flight home to Copenhagen then from Copenhagen to Aalborg and then a bus ride from Aalborg airport to the university then a 10 minute walk back to my apartment. My family took the plane from Stockholm to Reykjavik, Iceland and spent a day in Iceland before returning to the US. The only cool thing was due to the nice weather there were few clouds in the sky. It was spectacular to look at the Archipelago from 30,000 feet and I watched out the window the whole flight home guessing where I was based on landmarks on the map. As a cool way to finish the flight I looked down s we flew over Helsingør and Kronborg castle. Ok but now back to saturday because I did not have my camera with me so there are no pictures of this outside of what is in my head...

Saturday morning we decided to do some shopping for a birthday present for me because we learned that a store called Intersport carried a Swedish brand called Haglöfs from which I wanted a jacket. We checked out a few sports stores but even though they had the brand they did not have the jacket I wanted nor the backpack. So we went to another store more like EMS or REI and they had a ton of stuff by Haglöfs including a jacket very similar to what I had wanted although mine was an old model so were told to go to a discount store to see if they had it. They did have it but only in womens sizes and mens XXL so a little dismayed we gave up the hunt and decided that we would go back to the outdoors store and buy the other jacket tomorrow before the boat tour. We had also decided that we would take and Archipelago tour on Sunday. So we returned to the palace and after some trouble with the lines found our way to the royal armory where we could see royal carriages, clothing, wedding outfits, and armor as well as learn about some of the famous Swedish kings like Gustavus Adolphus II and Charles VII. It was a pretty cool exhibit and I think Lindsay really like the entire area that was wedding and other royal gowns that were sorted by color so each room had a different color. However there were attractions for the guys which included full sets of armor guns swords etc as well as nights atop their horses in full scale and a few of the horses were real taxidermy so they were not just fake animals. Also we got the occasional glimpse of the "royal mouse" which was a mouse with a Swedish flag sash and a crown that was put in some of the exhibits across the museum which was located in the Royal Palace. After the knights and gowns we ventured to the basement of the Palace to see the carriages which were impressively large, lavish and seemingly technologically advanced.  Many of them were gifts from other European Royal families to celebrate the weddings of significance in Sweden.

A full set up of what King Charles II would have looked like in battle

Royal wedding garments, and King Charles VII in the background

Various guns used by the Royal family

A Royal carriage of the french design held up by a suspension system made from looks like four of the worlds larges belts (like that would hold your pants up)

The Royal Mouse in all his glory

After that museum we decided to go to look for lunch but in a new location at a park. The park had lots of outdoor cafes which were a bit pricey but had large portions. So we finally stopped at one that had an appealing menu and ordered. We wanted to be outside because it was sunny and in the 70s and beautiful and we could not pass up this weather. I got a fantastic burger for lunch that included fresh mozzarella cheese sauce, bacon, ham and other things. After lunch we headed over to some more small islands that we wanted to explore because there was a lot of daylight left and we had some renewed energy.
On the first island was an architecture museum. So we split up and my dad went to enjoy the museum while the rest of us plodded on to the next smaller island which had a castlette. This Castlette was the only military establishment in the city that was of any note because like I said before the Swedish military designed their defenses so battles would take place outside of the city. At this island we had a great view of Tivoli the amusement pack that was on the adjacent island. It was not yet open however it looked to be much nicer and more developed then the one in Copenhagen. Also we say this strange circular pool of water that formed and then disappeared a few minutes later and we have no explanation for what could have caused it. We continued to explore the island and came across an old boat that they were rigging for its voyage. Apparently it is a tour boat that runs only in the summer. Also I found a very small bunker at the tip of the island where the tour boat was moored that looked like it was from the WWII era. It was maybe only big enough for three men but had an unobstructed view of the sea north of the city and was probably used as a very small last line of defense if machine guns were enough to stop the enemy. After that we made our way back to the architecture museum to grab dad and then headed for the wealthy part of town where the nobles lived so we could check out the buildings etc that were there.

The castlette in all its glory, not exactly big but it is still run by the Swedish Navy which raises the flag on its top at noon every day.

The strange ring of water that formed in the sea, why and how we have yet to figure out but it was big and weird

The tour boat that they were putting a rigging on, you can see men climbing on the sails

We went to the the nice string of houses on the water and walked around that area for a while. There were the offices for the tour boats so we learned about which boat we were going to take on Sunday. Also interestingly there was a tram operating in this part of the city. I came to the a conclusion that stockholm has the largest smorgasbord of transportation I had ever seen in a city. First off there were taxis and cars that could drive on almost every road in the city, much unlike Copenhagen. Then there were city buses for in the city as well as those that left the city. There was also the high speed rail to places like the airport, as well as express buses from the airport. Also there was a commuter rail from outside the city as well as a subway that was in the city. And now as I found our there was a tram system in the city. Additionally there were bicycle lanes and pedestrian streets. If that wasn't enough there were more trams on another island and interestingly enough they were all very loosely connected if at all yet the same card could be used for all means of public transit. It was as if 10 different urban planners each with their own idea were hired and each implemented their own strategy for the city. So it was a little nuts. This was also when I really realized how many old American cars were roaming the streets of the city. We saw a 50s coup de ville (tail fins and all), several corvettes most of them old, mustangs of all generations from the brand new mustang gt to the old '67 convertible, and a GTO. Also we saw the viper shown in the previous post, we saw so many American muscle cars it was pretty interesting On top of all that a new but very dirty Ferrari F430 drove by us later that day.
In this part of the city there was a beautiful row of old houses which I had the pleasure of snapping a cool picture that highlights the various different roof styles that they had. Also there were two obelisks that were showing the environmentally friendliness of the city in real time by having LED columns that acted as graphs to show various data such as, air quality, green energy produced, and the amount of water being treated and returned to the city.

The nobles houses in their splendor and glory

Where our boat tour would leave tomorrow

The environmental obelisks

The rooftops of these nice buildings with their spires pointing and perfectly square manicured trees in front

After a brief tour of this area we decided we would come back the next day because we were going to go meet my friends who were returning from a boat tour themselves. After some complications in the plan we finally met them in the plaza where the cafes are on Gamla stan. They were going to a barbecue at a friends place in the city so they could not chat for long but I think they liked meeting my family and my family liked meeting them and putting faces to names. Below is a picture of me with my friends in Sweden.

From left to right: Guillaume, Xavier, Charlotte, Vincent, ME, Fanny, Sandro, Sebastian

Ok to make things shorter and simpler I have decided that this is the end of this post and Sunday will be recapped in Stockholm Part 2b however I still have to talk about Saturday night. After my friends left we decided we were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel and get dinner somewhere. We were making our way to the train slowly when we stumbled upon a restaurant. It seemed German from the looks of it but as we were reading a menu a man stepped out (who we later learned was the owner) and asked us if we had any questions. He explained what some of the foods on the menu are: for instance Swedish Bubble and Squeak. We decided to give it a try since it was an opportunity to have some authentic Swedish food. Also he said the place was German inspired hence the look as such. We learned that it had been moved from its original location in the middle of the city when they created a large plaza now dominated by a huge shopping mall among other things. As he said it since there was no war Sweden decided they needed to destroy part of its capital anyways so they could do some "urban renewal." He said there are 12 other authentic Swedish restaurants that were moved and they all still exist as some of the oldest restaurants in the city but they are all spread out now. The food was excellent and we also were informed that is was blues night in the basement. We went to check it out. It was very cool they were playing some pretty god blues (which is surprisingly popular in Sweden, along with wearing Yankees hats (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!)) Also the basement was a cosy little place with a low roof and a small bar. It was quite a sight so see and really cool. After that we hopped on the T which was right around the corner and headed back to the hotel for the night.