Day 3 29July Stockholm

Today we visited Gamla Stan (Old Town). It is one of Europe’s largest and best-preserved medieval city centres. We suspect that every city ln Europe says the same thing. Lots of cobblestones! Stortorget Square was the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 when about 90 people were executed in the square by Danish forces. On the square there is the Nobel Museum which had mixed reviews, so we didn't bother visiting it.

We visited the Royal Palace which is the largest one in Europe and was quite good and not overly crowded. 

The Silver Throne.

Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's Marshals who was invited to be the Swedish King.

 

We also visited the Royal Armoury which was far more than the name suggests. An armoured horse, perhaps we can get something in Jessie's size? (For those who don't know, it is my niece's family's Shetland pony.)

Desiree's dress with train, wife to Benadotte.

The Riddarholmen Church is the resting place for Swedish monarchs 1632-1950, except for Queen Christina. The burials include Gustavus Addolphus and Bernadotte. It was constructed in the Northern European Gothic style but parts are baroque. 

                                                                                        

The City Hall which despite its appearance is only 101 years old. It hosts the annual Nobel Prize winners in five categories, except the Peace prize is held in Oslo. The Gold Hall is decorated with real gold in the Byzantine mosaic style and is really quite impressive.

After the ceremony, the winners meet the Swedish Royal family here.

The Gold Hall is decorated with real gold in the Byzantine mosaic style and is really quite impressive. The mosaics are made of gold leaf and it took 8 kilograms of gold to make. In today,s value it was probably just under $1 million of our money. 

The City Hall's Blue Room holds the banquet for the Nobel Prize winners and guests. It will seat 1300 guests and streams of waiters come down the stairs to deliver the meals in 8 minutes.

Day 2 28 July Stockholm

 Happy Birthday to Mum, Grandma, Great Grandma. Many happy returns.

Leaving in the very early hours of the morning in Singapore we continued on with a stint in premium economy to Frankfurt. It was very nice, and it must have been about 2 am when the economy passengers got fed as the staff had to sit down during the numerous bouts of turbulence, but they were not white knuckle and probably quite tame for turbulence. The food was nice but the toilet queues still not great. It was a 12+ hour flight from Singapore so we actually arrived here in Frankfurt about 6.30 am. We also successfully flew across part of Ukraine!

Catching our next flight to Stockholm, we arrived at our hotel just before 3.00 pm. It had been a journey of 30 hours. We went for a walk to orientate ourselves in central Stockholm and take a few snaps.  Some guy in the street asked me for directions. I apologised that I didn’t speak Swedish. The same thing happened in Paris 2015. We must look like locals. So, after three changes of planes, nine times through security and immigration, 22 hours sitting on planes, and 8 hours sitting in airports, we completed the very first part of our travels.

Some threatening clouds over the Old Town. We did get a few spots, but fine weather is forecast for our stay.

A view of their Parliament House.

The Royal Palace behind us which we will visit tomorrow. We look forward to sleeping in a bed tonight.

Day 1 27 July Singapore

In transit from Brisbane to Singapore. While waiting for our flight, Elizabeth went off to get coffees and there on the radio…ABBA’s Dancing Queen. Could it be a sign. (Hello Elke.) Seated next to us on the plane was a lady going to meet her daughter in Finland who was on a graduation holiday. Tina lived in Finland until the age of 12 and she has never been back. We bid her farewell in Singapore. It is a very large airport but probably slightly easier to navigate compared to Hong Kong.