Our experience in Stockholm

Accommodation - Hotel.
We stayed at the Hilton Slussen hotel and it was a very pleasant experience.  Stellar service, outstanding breakfasts (extra cost) and very nice rooms. Comfortable beds. Perfect location as well for getting to the old town and close to a major metro stop.

Food.
Wide variety, all-in-all very good. Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes at Riche were a special treat.

Transport.
We used the 72-hour transport pass, followed by a 24-hour add-on to end the trip, both of which worked wonderfully and got us around via trams and water taxis with no problem.

Attractions.
The Vasa Museum, Skansen open-air museum, visiting Greta Garbo's grave, and strolling around Gamla Stan, the old part of the city.

Money.
We were pretty much cashless the entire time. 

Goodbye to old friends, visiting Greta Garbo and the National Museum

15 May 2022.

The morning began with an extra-leisurely breakfast in the hotel. Richard and Pauline would be heading back home later this morning so we sat and chatted about this-and-that over food and coffee. Pretty much like usual. It had been two-and-a-half years since the four of us had traveled together and that was simply way too long. Sharing experiences on the road so-to-speak is always a pleasure and traveling with those two is doubly so. 

After saying our goodbyes with hugs all around -- now keenly aware that life and circumstances cannot be taken for granted -- they headed to the desk to check out before making their way to the metro and the airport.  

Susie and I also headed out to the metro with our first objective being to renew our transport passes for another 24 hours. Since we had a little time on our old ones we hopped on the first line to take us to the central station where we got off and made our way to the nearest ticket service counter. We also wanted to test out whether the following day we would schlep ourselves and bags to the train station via the metro or try a taxi again. The metro won. We concluded it would a very easy thing: elevators and escalators, no stairs!

That accomplished we got back on the metro and headed out to the Stockholm suburbs, specifically to Skogskyrkogården and the grave of Greta Garbo. This cemetery, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is an incredible green space (they offer private and public guided tours). They even have a visitor center with cafe and a city bus makes regular runs between the metro stop and the cemetery.

lane to one of the five chapels

Greta Garbo

the visitor center

Leaving the cemetery we made our way back to the metro stop and into the city. We got off at a stop that was unfamiliar to us and, after some confusion, we eventually made it down to a part of the waterfront that WAS familiar where we planned to take the tram to the central shopping mecca. Oh, and while waiting for a tram, we did catch a glimpse of the men on horseback heading off for a changing of the royal palace guard:

Susie wanted to check out a particular store which she thought seemed a bit like Galleries Lafayette in Paris, but which turned out to be more of an indoor mall for designer collections. The lower level did have some fascinating food and kitchen sections which was worth the trouble (that and I stopped to have a glass of cava while she explored). Win-win to be sure.

From the market area we returned to the tram and took it to Djurgården island. Familiar territory to us now, I was on the hunt for a small cemetery that was close to the Vasa Museum. After a few minutes walk we found it: Galärvarvs-kirkogården. 

So, that's two cemeteries in one day - I believe this might be a record for me! Next up we walked down to the Slussen No. 82 ferry landing and took it across the harbor to Skeppsholmen Island, a place we had visited with Richard and Pauline. This time we walked across the island past the Museum of Modern Art and across (yet another) bridge to the National Museum. 

We browsed the 19th and early 20th century artists and were pleased to see works by Degas (a study version of La Petit Danseuse), Morisot, Manet, Cassat and a Nordic artist named Carl Larsson we became quite taken with, among others.

From the museum we made our way to the bus then metro and back home. where we relaxed until suppertime. Uncertain of where to spend our last meal we walked around the corner and up a block to a place known by locals (apparently) for beer and whiskey - Akkurat. We grabbed a table and each had a lager from Germany and baked char. with roasted small potatoes. Another delicious meal in Stockholm!

A short stroll back to the hotel and pack up for tomorrow's early walk to the metro.

Norway, here we come!

Saturday spent strolling Stockholm islands and visiting dead Swedish royalty

14 May 2022.

Today we were determined to explore beyond the old town but staying within greater Stockholm. We left the hotel after breakfast and made our way across a footbridge we can see from our hotel rooms but which goes onto Gamla Stan at as slightly different angle from our regular walking route from Slussen.
  

We had barely crossed onto Gamla Stan than we were across onto Riddarholmen, "Knight's Isle." There was a permanently moored dining and hotel boat here as well as a number of governmental agency buildings. The big draw was the church, the burial place of Swedish nobility next to the statue of Birger Jarls, the alleged founder of Stockholm. Both occupy a lovely small and very peaceful square on the island.

The church began its spiritual career as the core of a Franciscan monastery in the 13th century. With the reformation, however, the Franciscans were deposed and much of the monastery torn down but the church remained and eventually became the burial place for Swedish kings and nobility. 

the Torstensson crypt

tomb of Kristiern Nilsson (Vasa) and his wife Margareta Krummedike

As in Roskilde Cathedral (Denmark) the floor here is largely ledger stones some of which are quite remarkable.

Closest to the high altar are the sarcophagi of two medieval kings, Karl Knutson Bonde and Magnus Birgerrson. It was Birgersson who declared in 1285 that he wished to be buried in the church. It was at the initiative of Gustave II Adolf in 1629 that the church would be the royal burial site.

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Bonde foreground, Birgersson behind him

From the church we made our way off the island and commenced our strolling with little purpose in mind other than seeing a part of Stockholm hitherto unrevealed to us.

two other travelers trying to find their way, I suppose

Eventually we stumbled upon a pedestrianized shopping area that seemed to go on forever, which eventually led us to the large tram hub and shopping space known as Gallerian, which in turn led us down to the lovely and very busy park Kungstradgarden.

It was here just on the fringe of the park that we settled in at one of the cafes for fika, a coffee and pastry break.

From the cafe we walked across onto the plaza and came across a small but unique collection of vendors touting wares and products from Gotland, Sweden: sheep wool, coffee, ice cream and chips (crisps).

Strolling down the edge of the park heading for the water (because water is seemingly everywhere here) we passed a Falun Gong drumming demonstration surrounded by canvassers explaining to anyone who would listen the bedrock of their philosophy.

But we moved on in search of yet another island to cross by foot. Passing the National Museum (key WC stop) we continued our walk across the bridge to Skeppsholmen. . .  

A former naval base, Skeppsholmen now houses the museum of Modern Art as well as a permanently moored floating hostel in an old three-masted sailing ship (on the right in the photo below).

a view back to our hotel, roughly between those two cranes

From Skeppsholmen we crossed another bridge (of sorts) onto Kastelholmen, the "Citadel Island", where we were treated to some rather lovely views of the city. We were joined by several military vehicles with armed soldiers. (Probably part of the changing of the palace guard ceremony which had just happened.)

view over to Djurgården

With no more islands to conquer we made our way down to the ferry landing on Skeppsholmen back to Slussen and eventually our hotel.

Later that afternoon the four of us met up and walked down to the Slussen ferry a little after 5:00 pm (1700). We switched ferries at Djurgården and after a short wait eventually boarded the no. 80 for Nybroplan. We had dinner reservations at Riche in a neighborhood that seemed a bit riche indeed. 

Anyway we strolled a bit before finding a place to have an aperitif. Directly behind the Royal Dramatic Theater was Frippe, a place that seemed to cater to the before-theater crowd but kindly seated us anyway.

statue of actress Margaretha Krook at one corner of the Royal Dramatic Theater

Riche restaurant

The restaurant was large, packed and extremely noisy but the food was delicious. For starters three of us had cold peel-n-eat shrimp (heads and all) while Richard opted for the duck paté. All four of us had the Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries and cucumbers on the side. For dessert Susie had sorbet, Richard had a parfait, Pauline had a poached rhubarb thing and I had a glass of port.

After dinner it was a short walk to the metro stop and then home.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Richard and Pauline leave for Great Britain and we spend one more night in Stockholm before we head off for Norway.