Stockholm - July 2022

On the continuation of our Scandinavian trip we took the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. This required a change of trains in Malmo where we boarded the Stockholm bound train.  The train was not a Swedish Railways train, but a private train company, Snalltaget.  They run long distance trains with older rolling stock through Sweden and then down to Germany and Austria.

Evening in Stockholm

We arrived in Stockholm as the sun was setting.  It was a beautiful sunset.  We walked the short distance from the station to our hotel, the Hobo Hotel.  The Hobo was an interesting place, a converted office building (I think) with nice modern rooms.  In the evening we made a short walk around the city (we were quite close to the Opera House and the Parliament Buildings).

The Opera House

After breakfast the next morning (Thursday), we walked down to Gamla Stan island and the old part of town.  This part of  Stockholm is quite beautiful - surrounded by water with such impressive palaces, cathedrals and churches.  We did the tourist path -  the Royal Palace, the Obelisk, the Finnish Church, the Little Iron Boy, the St. George and the Dragon statue, Kopmangatan with its lovely boutiques, Stortorget Square with its beautiful old buildings and the Nobel Museum, and Prastagatan street.  Sadly the cathedral was undergoing restoration and was under wraps. 

St George and the Dragon

Houses on Stortorget Square

Prastagatan Street

Just off Prastagatan is St Gertrude's Church or the German Church as it is otherwise known as. A beautiful spire and a wonderful interior.

The German Church

The Interior of the German Church

We walked on to the Riddarholmen Church and took a look inside there too.  This church is where many of the Swedish Royals are buried.  The interior is full of huge sarcophagi containing this king and that queen.  It just looks like as each king died they built an extension chapel on to the church and placed a huge granite tomb inside - each subsequent king got a larger tomb.

Riddarholmen Church

Tombs in the Riddarholmen Church

We then took a tour of the Opera House.  We were led around by a rather humorous English speaking woman (but then everyone seems to speak English in Sweden).  It is an impressive building and it would be wonderful to see a performance there.  We even went backstage and then onto the stage itself.  Surprisingly there was as much depth to the stage/backstage area as there was to the seating area for the audience.  I guess they need a lot of room to move those sets around.

The Opera House

The Royal Palace

After the Opera we went to the Royal Palace.  It was late in the day and it is quite a large complex so we had to be selective in what we saw before closing time.  We just went to the Royal Apartments (pretty grand for apartments) and the Treasury to see the crown jewels.

In the Royal Apartments

One of the Crowns in the Treasury

To recover from our day we went to the Grand Hotel and had drinks in the bar and watched the world go by.  A little later on, our evening meal was at a place recommended by the guide books - the Kryp In.  I had the Red Deer Steak with an appetizer of herrings.

Stockholm City Hall

The next morning we took a tour of the Stockholm City Hall.  This magnificent building is where they hold the Nobel Prize Award ceremony.  It is also where the current city council sits.  While the exterior and the first few halls were very impressive I was not ready for the jaw dropping experience of entering the Golden Hall - this was quite something - golden mosaics on every wall and the ceiling - unexpected and simply spectacular.

Council Meeting Room

The Golden Hall

The Golden Hall

After the interior tour of the City Hall we climbed to the top of the tower for a view of the city below.  Apparently there are 365 stairs to the top but I didn’t count.

View from the top of the City Hall

The Vasa

On the other side of town (it required an Uber rider or rather a Bolt ride, Uber didn’t work there) is the Vasa Museum.  This is the warship that was built in the early 1600’s that made a very short maiden voyage before keeling over and sinking in the Stockholm harbor.  It was recovered in the 1960’s and is now preserved in a purpose built museum.  It is a grand vessel and in its day with colorful ornamentations it must have been quite the sight.  Now, in 2022, it is the best preserved vessel of its era.

Ferry to Skeppsholmen

We had one last attraction to visit during our stay in Stockholm - the Museum of Modern Art.  This required us taking a ferry from the Vasa Museum to Skeppsholmen and walking up the hill to the museum.  I must say the ferry system between the islands works very well and the old ferries are quite beautiful.  The Modern Art Museum was alright but not too memorable.

The Museum of Modern Art

Back at the hotel we checked out and caught a Bolt to the ferry port for our Silja Line ferry to Helsinki.  The boat was a very modern and quite large cruise ship.  We had a cabin (as did everyone) and we were very comfortable.  We had drinks on the back deck as we sailed out of the endless archipelago outside of Stockholm.  We had a very nice meal on board and a comfortable night as we sailed across the Baltic to to Helsinki (stopping in Mariahahn on Aland in the early hours of the morning).

Leaving Stockholm

There are more Stockholm photos here.