Before landing in Stockholm, the pilot said that the weather down there was bad. Never heard these kind of honest comments from pilots before 🙂 Unfortunately, he was right. Stockholm welcomed us with low clouds, drizzle and fog. But that didn’t stop us. The agenda for the next 2.5 days was full. To kick things off, we took the Royal Canal boat tour and we were lucky to have sun for about 2 whole minutes.

We continued with a walking tour through the old city – Gamla Stan. Narrow cobbled streets, beautiful architecture and people walking everywhere.

The next morning, we woke up around 4:30 am and it was already light outside. When I looked out of the window, I saw a huge cruise liner emerging from the thick fog like a ghost ship.

First, we headed to Drottningholm Palace – queen’s residence outside Stockholm. As expected – grandeur and opulence and no photography allowed.

Next on the list was Wasa Warship museum. It was interesting to learn about the massive boat that sunk on its first voyage due to poor design. It stayed on the bottom of the sea for 333 years until it was lifted to the surface in an almost intact condition. Next door, the Nordic museum was nothing to write home about.

On the way to the next stop, deep underground, we found a very impressive metro station.

Skansen museum is like a window into Sweden’s past. Old houses from various regions of the country representing different trades were brought there to preserve the history of local crafts like glass blowing, woodworking, and baking.

There is also a small zoo with Nordic animals in Skansen. We saw some very animated bears.

For dinner we had a traditional smorgasbord (buffet) at Verandan with lots and lots of fish. Yummy!

On the last day, we walked through the “new city”, marched along the parade for changing of guards at the Royal Palace, found the Iron Throne at the Royal Armory, took a guided tour of the City Hall and learned about their odd golden room, and ran into what looked like a parody of the Brazilian carnival on the way to a public library.

We ended the trip to Sweden with a lovely dinner at our friends’ place in Stockholm. Thanks for your hospitality guys and, as we said, you are welcome to CA!