The occasional vacation - Stockholm!

Goodafternoon!!!

I would like to break in through the horrors and sadness of recent events, and invite you to share some of our short holidaytrip to Stockholm.

                                When travelling, you must pay attention to the clouds, they keep your                thoughts in the heavens when you get too exited about worldly pleasures....

Going by bus means seeing lots of lakes and farmland. Lots of forests as well actually, since Sweden have several vast areas of both farmingland and forests. Wood is one large export merchandise.

Whoever built this barn must have had great love for his native church, they are so close that you can sit milking and singing hymns at the same time.

                                         Blessed be the rock of my salvation! The further north you get in Sweden,
                                         the more solid rock you stumble on. Many of our main roads have been                                                built by dynamiting through the rock. The mines become plenty up north.
                                       

                                          The farmhouses in this region are rather beautiful, built more than hundred
                                          years ago.

 Closing in to Stockholm you see the Globe, a music and sportsarena they are very proud of for some reason, it holds a great amount of visitors, I have listened to Elton John in here f.i. Above you can also see the proud announcement of one of the larger suburbs, Hägersten, translated.....Heron!!!!!

                                         Water surrounds Stockholm, salt and sweet. Part of the town is built on
                                         water and several islands in the great archipelago are included.

 This is the current royal castle, the Royals have flats here but normally lives at Drottningholm, Haga or like just now, Solliden on the island Öland. One of the princesses lives in the states. The old castle, Tre kronor - Three Crowns ( from the three kings in the gospel ) burnt down 1697, was more of a fortification but rather beautiful. Here you see the daily parade. In the castle official visits take place, parties and celebrations. You can visit with guides in certain parts of the building.

 Stockholm is often referred to as City of Islands, but you could also say City of Churches, because you'll find one spectacular church after the other in every part of the city. Old, older, large, larger, beautiful or just big. This red one is the St Jacobs church located in Kungsträdgården, close to the castle.

What is one to eat in Sweden? Well, pickled herring, egg, potatoes, cheese and hard bread.

                                         One popular spot in Stockholm is Djurgården that used to be closed for public and only used by the royals for hunting. Animals were imported and disposed of in merry hunting games. Today it holds galleries, museums, embassies and the amusementpark Gröna Lund. But for me Skansen is the greatest park. In Skansen you'll find an impressive collection of houses and buildings being moved and restored from all over Sweden. It also holds animals, both nordic and exotic. Handcraft and good food you can find here, as well as music and folklore. But above you see something VERY swedish - Allsång.

  It means people gathering in hundreds to sing . The two largest are broadcasted on national tv since there are artists as well. But every village holds one in summertime. We love to sing!!!
   We got no seats beacuse of the artists being so popular, f.i Laleh and some norwegian twins....
                                         

                                         Since we got no seats and standing up for seven hours was a bit too much
                                         for me, I took some walks and pictures.
                                         Here the south part of Stockholm and the Finland-ferry majestically gliding.

 Past the waffle and candystands you will find some of the buildings, this here is the interior of Seglora kyrka, from the county of Dalarna, rich in colour, poor in size.

The organ is not so impressive, but oh how beautiful!!

The ancient writings found in our churches tells of important people having done something , donated something or simply been burried in the church. This one tells of the building of the church in 1814.

 How about this old harrow, Weaver?  Horsepower and farmerpower required!!

                                         This is a farmerhouse from around 1820, built once in our county,                                                    Kyrkhult ,Blekinge.

   The traditional way to stack heyfences, today they roll it into large plastic balls.

Let us take a quick look at more recent events now!

Among the more recent events in Stockholm, there is the murder of our Primeminister Olof Palme in 1986. I remember the shock that morning. We have been happily spared this kind of political actions in modern times. Here you have the exact location on Sveavägen. This was very unexpected as was the murder of one of our ministers, Anna Lindh, 2003. 

Here you have Palmes headstone in the Adolf Fredrik churchyard. People still visit and sometimes put flowers. Several celebrities have headstones in the churchyards here, poets, composers like Carl Michael Bellman and Evert Taube, Cornelis Vreeswijk and others.

A landmark of the more modern kind is the Globe, an arena. The annual Eurovision song contest is located here. You can also ride on the outside, a pleasure I gladly refrained since I payed for the London Eye horror last year!!! The rest of the family is inside that bulb!

Now for the oldest part of the town, Old Town and Drottningholm.

The Old Town is located south of the  Royal castle and the Parliamentbuilding. Its built on water and in wintertime its held free of ice and snow to protect the narrow alleys and old houses, such as these. As you can see, the resemblance is great with cities like Amsterdam or Prague. Since our royalties were imported mostly from Germany but also from France, the local culture was moulded into something new and quite unique. By this I refer to the royalties of the 18th century. Before that we had swedish and danish kings roaming all over the country, claiming land and power and sovereignity . Those were confusing days but there is an enormous treasure of castles and monasteries from that period. Not in Stockholm though.

Narrow alleys everywhere in Old Town, beautiful houses, mysterious gaps and decorations and all of u sudden - there is indeed the loved swedish composer Evert Taube, located in Järntorget.

Evert Taube, a very popular statue for selfie-nerds!!

Now lets find the old steamship Drottningholm and visit the Archepelago of Stockholm!!

Further out you can find Björkö, Birka, a tradingplace for the vikings and the very spot where the monk Ansgar began his mission. Lots of history here!!

We travel for about one hour until we reach the old castle where the royal family mostly resides. 

The palace of Drottningholm is now in sight, with beautiful parks, the ancient theatre and yet another castle called he China castle, China was very fashionable. France as well!!

 As I mentioned, we imported our kings. This story begins with Adolf Fredrik on the right. He came from Germany and was married to Lovisa Ulrika, also from Germany, he was crowned 1751. She was very fond of culture and demanded a theatre and a castle of her own, hence Drottningholm. Actually she first got the castle of Ulriksdal but wasn't satisfied. The theatre was built , in wood, plaster and other flammable material and burnt down in may 1762. The audience was alright but several stageworkers died, something that didn't bother the queen much. She demanded a new theatre.  1766 it was finished, and though it may look solid, it too was built with wood, plaster and ---papier maché instead of marble. Well, it was absolutely more solid than the king, who literally ate himself to death and they had to send for the partyprince, Gustav, the left portrait. He became Gustav the third, well known for his love of the theatre and the music. In his court Carl Michael Bellman was a part. 

 No electric lights and no camera flashes. The machinery behind and underneath is still he same!!!
The decorations at the time where the same all over Europe and used in all the plays, about 6-7 sets.
The actors always played the same parts and payed for their costumes themselves and had their quarters behind the scene and underneath. Gustav the third was not allowed to act anymore so he began writing instead.

 Balconies of all kinds, for secret meetings and for showing off but careful, the pillars holding it is made out of papier maché!!!

 This was the living quarters of prominent guests, the wallpaper was nailed to the walls and could easily be replaced and moved!! This is the original wallpaper!

The servants held more simpler quarters but better than the stageworkers and actors!!!

Well, this was just a quick glance through our capitol, some history, some scenery, some fun and some horrors. I hope you enjoyed this little tour!!!