Got up to the usual breakfast Smorgasbord. Pat took pictures for a separate post, though this wasn't as huge as other ones.
Went to the Ostermalm Market, which is a very old indoor market, with stalls and stalls of fish, vegetables, and other foods. yes, mostly fish! And of course, the ubiquitous potato.
The market was beautiful, with the names of all the vendors inscribed in wooden beams above their stalls. Large by Stockholm standards. We had a little Fika there, then got ready to walk around. The square outside this market was also lovely. Stockholm is a beautiful, beautiful city! Many parks, and squares, with gardens and flowers and trees. Very, very clean, vibrant, and safe feeling. We really like it.
We had bought subway tickets to cut down on our walking and to help Pat's ankle; it's also a bus pass, but there is a bus strike in Stockholm, so we can't use them. This is a pity because the subway is not an extensive system like it is in other cities, so we are still doing alot of walking. But, whatever, we can rest later.
We took the T over to Gamla Stan, and went to the Changing of the Guard. Very interesting, though it was mobbed, so we left as the band was playing old marches, and did a tour of the
Royal Castle. Interesting because the Royal Family lived there until recently, and still use the Royal Apartments for visiting important people. We are fairly "museumed and toured" out at this point, however, so we didn't take a tour.
We went back to city center, found some more interesting shopping areas and another open market. Then we went to the department store, NK, to buy "take away" coffee and pastry for our own fika. Pat loves this store! It is beautiful, the food stalls are fantastic, the clothing is very fine and expensive, and the store itself is exceptionally elegant. Dan thinks it's just another Macy's! Anyway, we got our take away, and went over to another park. We just sat and enjoyed the beautiful day in this beautiful city.
Decided to take a boat around the archipalego on the Hop On, Hop Off ferry, except we stayed on it. This was delightful, and restful.
on the way back to the hotel, got our free glasses of champagne at Prinzen, a very old, famous restaurant. This was enjoyable, except the waiter was happy to talk to us, for about an hour, about American sports. He was Swedish, but had been adopted from Ethiopia as a young child. We had noticed this all through Sweden, wondered about it, and he confirmed that yes, indeed, there are not many Swedish babies available, and so there are many adoptions to poverty stricken countries.
Came back to our hotel, rested, then went to Sodermalm for dinner, at the Moseback. To get there, we had to take a high, narrow elevator up to a high, open walkway over to the street the rest of this area is on. Pat got up her courage and did it, talking away on the elevator to offset her anxiety about heights!
As it turned out, a Swedish woman on the elevator laughed as she has the same fear, and we walked across the walkway together, straight down the middle, giving each other courage! It really wasn't that bad, but it was a help. We then went to the Mooseback restaurant, which was very casual with a limited menu, and very, very local. i think we were t
he only tourists, much less Americans there, and we enjoyed the ambience alot.
We walked around a little, then walked down the hill, and took the T home. Walked a little more, then went to sleep early. Lovely city.
