I knew it was going to be a long day, and I needed an early start, so this morning, I was up at 8.30am, had a big bowl of cereal and a cup of tea, plus a slice of bread with Nutella courtesy of some young Italian ladies, and I had a real spring in my step. I was practially running to the tourist office to buy the Stockholm Card: I couldn't really do much without it.
Anyway, the first thing I saw was this, Stortorget, the square outside my hostel. That building is the Nobel Museum, a museum about the Nobel Prize, obviously. Might go there tomorrow.
And here's the door to the hostel itself. Pretty unassuming.
The Riksdag Building.
And again from higher up.
Over the river.
Walking up Drottinggatan towards Sergels Torg.
And here is Sergels Torg.
The little-ish tower in Sergels Torg.
Outside the Tourist Information is Kungsträdgården, which looks nice obviously.
Nordiska Kompaniet, the huge department store. I went inside later on, and it's pretty much like a big department store such as Debenhams. Pricey, though (and 10kr for the toilet!).
Skansen. Crazy place, like the American Adventure but set in 18th-century Sweden. I can't remember much about the individual buildings and such, so all of these pictures will have no comment.
Except this one. Well, it's a big cock (sorry).
Enough of that, I didn't have nearly enough time there. I was there for around an hour, but I need about four or so, it's so big. Anyway, next to it is the Biology Museum, which I hadn't planned on going to, but it's free on the Stockholm Card.
In fact, I did a lot today that I didn't plan, but was free on the card. That's the advantage of the card I suppose.
This is a big 360 degree panorama, stuffed with animals. Granted, I spent about 5 minutes in the whole museum, so not really worth it without the card, but nice anyway.
In case you don't recognise it...
Around the area where Vasa Museum is, there are a great many boats. Swedes like boats.
As you can see. This was free regardless, so I didn't have high hopes. Just a load of boats.
Now THIS... is the Vasa, a sunken ship over 300 years old that was miraculously saved from the ocean bed in the 60s by the Swedes. Very, very big. The photo doesn't quite do it justice.
Big.
Aw, it fell down.
Ooh, boats.
Fighting boats.
People on a boat.
BIG people on a boat.
Big boat.
This man's name is/was Filip, apparently. In his 30s, a sailor on the Vasa when she went down. He looks quite good considering.
Oh, maybe not. These are his remains. I wish the mouth wasn't hanging open like that, it's not very nice.
Ugh. There was a good video all about the ship and its restoration which may or may not be voiced by Stellan Skarsgård, so if you go there, look for the timetable on the right side of the entrance and go there first. I went there last.
On to another museum. This is the Nordiska Museum. It's rather large, a bit too large for me, and the stuff is largely related to Swedish furniture and house-based things. For me, a little dull.
Grand, though.
And in the toys section, I didn't expect this at all.
It looks nice on the outside, but it's really not for me. At least it came with the card. Junibacken was also on the card, but it's for kids, and the huge queue put me off. Vasa also had a HUGE queue but it was worth it.
Speaking of which... a quick bus ride took me to Kaknästortet, the TV tower - basically Stockholm's equivalent to Berlin's funky TV tower. The view from the top is, of course, lovely.
And from the bottom it's quite interesting too.
Walking back past the field you saw a couple of pics ago. A charming scene.
I went here, the Museum of Ethnography, which I didn't really have much time for by that point, but had a very interesting exhibit on human trafficking. It amazes me that such things occur quite regularly, though from reading it seems that it stems from poor women in poor countries going through a dodgy deal to get a job in a foreign country. Maybe educating the potential victims is a good place to start?
I also went to the National Sports Museum of Sweden, celebrating Sweden's sporting history. But, it was a bit small, and the only really nice thing was a little games-type room where you could play some hand/eye coordination stuff. Otherwise disappointing. I took the bus back to town, but it got stuck in traffic 3/4 of the way, so I ditched it. Went past the Theatre. Don't think it'd be worth going inside a theatre unless I saw a play.
Looking down Kungsgatan. I had a McDonald's for dinner. Hey, Stockholm's expensive! Besides, the McFeast was very nice.
And finally... yes, I know, but I couldn't NOT get them, could I? Also depends if you want saltlakrits (salt licorice) in your Plopp.Tune in again for another thrilling adventure, with possibly more stuff than today. Woo.
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