Day 234: Stockholm, Sweden!

Today we got to Stockholm, the final port of call on the cruise, before we make our way back to Copenhagen.

The excursion we took was a short one of three hours only. But it was a good three hours! Stockholm was beautiful - I can't really seem to place my finger on why exactly but both the hubby and I totally loved it. It was quintessentially European and that was enough, I suppose. 

We started off with a bus ride in the company of our hilarious guide for the day - a guy who spoke in British accent and had some of the funniest stories to share. Our first stop was the City Hall on the way to which we had a photo stop on top of a hill to take pictures of the Stockholm skyline. Stockholm is an archipelago consisting of 14 islands and the key water body is the humungous Lake Malaren. From the hill top we could see the lake, the old architecture maintained intact on one side and their amusement park outlining the other side. One of the fascinating stories we heard on the way to City Hall was about this 1-woman theater. Apparently there is an 18-seater theater in stockholm in a very old building, and it is completely run by a lady, all by herself. She cleans and maintains it, does the ticketing for the performance there and even does the solo theatre performance that outlines the history of that building. How fascinating! 

The City Hall in Stockholm is where the Nobel Prize ceremony and banquet is held every year. The building is relatively new (early 20th century) but comes with its own fascinating set of stories, mainly around its eccentric architect. Here's a sample - apparently the stairway in the main hall (called the "Blue Room") was constructed in such a way that your posture automatically becomes tall and elegant as you walk down the stairs, provided you focus your eyes on a particular star that has been engraved on to one of walls of the room. The story goes that he made his wife walk up and down several times to test this. They eventually got a divorce. Another story is how he wanted the whole place to be done in Blue first (and hence the name "Blue Room" for the main hall), but after the brickwork was done, he liked that look instead and it was left at that, but the name "Blue Room" remained). 

Another fascinating room was the "Golden Hall". This one, as the name indicates, was golden in colour with illustrations from Swedish history.

After spending a considerable time in and around the City Hall, and taking a ton of pictures with the adjacent Lake Malaren as the backdrop, we proceeded to the Old Town. 

The Old Town, or the Gamla Stan, as the name very rightly indicates, is pretty much the oldest part of the town, dated back to the 13th century. It has narrow, wooden houses in a row, cobbled streets without side pavements and a community well in the square centre. The place also has the Royal Palace next to it and we caught sight of a few Royal Guards in their posts. I am still very fascinated by the thought of Royal Guards, don't ask me why. It is just fascinating to see them, in their uniforms, looks all solemn and important, and do their routine - walk up and down, taking a certain number of steps at regular, timed intervals. It's such an elaborate process for something that's of no real practical use most probably. 

Anyway, at the Old Town, we decided to part from our excursion group most of whom were returning back to the ship and instead, decided to explore a bit more in the few spare hours we have before heading back to the ship. 

After walking around the Old Town, taking in the sights, refreshing ourselves with some coffee and getting a bit of shopping done, we decided to walk in the direction of Opera House and get lunch somewhere in the area. 

Just as we were getting out of Old Town, we saw a huge crowd outside the Palace waiting for something, clearly, but we had no idea what they were waiting for and for how long. We could tell that something significant was going to happen but we didn't stay on figure out what is was because the crowd was a bit too much. So we continued on our way out of Old Town and after about 10 minutes, we came across a spectacular sight! 

We were walking down the pavement and right next to us, on the roads, was a long, majestic procession of the Royal Guards on their horses. About 40-50 of them! It was amazing! All three of us, including the little one, watched them with fascination! This is what the crowd outside the Palace was waiting for and thanks to our good luck, we could get a real close look without any crowd at all! It was a superb experience, no doubt!  

After absorbing that amazing sight, we continued our walk to and beyond the Opera House, until, almost by accident, we reached Drottningatan, a major pedestrian street in Stockholm, lined with shops and cafes -  a perfect stop for lunch. Today, we decided to get some Asian lunch, and settled for Thai and Japanese fares. Lunch was pretty good, not only because of the food but also because it gave some much needed rest to my feet - all that walking had taken its toll. Post lunch, we did what everyone simply has to do on that street apart from eating - shopping! 

Later we took the shuttle bus provided by the ship to get back to the pier. Thus ended the last excursion on the cruise. Later in the evening, we caught a show by the dancers and singers from the ship, on a Disco theme, which was pretty nice. The little one behaved through this one as well, which was great!

Tomorrow the ship will be at sea, giving us that much required rest day to pack, before getting off the day after.