18 September 2023

Coffee joy!!

Today was a 10/10 day. Grahame was a bit concerned about giving a perfect score, but I figure if you’ve got no complaints, it’s a 10!! It was going to be a good day!!

We had a bit of “house keeping” to do today. We needed to book train tickets for tomorrow and bus tickets for next week. We walked to the Train Station and sorted out our travel plans. Being in a different part of the city gave us the chance to explore a new area.

It was morning peak hour and the commuters were on the move. The cycle lanes were full with workers heading in to their offices. It was a lovely morning and the conditions were favourable for cycling. I wonder if it’s this busy when it’s r#*ning or snowing. Probably!!!

We came across another spire and went to investigate.

We found St Clara’s Church and were welcomed inside without having to pay an entrance fee. Of course it was beautiful.

But it may be my new favourite. Off to one side, tables were laid out, covered in food and drinks. “Locals in need” were filing past, collecting a meal and a hot drink. It was a nice place.

We decided that it had been a while since we had been on a boat, (a whole 48 hours??) so we bought tickets to the Hop On Hop Off Boat.

It circled the city‘s waterways and visited several of the local islands. 8 stops in all, before doing it all over again. Each circuit took approximately one hour.

We had a full day ticket, meaning we could use the boat all day.

We actually did the whole trip twice over the day, hopping off for an hour at two different stops. We ran out of time to go around again.

Our first stop was to visit the Vasa Museum.

The Vasa was a Swedish Warship built in the early 1600’s. She sank in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage having sailed just over one kilometre! The ship was too top heavy and dangerously unstable. Despite this she was ordered to sea and foundered within minutes.

She was discovered in the 1950’s and in the early 1960’s was salvaged, largely intact. She now sits high and dry in the Vasa Museum and is absolutely stunning. Breathtaking even. Sadly my photos don’t do justice to this amazing vessel.

From here we caught our little boat back to Gamla stan as it was almost time for The Changing of the Guard Ceremony” at the Palace.

The Palace is currently closed to tourists but there was a display called “Vasa to Bernadotte- Culture in Service to the Realm“ (Vasa was elected king 500 years ago and the current King, a Bernadotte, has been in the throne for 50 years). We paid the entry fee, which gave us access to a small part of the Palace, and a view of some very lovely stuff!!

All this activity had made us hungry. We gravitated to the pretty square in search of a café.

The sky had clouded over, and it was lunchtime, so I ordered meatballs. Again! Along with a glass of hot mulled wine. Yummo.

We took another ride on our little boat, this time getting off on Djurgården Island.

We had intended to to visit Skansen, a large outdoor museum, but we were running out of time and decided to go for a walk in the park instead. It was a lovely break from the hustle and bustle and a good opportunity to burn off some meatballs!

Our next stop was at Slussen on trendy Södermalm. We arrived just as all those cyclists were heading home from work. It was amazing to watch. There were cycling traffic jams. And a rather steep hill. Made for fascinating viewing.

We arrived back home having logged well over 20,000 steps for the day. We put our feet up for a while before heading out for dinner at the little café on the corner.

Just outside our dinner venue, I couldn’t help but notice this amazing horse, slaying the dragon, whilst keeping St George on his back.

Grahame chose Fish and Chips but not me! I had…… meatballs again, again!!

Did I mention it was cloudy?