So similar to our
stop in Germany, we’re not exactly sure who thought Nynashamn was close to
anything. When we had booked the cruise,
Stockholm was listed as the port of call.
About a week before we left, I was sending our families the itinerary &
noticed that it now said Nynashamn. I’m
not sure when it was switched. I asked
about it at the ship concierge desk; they said that because there are so many
islands around Stockholm the port authorities require ships to come in and out
in complete daylight and as the sun would set around 5pm, we would only have
about 2 hours in Stockholm. From
Nynashamn, Stockholm is about a 60 minute drive but as you can get out of the
port even if it’s dark we wouldn’t leave until 6pm thus giving us about 5 hours
in Stockholm (or 7 hours in Nynashamn).
I guess that
makes sense.
Except that Nynashamn
doesn’t have a pier for a cruise ship.
So we had to board a tender boat (one of the life crafts) which 70
people at a time ferried us from the middle of a bay to the pier.
At the time of us
visiting Stockholm, I had just finished reading the Millennium trilogy by Stieg
Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,
etc), many of the city’s neighborhoods were recognizable to me; Södermaim and
Hökens Gata. The Swedes have yet to cash
in on making a good tourist trap to follow Mikael & Lisbeth around the city
yet, but I’m sure they will in time. They
have finally (in May of 2013) opened an ABBA museum – that’s only 35 since they
hit it big. So, look for the Millennium
museum opening in 2045!
As we neared the
royal palace, we were stopped by a police officer and told to stay back as ‘the
family’ was coming through. About 10
minutes later, a large procession of horses processed from the main street to
the road infront of the palace. Everyone
on the horses looked to be military in full uniform, so we figured that ‘the
family’ had been in the mix somewhere that we hadn’t picked out. Just then a Volvo SUV with darkened windows
followed. Apparently ‘the family’ didn’t
feel the need to be out with the cold, smelly horses.
Back on track, we
walked up to the palace. The palace is
Italian in feel and style. The current
palace is from 1754 rebuilt in just 4 years on the same location as the
previous palace which burned to the ground in a slightly suspicious fire (some
cousins challenging the rule of the current King were a bit too close to town
when the fire started). It’s currently
in the middle of a 20 year restoration.
Due to my amazing Photoshop cropping skills, you have been spared the
spider web of scaffolding surrounding the outside of the palace.
We tried
following a Rick Steves’ walking tour.
Most of the time he does a great job of hitting the highlights and
throwing a thing or two of interest in there.
Why he decided this needed to be on the tour, I don’t know.
According to
Rick, legend says the statue honor the orphans who had to transfer cargo from
sea ships to lake ships before Stockhom’s locks were built. Some people rub his head for good luck,
others for wisdom. We rubbed our own heads
wondering why we’d bothered searching the courtyard looking for this statue.
To get back on
the main path, we had to walk down a couple small ally-way type roads. As we turned the corner to enter one, we came
across a group of about 15 school children with two adults. The line leader child pointed at us and
shouted something in Swedish then all the children and the two adults crouched
down against the wall of the ally as if they were hiding from us. I have never been so confused in my
life. Adam & I tried to say hello as
we walked past, but all the children kept playfully shouting things at us in
Swedish and giggling as they covered their heads and hid against the wall. Muddled, we move along quickly. After we passed, the group stood up and continued
walking through the ally. Who knows!
Confused, we
entered Stortorget, the colorful old square of Stockholm. I loved the brilliant reds, yellows and
greens of the buildings in the square.
So much so, that there is now a local artist rendition of the square and
fountain in my travels art collection.
King Karl XII
greeted us as we entered Kungsträdgården, the King’s Garden. Apparently all this space was needed for the
King’s cabbage crop. I make no further
comments.
We ended our tour
outside the very modern Stockholm Gallerian Mall. We had to laugh at the “people” clamoring to
get in.
From Stockholm we
boarded the ship again for our final two days at sea before returning to
London.
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