Train to Stockholm and an old city tour

Today, I decided to take the train into the city by myself and see if I could organize an old city tour.

Taking the train wasn't too troublesome, as we had taken it a few days earlier and I already had a ticket.

Finding the right exit when I arrived at central station was a little more challenging. I found the tourist information centre we visited the other day and asked one of the guides out the front for directions to the old city.


I recognized where I was about 3/4 of the way there. Bought a ticket and had an hour and a half to kill, so plonked myself down at the cafe at the museum and had a beer and chicken Caesar salad for lunch.

The tour to the old city was amazing.


Most of the buildings dated back to the 16th century. They were older, but several fires destroyed the really original buildings.



These were rebuilt in the 1600's. The architecture is amazing. Lots of narrow lane ways and a very cosmopolitan feel.


I saw the kings palace with it's several forecourts and buildings.


The King hasn't lived in the palace in the old city since 1981 as he wanted his children to grow up out of the city.


The old city is actually on a couple of islands.


There also used to be city walls, but as the city grew and expanded off the island these were torn down.



There are many narrow lane ways, one of them just 90cm wide!



And here's the main city square below, where all announcements would've made, plus it's where you went to trade goods and also where you went to get work too.





I love the old city, it had so much atmosphere and culture. Today it also has a lot of restaurants. I would imagine it to be a great place at night too.

I caught the train back to Jacobsberg after dropping into Macca's for a drink and some directions. Henrik picked me up from the station and we had another lovely BBQ courtesy of Mr Swede and his culinary skills.

Off to London tomorrow and then start my 21 day European tour. Will be sad to leave Sweden as I have had such a lovely time here, I have been made to feel very welcome and cannot express enough gratitude to Henrik, Sara, Erik and Evalina for having me in there home.



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Location:Remontvägen,Järfälla,Sweden

Tour around Stockholm by bus and Vasa Museum stop

Today we decided to catch the train into Stockholm and do a simple 'hop on, hop off" bus tour.



We saw a number of parts of the city and got off at the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship built in 1621 that was the pride of the Swedish fleet, however it sank shortly after being launched on it's maiden voyage!





Unfortunately ship design in those days was a little bit of guess work. The Vasa was a long, tall ship, but was not very wide. It was only 11 meters wide. It was later discovered that if it had been a further 80cms wide, it would have been stable enough and not sunk.



The Vasa sunk in 1621 and remained there at the bottom of the ocean until 1961" when it was salvaged and restored. It is now in a museum where everyone can appreciate it.





The Vasa was most ornate, this was the Kings pride of the fleet.

Afterwards, we went to a lovely restaurant called Josephines and had lunch.



We joined the bus tour afterwards and finished off the rest of the tour.


















We then caught the train home again and had a lovely BBQ tonight with Sara's brother Staffan and his girlfriend Jenni.







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Location:Stockholm, Sweden

Trip to the country to see Henriks Mum

Tuesday we took a drive to the country, about an hour to visit and have lunch with Henriks Mum Margareta and his step father Ake in Kyllinge north of


Jacobsberg.

Henriks cousin Elke and Andeas had travelled from hamburg in Germany to stay with Ake and Margareta. Henrik had not seen his cousins for 5 years.

Ake prepared a lovely lunch and all of the ingredients were fresh from their farm even including the deer!


The food was amazing, so tasty, I had deer and it was so beautiful, barbecued, just lovely. Ake made his world famous omelette


as well, a real treat. Dessert was amazing, a simple compote of fresh rasberries and strawberries from the garden with ice-cream.

Ake is an experienced hunter and has an impressive collection of stuffed animals, deer heads and hunting equipment, knives etc. We had the grand tour of his study/ hunting gallery.


they grow a lot of their own food, they have chickens, ducks, and Ake hunts in the forrest for food.




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Sunday Outing to Feather Island

On Sunday we headed for one of the islands called in english Feather Island. I was able to establish that on this island many years ago was an original whisky distillery. We took the ferry there, about half an hour ride. At the dock where the ferry took off, there was the old tall ship called the Bounty which has been the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

















There were many interesting sites along the way including some historic old buildings at the old city where the ferry took off from.










Sara and Henrik had packed a lovely picnic lunch once again which we ate from one of the cliffs or rocks overlooking one of the bays.



When we returned, the walk back to the car took us through some very cosmopolitan streets





and we had a beer at a nice location with a view over the city.





Notice the nice Volvo in the foreground, it's Sara's!






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Location:Remontvägen,Järfälla,Sweden

Weekend in Sweden

Saturday 16th

On Saturday we headed out to visit one of the King and Queen's 15 palaces. This one was called DrottningHolm Slott.


Slott means Castle in Swedish. while this was not their primary residence, it was certainly spectacular. It was first built in 1681, so makes it over 350 years old!


We had a look around the gardens and the buildings. I even accidentally stepped over the semi circle and incurred the wrath of one of the guards.


Afterwards we had a lovely picnic that Sara had prepared.


We walked around the grounds and my misunderstanding Erik the night before when he was talking about having cheese balls, and I thought he said sheep balls, became a little funny when we were being followed by a number of sheep!

We headed home for a power nap and then had a great BBQ with Kent, Burgita, Steffann and Michael and his wife


Ulrika.

It was a lovely evening, hover due to my jet lag, I went to bed by 10.30pm.



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Location:Jacobsberg,Sweden

Arriving in Sweden and staying with the Grankvist's

I arrived in Sweden on the 15th of July after almost 24 hours of traveling. Thought I had lost my suitcase at the airport! left standing at the carousel until I was the last person left. Luckily, the baggage desk had it - for some reason they took it because they though it had to connect with another flight.
Henrik greeted me at the airport, we went home and chilled. Kids are on school holidays, Sara has to work.



First day I just chilled out, had a lovely roast pork for tea and was in bed by 7pm!

Location:Stockholm, Sweden