Stockholm is often lost in the mix when it comes to European capitals, and I would have to say that it is by far one of the most underrated cities on the continent. Stockholm does not have as much to offer as, say, London, but what is there is pretty amazing. I'll start with my favorite attraction, the Vasa Museum. In 1628, Sweden was at war with Poland, and King Gustav Vasa ordered the construction of a massive warship to send to battle. The vessel sank in Stockholm's harbor about 10 minutes into its maiden voyage; it was too top-heavy and capsized while turning. In the 1950's, the ship was removed from the floor of the Baltic Sea, well-preserved due to the boggy nature of the waters. The ocean floor sediments protected the wood from decomposition. After years of cleaning, the ship is now on display.
Stockholm also has a sleu of beautiful, traditional Scandinavian churches. Most churches in Sweden were originally Roman Catholic. Gustav Vasa essentially United the three Swedish kingdoms in the 1500's, and the Reformation came to Sweden shortly after, at which time the Church of Sweden (Lutheran) was established. The majority of churches in Sweden today are Lutheran.
Riddarholms Kyrkan (Riddarholm Church), they charged to go inside, which we thought was absurd:
Domkyrkan (Stockholm Cathedral), next to the Royal Palace:
The German Church:
I also visited the Royal Palace, Nobel Museum, and the Historic Museum while I was with Luca and Allison. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside any of those.
The Nobel Museum commemorated the winners of the Nobel Prize and explained its history. The Nobel Peace Prize is still given in Oslo, but the others (Peace, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Medicine, Economics) are awarded in Stockholm. Much of the museum was also dedicated to human rights and included exhibitions regarding free speech and women's rights.
The Historic Museum was pretty interesting, it documented Sweden's history from about the last Ice Age to today, and had quite a bit of information regarding the Vikings. They are best known for their worldwide raids, and they were actually the first people to sail to the Americas (does Leif Ericsson ring a bell?). As a matter of fact, the only reason they did not settle in the Americas was their failure to set up a flourishing civilization in Greenland. When Leif told everyone about what we call "America," others thought he was a nut... looks like Scandinavia missed out on that one. Other interesting bits of information regarded the Roman Empire. Good ties developed between the Romans and the Germanic peoples after the Romans failed to conquer them. Many Roman-style utensils (drinking vessels, tools, etc.) are found in Germanic graves.
When I returned to Stockholm with Allison, it was raining, and so we went to the... Music Museum. Yes, there was a whole room dedicated to Abba, and Allison was singing along, loudly and proudly, to all of their greatest hits (I played along but really wanted to fall through the floor :-P and I didn't dare sing, since that would make everyone else in the museum want to fall through the damn floor). There were also plenty of instruments on display, all of which we could listen to samples of, and we could even try playing some of them. Definitely the most fun museum of the bunch.
Stockholm's Royal Palace looks somewhat bland from the outside, but has amazing architecture and wall paintings within. An admissions ticket got us access to the Royal Apartments, the Treasury, the Tre Kronor Museum, and the Armory. The Royal Apartments were simply fantastic. The Reception Hall was reminiscient of the one in Windsor Castle (see the London Post), and some rooms had awesome paintings on the wall and ceilings. One room had a ceiling painting depicting an individual from the four major continents (Europe, Africa, Asia, America) on each side, with Sweden in the middle (a bit self-centered?). The Treasury was a collection of crowns, swords, and other such artifacts; the baptism chalice for the royal family was also on display. The Tre Kronor Museum was dedicated to the original royal palace, which was destroyed by fire in the 1700's (only one wing remains). The Armory contained a collection of arms, coaches, and other royal artifacts.
This is the palace that the royal family uses as a "place of work" of sorts. The family actually lives in a palace outside of the city proper, which is not open to visitors :(My discussion of Stockholm would be incomplete without mentioning the hostel. We stayed in the Red Boat Malaren... yeah, the hostel was on a motherf***ing boat (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtboQ8AZl4k). You could even feel it rocking in the water haha. The breakfast buffet in the mornings was awesome (and, of course, we stole lunch from it).
After visiting Stockholm with Allison and Luca was Norway... but I'll save that for another post.
