So after I returned to Sweden from Norway, I decided to go to Stockholm. I ended up taking a night bus there from Gothenburg (where Margie is living), and arrived at around 6 am. I didn't sleep a wink all night, because busses are so uncomfortable, so I was pretty much running on adrenaline after that. I had planned to meet my new Korean friend JiEun who I met on the Norway in a Nutshell Tour at 8, since she was also in Stockholm for a few days.
In the meantime, I grabbed some hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin for breakfast at the bus/train station. A bird had flown into the building, and was chirping loudly from an artificial tree in front of me. At 6 in the morning, after a sleepless night, this irritated me.
8 o'clock came and went. Then 8:15 came...and went. Then 8:30. 8:45. 9:00. No JiEun. We were supposed to meet at the tourist information counter, but she never showed. I was kind of frustrated, but shook it off. I ventured out into the city, and started Rick Steve's walking tour.
The first thing I found was a beautiful church about 2 blocks away from the train station. It was made of brick and had a huge steeple. The trees around it had turned deep red and bright yellow, which was beautiful. There was no one around at all.
Then I walked to Gamla Stan, the historic and oldest district of Stockholm. Here, you will find the Royal Palace, Parliament, the Stockholm Cathedral, the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, Stortorget (the central square where the "Stockholm Bloodbath" occured back in 1520, when Swedish noblemen were massacred by the King), the German Church, the Danish Church, cobbled streets, midievil alleyways, and archaic architecture.
As I was making the rounds, I met a group of 7 Turkish girls who were international students at a nearby university. Initially, they asked me to take their picture, and then we all just sort of stuck together. They were very sweet, and I was glad to meet them. We also looked around a few shops, until the changing of the gaurd was taking place at noon.
We went to the Royal Palace, where a large crowd was already starting to form. I was excited, because I've never seen any type of changing of guards before. It was quite cold outside, and my hands, face, ears, and legs were freezing. All of the sudden, someone tapped on my shoulder, and it was JiEun! I couldn't believe that we found each other!! I guess she thought we were meeting at a different information counter, and we never found each other.
Unfortunately, because of some sort of police emergency, the changing was delayed by 20 minutes. Everybody groaned, but waited anyway. Then the guy came back on the mic, and said that it would be yet another 15 minutes. At this point, JiEun and I said "screw it" and left. We found a restaurant and had the traditional dish of Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes. It was extremely salty, but good nonetheless.
After this, we visited the German church. Gamla Stan was an interesting place back in the day, when many settlers from many different countries occupied the city. Therefore, there is a German church, a Danish church, and a Dutch church. Everyone wanted their own church!!
Then we went to the Nobel Museum. It was a little hard to get into because of all of the intense information to read, and we didn't have much time to stay there. There were also some pieces of artwork here that were very interesting...like a statue of the Dahli Lahma carved entirely out of a stack of Manhattan phonebooks!
Next, JiEun and I walked down the cobblestone roads to the sea. My feet were killing me thanks to those damn stones. They are beautiful to look at, and even walking on them is ok....as long as you don't do it all day long. To make matters worse, I had my backpack, my purse, and my laptop. Adding this to no sleep, blistered feet, no sleep, and a chronically sore back and neck, it wasn't the best thing in the world.
We caught a ferry over to a different part of Stockholm, where we visited another cool open-air museum/zoo called Skansen. It is 75 acres, including an full replica, 19th-century town with over 150 buildings and people dressed in period clothing. There are also beautiful gardens, a fernicular train, a reindeer farm, bears, and windmill...the list goes on. It was really unique...definitely my favorite thing in Stockholm. I highly recommend it!
Next, we went to the Vasa Ship Museum. Back in the 1600s, a top-heavy warship named the "Vasa" was built, only to sink on its native voyage a little over a mile off the coast due to insufficient ballast. There were 145 sailors and 300 soldiers on board, off to fight in the Baltic fleet during the Thirty Years' War. All perished. Then, in 1961, the Vasa was recovered from the ocean floor...in remarkably good condition. It has been preserved and kept in this museum ever since. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship))
We stayed there until closing, before heading back to JiEun's youth hostile to rest. We literally did nothing except lay down and mess around on the internet for the next 3 hours. After that, I caught the night bus back to Gothenburg, and returned to Margie's at around 8 in the morning, more exhausted than I have ever been in my entire life.
48 hours of no sleep at all + hardly eating (except for a few really sweet or salty things) + constantly walking on cobblestone roads with loads of bags = a really really bad idea.
Overall though, it was cool to see. Check it out if you get the chance.
