Postcards from... Stockholm

If I'm honest, Stockholm had never been on my radar, but then I realised what a fantastic hub the city's Arlanda airport is and I found myself booking four flights that routed through it. Since I was in the area, it made sense to visit the city. And before I knew it, Stockholm had become part of my itinerary. Unlike the rest of my trip, the weather was absolutely wonderful. It didn't rain once and consequently I spent most of my time outside, just wandering.

Hemlös Räv (Rag and bone with blanket) by Welsh sculptor, Laura Ford

View from one of the many bridges

 

The spire of Riddarholmskyrkan from across the river

 

On my travels I came across a beautiful building, which I stopped to photograph. It turned out to be Riddarhuset (The House of Nobility) dating from the 17th century. The initial planning for the House of Nobility was done by the French architect, Simon de la Vallée, but in 1642, he was killed – somewhat ironically – by a Swedish nobleman! The plans were eventually finished in 1660 by his son, Jean de la Vallée. The building served as the upper house of Parliament, (rather like the UK's House of Lords) until 1866, when it was replaced by the Riksdag (Parliament of Sweden). In 2003, Riddarhuset became a private institution that maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility.

Riddarhuset with a statue of King Gustaf I (r. 1523-1560) in front

Not far from Riddarhuset, I saw a rather nice church. I couldn't cross the road fast enough to get to it! However, once safely across, a well thought out piece of graffiti caught my eye. I paused to take a photo, knowing that I would be unlikely to remember where I had seen it later. Then it was on to the church.

Graffiti that appealed to me

Dating back to the late 13th century, Riddarholmskyrkan (Riddarholm Church) is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm. It is also the burial church of the former Swedish monarchs and, with the exception of Queen Christina (r. 1632-1654) who is buried in St Peter's Basilica in Rome, all succeeding rulers from Gustaf II Adolf (r. 1611-1632) to Gustaf V (r. 1907-1950) are buried here. Modern-day Swedish monarchs are buried in Kungliga begravningsplatsen (The Royal Cemetery).

The burial church

Appealing lines

Because I had been sun-starved for so long, I wanted nothing more than to spend my time in the city outdoors. But there was one building I did pay to enter, and that was Kungliga slotted (Royal Palace).

Built on the site of a former fortress, construction began in 1692. Five years later, the palace was complete, only for it to suffer major fire damage that same year. Work to rebuild it commenced immediately, and some 63 years later, the palace was finished for a second time. The palace is the official residence of the Swedish monarch, in this case, King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife, Queen Silvia of Sweden. With 1,430 rooms, it is one of the largest royal palaces in the world still used for its original purpose.

Marble staircase in the Royal Palace

One of the many ornate chandeliers

The hall of Karl XI (r. 1660-1697), inspired by the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles

Close-up of the ceiling

Vita havet (The White Sea Halls)

A beautiful blue room

 

I had been very obviously taking photos throughout my wanderings in the palace. So when I came to what was now my favourite room, I didn't hesitate to do the same. But the room was pretty dark, the use of flash was banned and I had no tripod so I had to get creative with my picture-taking. To get the least shaky shot possible, I sat on the floor, placed my camera on my guide book and balanced the lens on my purse to get a (slightly) better angle. I took my picture, but I wanted a close up of the ceiling...

 

My favourite room

This time, I crouched down, put my camera squarely on its back on the floor and pressed the button... only to have a security guard rush over and instruct me to cease what I was doing IMMEDIATELY as I was breaking the law! The LAW?! Are you freaking serious?! He was. Apparently Royal Palace law states that you cannot use anything other than your camera to take photos, and that includes floors! As if the floor had done anything other than provide a base for the camera to stand on! I still got my shot though – just look how pretty it is!


The shot that broke the, ummm, law

Having seen what I had come to see (and broken a law that I didn't know existed), I left the palace. But my law-breaking continued outside when, too busy looking up, I accidentally walked through the Royal guard's 'box', which was spray-painted onto the cobbles! The guard had a major sense of humour failure about it too. Perhaps he knew that I had already broken "Royal Palace Law". I beat a hasty retreat and decided to steer clear of the Royal Palace for the rest of my stay!

One of the things I was most interested in seeing was Skogskyrkogården, a gorgeous graveyard – yes, graveyard! Aside from it being gorgeous and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is 'home' to Greta Garbo. I found the graveyard easily enough; Greta Garbo's grave was another matter entirely. It completely eluded me. Thanks to a badly-drawn map on the site, I managed to get to the right area, but I just couldn't see the grave. Despite an hour spent wandering around, the elusive grave remained elusive. Annoyed at myself for (a) not having Googled it before hand, and (b) not having found it, I decided to call it quits and move on to the next thing on the agenda.

 

Rolling green fields that make up Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery)

Peace and solitude

 

 

Rows of well-kept graves

 



The giant dark granite cross near the entrance



The next day, less grumpy and more determined, I went back to the cemetery, and persevered until I found what I was looking for. I took some photos of the headstone, and then swung round to take a photo of Greta Garbo's 'view'. And that's when I realised that had I only turned around the day before, I would have seen the grave. I had been standing near those trees at the top of the steps! Doh!

 

Greta Garbo's memorial

 

 

Greta Garbo's 'view'

 

Having given up on Skogskyrkogården the previous day, I headed to Skansen. Founded in 1891, Skansen is the world's second-oldest open-air museum, the oldest being King Oscar II's collection near Oslo, which opened in 1881 and is now incorporated into the Norske Folkemuseum. It was Skansen, however, that became the model for future open-air museums, and the name 'Skansen' has even been used as a noun to refer to such sites.

The entrance

At the entrance I flashed my Stockholm Card, and cursed inwardly when the assistant said it was only valid for a single use. That meant that I would have to see everything in one go, or stump up the SEK 130 (£12/€15/US$21) entrance fee for a second look, which I was reluctant to do. Sadly, seeing everything looked rather unlikely as thanks to more badly-drawn maps (Jeez, what is it with this place?!) I was soon lost, and frustrated. Eventually, I learned to follow the crowds. Someone had to know where they were going, right?

 

Old bike outside a traditional bakery

Three little pigs

 

I trailed the crowds and found myself looking at farmhouses and farm animals, old churches, huts and traditional shops. But perhaps my favourite part was the Akvariet (open-air zoo), mainly because of the ring-tailed lemurs. Visitors to the zoo walk right through the lemurs' enclosure – you get close enough to touch them! – and as I was climbing some steps, I paused to take a photo of a lemur dozing on them, completely oblivious to the passers-by!

Lemur dozing on the very steps I had to walk up!

I saw as much of Skansen as I could take. What I hadn't seen would have to wait till another time because I was off to Vasamuseet, which is the most visited museum in Scandinavia.

The museum houses the 17th century warship, Vasa, which sank in 1628 on its maiden voyage after just 20 minutes of sailing. In 1961, some 333 years after the sinking, it was recovered from the Baltic sea. Seeing the ship up close was incredible, as was finding out about the history. I was impressed with all the reconstruction work they've done, especially with the faces of the 30 or so people who died.

The mighty Vasa which sank after just 20 minutes of sailing

Of all the Scandinavian capitals, Stockholm was my least favourite, although looking back at these photos, I have no idea why. Perhaps it was the palace law-breaking? After all, I managed to avoid such incidents in Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki. Or perhaps it was just that Stockholm is the biggest and therefore busiest of the capitals, and as much as I like cities, I am a small-town (or even country) girl at heart. Either way, revisiting it virtually has made me want to revisit it for real. Maybe one day I will, although next time I'll try not to break any laws!