Europe 2014- Around Stockholm

Rather than my usual travel review post, this one is dedicated to a ton of pictures that we took while spending an afternoon walking around Stockholm. These were taken as we made our way from the Palace to the Abba Museum. Stockholm is a stunning city with a surprise around every corner.

As we were leaving Old Town, we walked down a narrow alley and saw this unusual Smart Sports Car. As Smart Car owners, we had Smart Car envy and imagined showing up at our local Smart Car Enthusiast club ( the SoCal Smarties) with one of these!

Stockholm has a ton of bridges and Dan took this panorama as we walked out of Old Town.

We walked under a series of enormous arches and towards a performing arts center. The musical Chicago was the current production. I would have loved to have seen Cell Block Tango done in Swedish!

We walked around a shopping district with an indoor mall and a home furnishing store that sold adorable animal themed objects. I want the leather hippo.

One of the prettiest areas was a huge park with a reflection pool, ornate water fountain and a TGI Fridays " American" restaurant. No, we did not eat at Fridays.

We walked through an art college, where we discovered a very cool sculpture garden.

We took a pretty walk near the National Museum of Art ( next visit!), past the Grand Hotel and over a gorgeous bridge with crown sculptures in the center. Crowns are a repeated theme all over Sweden.

We saw guards on horseback parading through the town. So different from home in Los Angeles.

Eventually, we reached the ferry dock.

The dock had a button that we had to push to call the ferry over.

After about twenty minutes our ferry arrived and it was off to the Abba Museum!

Europe 2014- The Royal Palace of Stockholm

We couldn't possibly visit Stockholm without having a trip to The Royal Palace as part of our itinerary.

We headed to the palace on a beautiful late August morning, walking through the streets of Old Town as the city was starting to wake up. The streets were filled with vendors dropping off food and goods to the stores that line the cobblestone roads. The architecture and the colors of the city are so beautiful, that I snapped a bunch of pictures on our walk over to the palace. At the risk of sounding like the total Californian that I am, I often felt like I was walking through the Universal Studios Backlot.

Speaking of Universal Studios, when we reached the Palace, the architecture of the building combined with its creamy yellow colored paint, made it looked like a facade. From a distance, it looked flat. The vibrant blue sky punctuated the false feeling.

We took a few pictures of the immediate interiors of the palace. It is a grand and ornate entrance that reminded me of a cathedral. Unfortunately, photography was not permitted beyond the point where tickets were being sold. The areas where we could not take photos, were even more incredible.

We paid our 150 SEK per ticket entrance fee. Since we had missed the English guided tour, we walked around the Palace on our own. I highly recommend waiting for a tour, as there are very few employees to answer questions and there is very little signage. Most of the time, the significance of the room and its contents was lost on us. Always take the tour!

Just as the buildings in Sweden are so colorful, so are the rooms inside the palace. I imagine this is to keep a warm and cheerful vibe during the bleak winters. One room had a sky painted on the ceiling that made me think of the Forum Shops in Las Vegas. As with all of the Palaces/Castles that we visited in the United Kingdom, the decor was ornate. A majority of the Palace was built in the 1700's, after a fire destroyed the original Palace in 1697. We were able to tour several sections of the Royal Apartments, including areas that are still used by the current Royal Family.

There were two rooms that made a big impression, mainly because the reminded me of Disneyland. The first, was a room that was done completely in a modern 1960's theme. It had plastic furniture and looked like it was straight out of Tomorrowland or maybe it could be Don Draper's swanky apartment in Mad Men. The other was a small, very dark sitting room with a giant, low hung chandelier that had creepy cherubs holding the candles. Immediately, Dan and I both thought of Madame Leota and the Haunted Mansion. Her crystal ball should have been on the circular table under the chandelier. Those two rooms were so out of character with everything else in the Palace.

After seeing the interiors of the Palace, we explored the outside courtyard. We arrived in time to see a changing of the guards.

We enjoyed our visit to The Royal Palace of Stockholm. It's a unique palace and a must-do when visiting Stockholm.

Europe 2014- Old Town Stockholm and Michelangelo

We were hungry and soaking wet after our trip to the Junibacken, so we headed to Old Town Stockholm (Gamla Stan) in search of a restaurant for lunch.

Right off of the ferry dock, we saw a Smart Car Coffee Cafe. Since we are proud Smart Car drivers, we had to take a snap!

Old Town is absolutely beautiful, with most of the buildings dating to the 17th and 18th century, though the town dates to the 13th century. Besides the style, I was really struck with the vibrant colors that the buildings were painted. It's so pretty and the colors really popped against the grey sky.

The narrowest street in Stockholm is Marten Trotzigs Grand.

We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant called Michelangelo. It started to rain when we arrived and the restaurant was packed with people escaping the wet. We had a few pizzas and Tiramisu. Good food, but rather average, especially when compared to our other meals on the trip. The restaurant was covered in pictures of what I assumed to be Swedish celebrities and it felt a bit like Buca Di Beppo in style.

Luckily, we were able to return to Old Town later in the trip. Stay tuned for more pictures!