J and J's First Full Day in Stockholm

JOHN'S FIRST FULL DAY IN SWEDEN. BOAT TRIP AND WALK AROUND THE OLD TOWN INCLUDING ROYAL PALACE.

The day started quite quickly because I thought  our boat trip started at 1:30pm but really it was 10:30pm and I had slept in. But thanks to a fast taxi ride we made it with time to spare. The place where we boarded the boat was near the old town area which is where the affluent people live. For example, one of the Abba group had a studio there.

When I saw the boat we were to cruise around the islands in I was even more surprised, and delighted. I must admit I have a very soft spot for Swedish and Danish boats. They are the right shape,(short and small), and they have a funnel! Every boy's dream toy boat come true! 

But it was the interior that was the biggest surprise, I thought it would be just a ferry boat with lines of benches. Not so. This one looked like a rather comfortable floating old style European flat. Wood panelled walls, subdued lighting, comfortable seats etc. I thought all it needed was a decent shower and toilet, and little bedroom and I would have happy to live there! The nicest surprise was the Glogg pot was heating up. (But more of that later).

As the cruise progressed we had the usual stats and dates etc. The one thing that struck me was the similarity between the development of some of the outer islands of Stockholm, and the more remote areas of Cinque Terra in Italy. Just as in Italy when the rich moved out to the more remote areas the land went up in price, so it did in Stockholm. Once upon a time you could buy a WHOLE Island for one Swedish Kroner, which is somewhere around sixty cents Australian, I think, AND, get a couple of smaller islands thrown in. Now, these "outer"islands have become more accessible and desirable. Tennis champion Bjorn Borg has  a house on one of these islands ( I think I have the photo, if so, see below) and the price of land is now up in the hundreds and thousands of Euros, I think the guide said one of the islands was for sale with a price tag of millions of Euros.

Lunch time rolled around and as an aperitif we had a cup of Glogg (pronounced Glerrg). The lady behind the bar (see photo below) gave me a big cup because not only did I know about it, but I came somewhere near to pronouncing properly. So I got a reward for being able to "speak Swedish." Basically Glogg is a mulled red wine with some other alcohol thrown in and some nuts and dried fruit dropped in to be eaten with a spoon later. Although it is a drink at Christmas, is drunk anytime to warm people up.

As you can see from the photo, Carina is blonde. It is true there are lots of blondes in Sweden and Denmark. 

This is a blonde from the Swedish TV show Borgen

What I did notice about the hair colour of both sexes, irrespective of age, was that very few people seemed to dye their hair. It seemed in these two countries, there were only two hair colours. You were either blonde, or you were not.

Lunch came around. I had a traditional fish soup, and Julie had a goulash. The proper name for my soup was both unpronounceable and unspellable.

Soon after lunch, the cruise ended. As there were a couple of hours spare until thefo light began to fade around 3:30pm. There is as still time to do a little shopping and take a walk through the old town. Old town was just one souvenir shop after another, but good enough for photos to be taken.

The day ended with a walk past the palace, and taking a photo of the soldier on guard duty. Not the "marzipan" toy soldier I had imagined, but still worth a photo.