Day two in Stockholm

Tuesday

10 September 

Day 72

24 to go

Still being on Italy time, I was awake at 6.30am and had to try and find a way to stay put for a little longer. It wasn’t too difficult, but I was wide awake by 7.15am. We did manage to stay in bed on our devices until 8am and then we were up, ready to get the day underway. Showered, we walked downstairs to the breakfast room, joining the many other patrons in the small room overlooking the street. We enjoyed a cooked breakfast and indulged in pancakes, before returning to our room, very full. 

We packed up the things we would need for the day and then ventured outside. It had been raining overnight and everything was quite wet. Thankfully it was no longer raining and our exploration on foot was not disrupted. 

Today we were heading to Stockholm’s museum district. We walked towards the water and then followed in the opposite direction to the City Hall. It was a lovely walk of about 3km and took us about an hour, mainly because I was stopping to take in the sights. 

At one point, we passed by the Kungliga Dramatiska Theatre. This was an ornate building, with gold leaf on various features. Outside, stood the statue of Margareta Krook. She was a well known actress, who thought statues were cold and impersonal. When she died they put up a statue of her, but it is warmed to 37c. 

We crossed a bridge, seeing the magnificent Nordic Museum building. I had noticed this from the ship, when we arrived yesterday. The building was created as the people’s palace in 1907, as a way to showcase their culture and history. Arthur Hazelius, a teacher, was the creator. 

We continued our walk a little further, finally reaching our destination just after 10am, the ABBA museum. I was really looking forward to seeing this exhibit. It started with an ABBA cut out, I had to have my face in and Paul was forced to join me, much to his dismay. 

Once inside, it was like a colourful rainbow had exploded. There was plenty of information on the members, their early family life, musical starts and the formation of the band. It was quite interactive, with plenty of places to take photos amongst the memorabilia and the chance to sing away in sound booths, karaoke style and to even be up on stage with a projection. You couldn’t help but sing along. 

We watched a movie about the band and their tour of the US. We checked out costumes, musical instruments, records covers and gold records. There was also a section on the members lives post ABBA, including the Mama Mia movie. It was all a lot of fun. 

We finished up at midday, moving on to our next venue, the Viking Museum. This was only a 5 minute walk away. We entered the building, climbed the stairs and then checked out the various exhibits and artefacts on show. We listened to a talk about the background of Vikings and how they sailed around the northern hemisphere. It was interesting, but much we knew. 

We followed up the talk with an interactive ride, that explained the life of one Scandinavian family. It was a little bit of fun to finish off our visit. 

All done but just after 1pm, we began the trek back towards the hotel. Instead of following the water, we followed a parallel street, hoping to find a solution for lunch. We did, a supermarket. We bought up sandwiches and salad, and some things for the train journey tomorrow. We then continued to make our way back, passing by the Hedvig Eleonora church. 

At one point, we were faced with a steep ascent, but then realised there was a pedestrian tunnel, so we took the sneaky alley instead and before long, we were back in our room and ready to eat and relax for the afternoon. 

The Wildcats had played another NBL Blitz game, this time against Illawarra, so we were able to watch them win that one and then we followed it up with Melbourne v Brisbane. When the game was done, we decided to head out for a short while. I picked up a few souvenir bits and then we stopped at a Thai restaurant for a delicious dinner. 

Happy with our Stockholm travels, we returned for the evening, keen to be well rested, before moving on to Gothenburg tomorrow.