Stockholm

Stockholm is not so great when you arrive at 2am, after navigating the subway station in Swedish and almost not having a place to sleep. Stockholm in the bright sunlight after a large breakfast however is dazzling. The uncles decided we would to go to Stockholm while I was still in Philadelphia for Stotes so I was not a part of the discussion. But then again, why not go to Stockholm? It was a two hour flight and not too expensive so we went for it. The city rewarded us well.

I had to keep reminding myself that we were not in Russia or Italy because of the architecture. Mind you, I haven't been to either Russia or Italy so I'm not sure why I got that impression. Saturday we spent walking around the city and using our Stockholm cards (buy them when you go!) to visit museums and palaces and churches. During the weekend we made it to the Nobel Prize museum, the winter royal palace, many cathedrals, the old town center, and City Hall. The last was by far my favorite, even though we got ice cream in old town! The city hall was finished by 1923 but has a certain medieval and very Scandinavian feel to it. It is massive and gorgeous. The building is still in use for political council and offices. We of course asked most (all) of the questions but it resulted in seeing that the building is asymmetrical. Which when asked for a reason for not having equal sides by less than a meter, the guide did not know... 

The blue hall (shown above) is where they host the Nobel prize reception. It's called the blue hall because the architect originally wanted it covered in blue painted plaster but changed his mind; luckily I think, and the name stuck,

The tower plans were changed as well. It was supposed to be 106 meters high but when the city hall in Denmark built theirs at 106.5 meters, the plans were quickly made to have it 107 meters. Sweden and Denmark apparently have a very friendly rivalry going on. 

The canals here are much more aggressive than in Amsterdam. But just as beautiful. 

This is next to the royal palace.

So tomorrow I head out from Amsterdam to my first farm; near Deventer, east of here. It's going to be amazing and I almost can't sleep from excitement. Lots of photos to post, which I set aside the tab "where the wild things grow" for.

Still haven't figured out how to end these, so until I do...