Dancing On My Own

Final breakfast at the hotel and I learned while watching YouTube last night that I was eating like a Swede! I saw the Kalles Kaviar next to the boiled eggs and rightly assumed I was supposed to eat them together at my first two breakfasts.

Kalles Kavier is a type of roe spread and is salty - it’s funny how Americans and westerners pair salt with their eggs and as Koreans, we sprinkle soy sauce. All around the world, folks need a bit of saltiness with their eggs. Alexander Skarsgård explained how to eat Kalles Kavier on the Colbert show and I happened to stumble upon it on last night’s YouTube rabbit hole as I was going to bed.

To be honest though, I have not been sleeping great on this trip. Usually I kick jet lag pretty quick and although I’m not napping during the day, I can’t seem to fall asleep. So I slept in more than I would have liked this morning and rushed as I packed and checked out before my last day in Stockholm.

I walked over to the tram / bus stop and headed to Djurgården, an island that has lots of museums and sights. Here’s a photo of the water as I crossed the bridge:



One of the most popular museums in the Stockholm area is the Vasa Museum. On display is a 17th-century ship that had been salvaged in the 1950s after 333 years when it sank in 1628. It’s 4 stories tall and apparently too narrow, and therefore didn’t get very far as it sank in Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage.

But it took all these years to raise it out of the water and if it hadn’t been a failure, it probably would have been destroyed and would not have become the largest conservation project in the world. It continues to be maintained as bolts get replaced and the wood preserved in an ongoing restoration project.

I viewed it at all angles as you can see it from below and and at different.platforms. As you walk in, you see the impressive bow:





Here’s the stern:





The sides… the ropes have been re-rigged and the ship is ~98% original:







This is a model of what the insides would look like:





Here’s a model of the ship:





I then walked over to the ABBA Museum dedicated to the most popular pop group to come from Sweden. The museum was fun as music played everywhere and I got to sing and dance along:





They won the Eurovision Award with “Waterloo” which was their breakout hit:



In the Stockholm Archipelago, they rented a house and wrote many of their songs there which were bright and fun:



You could sing in a booth and pretend you were in a recording studio. It was fun listening to the other museum goers get really into it. They also had this avatar on-stage experience to become the 5th member and I was goated into “Dancing Queen” by the security guard:



I also very much enjoyed the Silent Disco experience and there were several people in the room - you knew you were listening to the same song and channel by the color of the headphones:



Here are the chairs for Pierce and Meryl from the movie musical “Mama Mia”:



While I was in the museum, it apparently rained even though it wasn’t in the forecast. It was super sunny when I hopped on the tram and headed to Östermalms Saluhall, a food hall recommended by a colleague for lunch.

It was high-end and busy with tourists and people taking their lunch breaks. As I wandered, I was offered free samples of bear and reindeer jerky. I politely turned it down as my Noma experience in Copenhagen gave me my fill of both for a lifetime…



I decided to eat at the counter at Lisa Elmqvist and I ordered a ginger ale and warm fish soup that was delicious. The aioli with the bread was also fantastic and I enjoyed a roobois tea afterwards:



As I left the food hall for my hotel, it began to really downpour. The hotel seemed concerned I was heading out again without one of their umbrellas, but I pulled out my raincoat and own umbrella from my suitcase and headed to the tram / bus stop. I had read taxis in the city were shady and not reliable and even overhead the concierge explain it to another guest. Pretty surprising for a Scandinavian city which seemed pretty safe otherwise. I didn’t wait long for the 7 tram that brought me to Stockholm Central Station where the Arlanda Express leaves 3-4 times an hour. In less than 20 minutes, I was back at the airport.

At the airport, I got to scan my own baggage in (which was fun and different) and bought a few candy souvenirs (Swedish Fish!) and waited for my SAS flight to Billund.

Although the weather was a little colder than expected (this was even validated through eavesdropping of other conversations), Stockholm was lovely. In the future, I would love to explore the archipelago and outer areas, but really felt like I got to take a lot of Stockholm in.

Right next to my hotel, the theater was playing Joyride the Musical in honor of Roxette, famous for ‘80s hits, “Listen to Your Heart”, “Fading Like a Flower”, and “It Must Have Been Love”. When I watched the music video for “Fading Like a Flower”, I realized it was mostly filmed in Old Town!

Indeed Sweden has given a lot to the world - fish, pop music, IKEA, and you can tell it’s a very proud culture. I indeed enjoyed discovering on my late night YouTube rabbit hole of Swedish singer Robyn performing my favorite “Dancing On My Own” at the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize concert - it felt like my trip experiences were colliding.

My flight to Billund was just 90 minutes and when I landed, I had a Danish hot dog for dinner. Then I boarded a local bus which took about 10 minutes and dropped me off in front of Legoland. My hotel, the Lodge Billund was just another block down the road.

Looking forward to my second time in Denmark where I’ll link up with Rachie and the family and getting to explore more of the country!

Levels

After breakfast, I headed to Kungsträdgården tunnelbana station and rode the blue 10/11 to Fridhemsplan and I transferred to the green 17/18 to Brommaplan. Then I followed the other tourists to the blue 176/177 bus and after a 7 minute ride was at Drottningholm Palace.

Despite the several transfers, the public transport here is frequent and clean and I arrived in about 50 minutes.

Drottningholm which means the “Queens Islet” was the summer residence of the Swedish Royal family and is actually their current home. A photo below:



From the road, you walk up the path and enter on the east side of the Palace. Here’s the staircase:



I purchased a combination ticket that includes the Chinese Pavilion and started walking through the royal apartments, library, ballroom, and other rooms:













Here’s a view of the baroque gardens from the palace window which I explored as well:









I also popped into the Royal Chapel:



But apparently the most famous sites here are the Theater and the Chinese Pavilion which helped the Palace become the first UNESCO heritage site in Sweden.

I purchased the supplement ticket from the theater foundation for a 30 minute tour which explained that it’s one of the few 18th century theaters in Europe that uses its original stage machinery. The theater had not been used for a long time and therefore never modernized. Operas and performances are staged in the summer only with the stagehands still operating everything by cranks, wheels, pulleys, and other mechanics:





I laughed during the tour as there were some props in an IKEA bag and I joked to the tour guide that they clearly use the iconic large blue bags here too. He said every household has one and is perfect for laundry.

In visiting the Chinese Pavilion, I learned it was a gift to the Queen replete with Chinese inspired design and interior decorations. This is where the royal family used to isolate themselves for more privacy and relaxation:





After my visit, I could have waited for a private ferry that runs only during the summer to bring me back to the city center. But as it was chilly and a bit of a wait, I hopped back on the bus and took the metro to Hötorget where I wanted to explore more neighborhoods. Here, there were pretty flower arches:



I personally had not done as much research and had been relying on Google maps for suggestions and stumbled upon Brunkebergstunneln. Stockholm has levels and hills and they had created this photogenic pedestrian and bike path through the neighborhood:





I walked around the neighborhood, window shopping, and checking out the secondhand shops. I popped into a grocery store and a Svensons which felt like a Swedish Crate & Barrel. I do love the minimalist Scandinavian design aesthetic and wanted to sit in their many lounge chairs.

As I tried to get lost in the city, I found myself back in the busy central plaza…



And back at Sergels Torg where I rested at a coffee shop and enjoyed a chai latte:



On my way to Tak, the rooftop Nordic Japanese restaurant that was recommended to me, I stumbled upon an IKEA City in the mall:



I didn’t realize the restaurant was a rooftop as it just said it was in the Galleria…



I ordered a Grenache rosé and the chef tasting menu which included oyster with ponzu, shokupan with mushroom, green pea guacamole, salmon sashimi, beef tataki, pork belly katsu with rice, and sake ice cream:



I then headed back to the hotel which was a 10 minute walk. But since I explored many levels of this city, here are some more photos of the artsy metro from today:





There are layers to Stockholm and Avicii’s global hit “Levels” continues to resonate in my head. Maybe it’s because I’ve been listening to Swedish pop music at night!

Sweden

The hotel had offered me a courtyard room versus a city view room warning me that it gets loud on the city side. I’m so glad I picked the courtyard room, because I could still hear the music through the night. The Swedes definitely love their music as there are signs all over commemorating the popular DJ Avicii who died several years ago, there was a bumping DJ in Bar Astoria, and the bars were pretty hopping.

My room included breakfast and this morning, I was seated next to some New Yorkers who had just come from Copenhagen. We shared notes and they actually live near me in east Harlem.

The plan for today was to explore Stockholm and mainly the Old Town known as Gamla Stan. Sweden is the largest of the Nordic countries and Stockholm is the largest city composed of 14 islands. So I figured the first day should be exploring the old center.

I took the metro called Tunnelbana which are noted with T signs like in Boston. The metro here is known for cool signs and art and I picked up the red 13/14 line from Östermalmstorg, a few blocks away. Here’s the art in this station:



I got off at Slussen which is at the southern end of Gamla Stan and is known for the locks system between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea:





Gamla Stan or Old Town, was originally known as the “town between the two bridges” and is mainly on Stadsholem island. I wandered through the cobblestone streets passing by the old water pump…



The narrowest street also known as Mårten Trotzigs gränd…



Cute tunnels…



A small statue called “Iron Boy - Watching the Moon” where people leave gifts as you can see from the coins, cough drops, pebbles, and Swedish fish…



I eventually meandered to the Nobel Prize Museum as it’s not open on Mondays and was in the center of Old Town...



For the “benefit of mankind”, the Nobel Prizes are for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace according to Alfred Nobel’s will from his estate earned from his inventions including the notable dynamite. I learned he dictated that the peace prize to be awarded in Norway and there is a 6th award for economics that is technically sponsored by the Central Bank in his memory…



On the ceiling is the profile of every laureate winner in random order that circulate around the museum…



I wandered the exhibits which includes a motley collection of items from all prize winners. Not all that was donated is on display, but here are some notable items explained by the English tour that I stumbled upon…

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the peace prize at the age of 17 and famous Pakistani advocate on behalf of women’s right to education and fights against the Taliban, donated her shawl she wore at the UN:



Madame Curie’s experimental device recreated as her original is still radioactive. She is the first woman to win and the first person ever to win twice - one in physics and one chemistry. Her daughter, husband, son-in-law have also won, so her family has a total of 5:



Original strains of penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming and grown nearby in a university lab to maintain the display:



At the end of the tour, a young child asked the guide if he could win for playing video games. I said he could be the first and she had the better response that many scientists are noted for playing video games which has helped them with the advancement of machine learning. Definitely the better answer. 

I tried to go into the Storkyrkan, the Cathedral which is next door but they had to close midday for some special broadcast. So I headed to Riddarholmen Church where several monarchs are buried:





I then walked back to the Royal Palace which was built on the medieval Tre Kronor Castle that was destroyed in 1697 by fire. I headed downstairs to the Treasury to see the Crown Jewels:



Then headed back up to the State Room which displays the Silver Throne:



Upstairs there were exhibits of all the regalia of the Swedish royal family and the Order of Seraphim:



Then I went to the Royal Apartments…





Which included the Hall of Mirrors designed after Versailles:



Here’s the Royal Chapel:



Outside, I actually saw the changing of the guards twice, once at noon and then again at 3 pm between my Old Town meanderings. There are also several posted all around the palace:











Across from the palace, you can see the Grand Hôtel which is five-star and hosts all the Nobel laureates:



Just right of the hotel, is the National Museum where I headed for a few hours as it is also closed on Mondays. I was particularly interested as my work colleague’s mother used to be the director:





Apparently, it’s famous for having the world’s largest collection of miniature portraits:



They had several famous impressionist paintings like Cézanne and the old masters like Rembrandt. But here’s “Breakfast time” or Frukostdags by the Swedish artist Hanna Pauli. There was an exhibition of her paintings, but this is a part of the main collection, and one of its treasures:



I relaxed for over an hour in the sculpture courtyard and enjoyed the free WiFi. During this time, it started to rain lightly and when the museum was closing, I headed back across the bridge to visit Storkyrkan and because it was closed earlier, they had discounted their admission. It is also known as the “The Great Church”, Stockholm Cathedral, or Church of Saint Nicholas and is the oldest in Stockholm:







It’s also famous for this wooden multi-ensemble sculpture of St. George and the Dragon:



Here’s a bronze replica just outside in the Old Town that I saw earlier in the day:



The rain continued to lighten up, and I crossed the bridge through the Parliament and various parks. This park had a memorial to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who helped save many Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. His signature is displayed here, honoring the many documents he had issued to save them:



I was back in my hotel neighborhood and near the Royal Dramatic Theater where I decided to have dinner at Riche. I ordered a light beer from Mariestad, a herring appetizer that came with potatoes, and Swedish meatballs for my main dish. The herring was delicious and reminded me of my dad who loved smoked fish and would snack on herring and crackers. The meatballs were way better than anything I’ve had at a US IKEA and I enjoyed the pickled cucumbers and lingonberries. A collage below:



I then headed back to the hotel past all the fancy stores so I could rest in my room. I had walked over 7 miles which was a win as I needed to walk at least 6 in one day before the end of the month for a work challenge. I knew I was going to be able to do it on a sightseeing day, so I had saved my energy for this trip. I’m sure I’ll walk just as much tomorrow as I continue to explore more of Stockholm!