Friday, June 13, 2008

Stockholm - the capital of Scandinavia

Another train trip took me to the Capital of Scandinavia: Stockholm.

Before I could start with my sightseeing and working off the money I spent on the Stockholm Card, I left my luggage at the hostel on Skeppsholmen (an island) - part of the hostel is on a ship right in the water.





Just across the bridge from the island, started one of the boat trps around Djurgarden, so I got myself a ticket for the next departure. The island of Djurgarden is like a big leisure hang out for the people of Stockholm and has always been it. There is a lot of greenery and people come here to jog or just walk around. There are also a lot museum situated here:Skansen (Swedish Open Air Museum), Vasa-Museum (Ship that sank before it maiden journey in the port), Junibacken (for kids, journey through the stories of Astrid Lindgren), Museum vessels (ice-breaker and lighting ship) and some more.

Before returning to my island I visited the Nobel Museum and climbed up to towers for a view (actually both towers had only elevators), so I decided to jog around Skeppsholmen to make up for that. In 30 min I surrounded the island twice, as well as once Kastellholmen.

The second day I started early in Djurgarden and then continued with the Museum of Dance which is at the Opera Place. On display were dance dresses from all around the world: India, China, Japan, Africa, Europe - they even had some short ballet films from the very beginnings of filming till today. But ballet was not the sport to be seen during my stay in Stockholm, more interesting was the public viewing area just behind the opera. There a yellow-bluish crowd cheered when Sweden won against Greece 2:0.

Next came the City Hall that was built only 85 years ago, but was made to look way older. In the hall you see on the picture the Nobel Prize dinner is held and King, Queen and the winners will walk down the grand staircase and be welcomed by the waiting guests. Later on they will dance in the upper Golden Hall.


In the afternoon, I made the Historical Canal Boat trip, which is going around the island with the City Hall. Unfortunately, the weather was not so good and we had to sit inside. So my sightseeing in Stockholm came to an end and I left for the airport, where I caught a very small Estonian Air plane (3 seats per row: left side single seats, right double) to Talinn.

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