Among the Noble Swedes

Despite our constant temptation to make Swedish chef jokes, we were welcomed into Sweden with the gracious charm that seems to characterize all of the Scandinavian people.  For this shore adventure, Grandma joined the party.  The boys helped keep her in line.

Like everyone else in northern Europe during our trip, the Swedes were enjoying long daylight hours and though the temperatures weren’t as warm as they would have liked, we were nonetheless charmed by the beauty of it all.  Our trip to Sweden found us docking at a southern harbor town, Nynashmn, and then driving 58 km north to Stockholm.  The drive was pretty and I enjoyed the views of the Swedish countryside.  The city itself is built on a series of islands that lie at the juncture between the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren.  Our tour guide took us to a spot which afforded us a lovely overview of the city and our first view of it was splendid.

The Swedes are proud of of the Nobel Prizes they award each year and our tour took us to the museum created to commemorate the history of the prize.  The square outside the Nobel Prize Museum in the old town (called Gamla Stan) was a lovely example of the city’s architecture and history.

As we left the museum and walked up the block toward our bus, we happened upon the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.

After lunch, we visited the Stockholm City Hall, a lovely 19th century building where some of the Nobel Prize ceremonies are held (the peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway).  The building is rather splendid.

City Hall is built alongside the water and the view from the promenade was lovely.

All in all, I found Stockholm to be a lovely city.  Our tour guide explained that the city was sometimes called the Venice of the North because of the river and islands that dot the city landscape.  It was certainly awfully lovely.