​Boats, ice skaters palaces, crown jewels, Nobel prizes, vikings, oh my!
Let’s start the day off with a nice walk back to the Grand Hotel. While we wait for our canal boat tour, we walk through the park across the road and find an ice rink along with a skating troup.

We realized that if you have an opportunity to take a canal or walking tour you do it as soon as you can when you arrive. Sometimes, when you do it towards the end,  you see stuff to already knew about.
We enjoyed the tour, actually saw and learned a few things! For instance, The Grand Hotel flies the flags of the be nations of their guests. There is a park that has one of every tree native to Sweden, minus one, the climate is not conducive for survival. We saw the ABBA cabin, ha ha, high end houses, even a castle that had been converted to a rest home, sold!

After the canal tour, the royal palace was just across the street, literally, so there you go.

It was just about 1215pm, so we got to see the changing of the guard in a second country.

We were also treated to the trumpet and drum signals to the guards and soldiers. [Unfortunately the videos are too large to post].

Entry into the palace, let’s go! I love to start a tour with a statue of a woman of power, armed!

We began in the Room of the Royal Orders. A few medals, some royal crosses, royal uniforms puts one on their best behavior.

An exhibit of royal wedding dresses from the mid 1970s to today brings a tear to your eye. It seemed to turn each woman into a little girl playing dress up.

Then the guest residences and the state apartments. There was one hallway that can be set up with a table that stays 170! Another room was an audience room that was once turned into a crib room for a royal babe.

We did go to the treasury to view the Crown jewels but…no photos, sorry friends, not allowed.
So…all this royal stuff made us a bit hungry. We found a restaurant in the dungeon or cellar of a building and settled in for two sandwiches, who knew we were going to get full salads in the bread! The atmosphere was cozy and close.

After lunch, our next stop was literally across the square. Unfortunately, no one posted that the Nobel Museum would be closing early. We had about ten minutes to walk around, that bummed us out. Damn our stomachs!

What should we do now? A little shopping, this was the place to do it,  maybe a  cup of tea and something sweet. We were really just biding time. Why, JJ, you might ask,  why?
Why, I will tell you my friends…a Stockholm Ghost Tour! We were going to get some history, a story or two, maybe even see a ghost!
Our guide, Calum, was bloody brilliant! He’s from England, married to a Swedish woman, glad for that, he was great!
Did we see any ghosts? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I didn’t. Some good stories though!

Turns out, wherever there is bloodshed, death and horribleness, the Swedes like to build amusement parks and spend family quality fun there! [This is centuries after the horrible stuff occurred, of course!]

One of the other funny tales is of the little statue with the scarf, if you rub his head, you get a lifetime of good luck, also leaving him gifts, like phones and mp3 players, when you come back 24 hours later, the tribute will be gone and you’ll have a lifetime if good luck, um…the funnier part, after we were at our next stop “I completely forgot, um, if any ladies rubbed his head, there is a 96% chance you’ll be pregnant within 24 hours!” Um…

 All this ghost hunting worked up an appetite, so where did we go? A Viking restaurant! Efyr was great! You  walk down a dark flight of stairs, literally with red lights, the doors are heavy wood, the interior is all stone and wood.

Apparently you really need a reservation, but like high tea, we got lucky! When you finally get seated for dinner, you are announced by name and where you are from to rousing cheers and thunder claps and foot stomping.
The food was good, even a vegetarian option for me. Everything was great and authentic, down to the cutlery.

There was music and merriment had by all!