We woke early Thursday as our ship cruised very slowly through some of the islands on the outskirts of Stockholm ( you can have rural outskirts of a city but can outskirts be small islands?) Noel and I went on a walking tour of the old town in the morning and after lunch I went back to buy a few things.
On Friday morning we left the ship and got a taxi to our hotel. Our room was not ready ( it was 8.30 ish) so we sat around in the largish , pleasantish bar/ lobby area and worked out what to do. We left our luggage, got a transport pass and then went to catch the bus to the Vasa Museum. I knew there would be a lot of people in town because Taylor Swift is here , but not an extra 200,000 according to the taxi driver. I had forgotten that that number of extras puts a huge burden on the transport system. We squeezed onto a bus and , luckily, were able to get off when we wanted.
The Vasa is a ship built in the early 1600s for King Gustav Adolphus the 4th(?) It was a very fancy large top heavy warship and it rolled over and sank almost immediately after being launched. In the 1970s it was discovered and raised and now lives in a purpose- built display museum. We managed the return bus trip, but it was very difficult for Noel who is feeling the effects of almost 4 weeks of travelling. As i have told many people, because Taylor Swift is in town,.we are paying a fortune for a shoebox. Well, the room assigned to us was a shoebox for a child's shoe. The bed was against one wall, there was less than a foot between the foot of the bed and the wall. Etc etc. I complained and, of course they are fully booked, we got a room with access ( minimal) to each side of the bed, but no window. There are lots of things wrong with it. I will be complaining when I return to Canberra . I think we got a room in the category below what I paid for, but there was nothing I could do yesterday afternoon. ( I too am tired).
We went to a lovely restaurant not far away rhat had been recommended to us) and had a typical Swedish nice family- style meal. ( That's another problem. In between when I booked this hotel which advertised a restaurant serving dinner and now, it stopped serving dinner) We enjoyed a lignon Berry flavoured snapps with our meatballs and veg and cabbage rolls and veg and then blueberry pie..
Despite the bed ( narrower than the advertised queen size, but I know European sizes are different and maybe I didnot check) ( and very narrow after 2 weeks in a king size bed on the cruise) and despite the cotton and polyester sheets, we slept well.
This morning we had a nice breakfast here. It was much better than we expected after the low standard of our room. We walked 1.4 km through a nice quiet ( i.e. we didnot not have to dodge around people on crowded streets) residential area of Stockholm . We met noel's daughter's wife at a designated cafe. We spent a lovely morning with her , firstly over coffee and typical Swedish buns ( despite the French name of the cafe) and then a walk with her along a nearby waterway. The weather is lovely and warm and we sat for a while in the garden outside the town hall - THE place to get married - the in and out quickly sort. There were many couples with their families in all sorts of dresses. We walked back and had some late lunch. Noel and are have been pottering here in the lounge since . I found a hotel 400m from here where we will shortly have a meal.
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