Kylin's European Grand Adventure: Day 6 Stockholm

Today we took the time to get on the T11. You probably don't understand the significance of that so I'll try to explain one of our traveling issues. John feels we should only ride the T11 blue line anywhere we need to go in Stockholm and I will get on any train that will get me where I want to go whether it's blue, green, red or yellow. This difference has created many discussions (some might have even been heated -- if you can believe that). So this morning we found the T11 and rode it to T-Centralen. Then we took the time to find the words city terminalen on overhead signs which would take us to the international train platforms and then we found the right entrance for the platforms we might be using! While standing there, I realized the young woman sitting on her suitcase close to us was crying so I went up and asked if she were ok. She turned around and said yes. She was sobbing and the mother instinct took over so I asked her if she needed a hug and she said no, that she was talking to her mother and then I realized she had in an ear piece. I told her to tell her mom "hi" and John and I took off.

We have finally learned that the exit sign is a green sign with a white man running. :)

We walked to city hall where we caught a boat to Drottningham Palace where the King lives and where there are expansive gardens. There are 220+ rooms in the palace and we saw about 20 of them. The palace was built in the mid 1600s and added on to in the 1700's with 3 different styles of architecture - baroque, Rocco, neo-classic. The most interesting thing we learned was that the entrance halls/foyers were not marble as they looked, but actually faux painted when originally built. It was more expensive to faux paint them then it was to use the real material. Seriously -- faux painting in the 1600's.

The gardens were formal gardens with manicured hedges, fountains and sculptures --no flowers. They fell into disrepair in the 1800's and were just restored in the the 1960's. We also toured the Chinese Pavilion connected to the gardens. One of the kings had a passion for Chinese architecture, art, etc. and had these buildings built. It was a summer cottage where they basically played billiards, cards, hunted, etc -- kind of a fun retreat on their property. Some rooms were strictly Chinese in design/color and others baroque. The dining room was a separate building with the kitchen built underneath it and the table came up,through the floor fully set and dinner on it. The billiards room was also a separate building.

After returning by boat, we walked towards old town and looked inside the church where royalty is buried. There was a flute/harpsichord concert playing so we didn't see much. We could tell that the acoustics were wonderful though.

Then we went to the apotek so I could get some hairspray. We asked where we could find a good restaurant and they told us not here. The food was designed for tourists in old town and if we wanted good food, we needed to get off the island. Hmm! So we headed towards Kungstradgarten (opera house location) in search of a restaurant. We found a TGIF's which was a "no go", then several other sidewalk cafes finally settling on one where I had a wonderful Caesar salad and John cured salmon with dill cream potatoes. We were both happy with out meals. We sat on their patio where we could hear the live music and watch people pass. Fun!

Then we went to St. Jakob's for church (we had a couple photos of the church yesterday). It was an international service in English. The church itself is Evangelical Lutheran - the state church so to speak. We loved hearing the pipe organ and the minister had a wonderful sermon. For communion we all stood up in front in a semi-circle and it was quite moving. We met people from CA, Denmark, Australia and Kenya. Got on the right color subway train to come back to the hotel since it was the only color close to the church.

Today was chilly and overcast. We both wore long pants and I wore a long sleeved top and jacket most of the day. BUT it did not rain.

Centtral train station (not subway)