la merde en direct: sweden: a taste of scandivania 2

My third day in Stockholm was alot more productive. We headed out early and we went to the City Hall first thing in the morning. Unlike Singapore's City Hall which is more or less of (yet another) shopping area, Stockholm's version is the place where the government congregates for parliament meetings. Unfortunately the hall was closed due to (once again) the proximity to Christmas, so we had to make do with the external sights.

city hall

from the inside

frolicking with the city hall babe by the river.. =P

Seizing the morning's initiative, we pressed on to some Viking museum in the city centre since it was kinda cold to be lingering out in the open. I can't remember the name of the museum now because it was not very memorable: It was just a small exhibition situated at the basement of a building; The actual museum was undergoing renovation works and so what we saw was just a token display of what they had to offer, i.e., forgettable stuff. Oh well, c'est la vie, n'est pas?

picture depicting the barbarism of the Vikings

And so we made our way to the Royal Palace again. This time, it was not to go into the palace, but rather to stay out at the foyer to watch the changing of the guards. Since it was a Sunday, the guard changing ceremony would be the whole works instead of the simplified weekday version, and I planned my visit exactly to coincide with this. Apparently I was not the only onw, as although the weather was pretty cold, a large crowd had already gathered by the time I arrived, and I had to jostle for space amongst the limited "alongside" gallery.

Military band music was the sure sign that the ceremony was about to take place, and sure enough as soon as the band marched in, the Royal guards took up their places in the parade square as well. I shall not go into the details of the changing of the guard, but let's just say that I was treated to a 1-hour extravaganza of band music, precision drills and a marchpast at the end to top it off.

After our little sojourn at the palace, we took a cruise to Skansten, an open-air museum (notice my penchant for staying outdoors when the weather is really cold) depicting life in Sweden in the 1800s. It was pretty unique, but most of the exhibits were closed due to the cold, plus once it got dark around 1530hrs the park was not so tour-able anymore. And so we headed off for an early dinner. =)

on the way to Skansten

first views of the park

overview of Skansten

typical Swedish house circa 1890

same house circa 1950

winter wasteland

For dinner we decided to give ourselves a treat and so we headed to Tennstoppet, one of the restaurants recommended by the hostel for dinner. After all, it was our Christmas dinner! We had a starter to share and I had veal liver with bacon strips for my main. Apparently this was a Swedish specialty (I had enough of meatballs by this time), and so I gave it a go.

The starter was a herring sampler set, and so we had a go at 6 varieties of herring. The serving plate was so huge that the waiter had to join another table to our existing one to accommodate the it! There was herring in tomato sauce, herring in olive oil, herring with onions and spicy cheese, etc. There were so many different types of herring that I cannot remember all their names! And the servings were so huge that by the time I was done with it I found it quite impossible to start on my main.

But I had already ordered my food. And I am not one for wasting food, so I ate up my entire main course and totally stuffed myself silly. And so when I saw the bill I thought I was seeing things - 520SEK which translates to about €55! Crazily expensive dinner! But what was spent cannot be unspent and the dinner was good which sort of makes the bill that bit easier to digest (no pun intended). =)

herring herring and more herring

my main course (pictures in the screen may look smaller than their actual size.. =P)

Swedish lager

random night shot of the city centre

My last day in Stockholm was just spent walking. Yep, you read that right: Walking. Eugene joined in the mini-hike with us as he had just arrived in Stockholm the night before. Our goal was the Swedish radio tower which I read would have great panoramic views of Stockholm city and its environs. The walk was not really that far, but somehow the trip to the tower took us 1.5hours. And (as expected) the tower closed due to Christmas! Damn, this Christmas thing was really getting irritating! =D So we all trudged back and as for me and Letch, we had to catch our bus to the airport for our flight to London, and so we said our goodbyes and headed off to the bus station.