27 octobre 2009 (Day 57)
This morning after amazing museli and yogurt that comes in a liter box we took the train to the Parliament of Sweden. Afterwards we took a gander at the lovely royal guards at the Stockholm Royal Palace (Slottet). It is in the old city, Gamla Stan and is built in an Italian Baroque style, so it doesn’t look too exciting from the outside. The Royal Family (who has no political power, but the Swedes keep to look pretty) doesn’t live there (although it is their “official residence”), but they do work there. We actually got to see a little changing of the guards while there before we took a tour of the Royal Palace. Inside was big and beautiful of course. We went downstairs to the Treasury to see all the super old crowns, swords, and a silver throne and learn about Swedish kings.
We then went on a guided tour of the Royal Apartments, including the banquet room where they have a dinner for the Nobel Prize winners. The Royal Family is actually French. Long story short, they needed an heir so they picked a French commander to be the heir to the throne.
We went to Stor Kyrkan as well today and saw the famous St. George and the Dragon Statue in this gorgeous church. There is actually a twin statue in another part of the city that we found while walking around the old city (Gamla Stan). This was the fun part of the city because all the buildings are tall and close together, old and painted bright colors and Gamla Stan has a fun history. It actually dates back to the 1200s! I bought some white hot chocolate from some cute boys at a restaurant by the Nobel Museum and that kept me warm until we were home to some amazing authentic Swedish food which included boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, cucumbers, fish, fish in something weird, squeezy caviar on crackers. We had salmon and rice for dinner and watched another movie of Miss Marple while we let our Kanel Bullar rise. Kanel bullar is the amazingly smelling cinnamon rolls that they have everywhere in Sweden. They are so amazing, just like Miss Marple!
