Sunday, we woke up to a sunny and bright day in Stockholm.
The day started off with a brief walk to the water’s edge next to City Hall,
where we sketched the bay and the city scenery while sitting in a quaint square
adjacent to the water. After sketching a bit, we headed into City Hall for a
tour of the grand building. City Hall is quite an architectural feat. A few in
the group were guessing that it was built in the 1700’s and later we found that
the building was actually completed in 1923 and it was only the architect’s
attempt to make the building appear that it was built much earlier than it was.
I guess he was successful since we were guessing it was built in the 18th
century. City Hall was built in the Nationalist style which was very popular in
Europe at the time it was built. It combines multiple historic styles of
Sweden. It is decorated with many beautiful and elaborate murals and mosaics.
After City Hall, we wandered further down Stockholm’s bay
and onto a boat. The boat took us on a guided tour of the water’s edge (circling around Djurgarden) and
pointed out the many landmarks and points of interest in Stockholm, including
the U.S. Embassy and the Nordic Museum.
Once we got off the boat, we headed further down the water’s
edge and across a bridge to the island of Skeppsholmen. Here we went to the
museum of architecture and modern art. After getting our tickets, we had a
delicious lunch of traditional Swedish food in a cozy little café at the museum.
Alyssa and Ross had an open-faced shrimp sandwich, which was a thick slice of
bread piled with sliced hard-boiled eggs and a huge mound of baby shrimp.
Jessica, Ashley and I each got a goat cheese and beet salad. Beets seem to be
very popular in Swedish dishes. After lunch, we wandered the museum for a
while. Currently, the museum has an exhibit with architectural models showing
the evolution of Swedish architecture. The collection and craft of the models
was very impressive. There was also a huge exhibit of modern art.
Next on the agenda was Skansen. By the time we got out of the
architecture and art museum, it had begun to rain. We hopped on a ferry to take us from Skeppsholmen to Djurgarden (the ride took five minutes).There we waited the rain out a bit
under protection until the tram could take us up to Skansen. Skansen is an open
air museum and zoo that models what it would be like to walk through a Swedish
village a few hundred years ago or so. It had many cute little shops and houses
that we were able to visit and tour. We visited the glassworks and were able to
watch glass being blown and molded into sculptures and Christmas ornaments. We
also visited a furniture shop and an engineering shop. My personal favorite was
the bakery where we bought a few Swedish pastries for our own “fitka” in the
rain (fitka is an afternoon snack time for Swedes, where they drink tea or
coffee and eat sweets). We then went to the village print shop and apothecary
and walked through an old Swedish home. Next we got to see an old Swedish
allotment garden, where families used to visit and stay during the summer.
After visiting Skansen, we headed back to the hotel for shelter from the rain.
-Kristy
