Stockholm

Mon., Sept. 4 - This morning we took a Viking bus tour of the city of Stockholm. We learned some interesting things about the culture and history of Sweden. We learned about VASA, which is a Swedish warship that was built in 1628. At the time it was the largest in the world, containing 64 large cannons. The only problem is that it was not built properly, as it was top heavy. As soon as it sailed away from the dock, it sunk in the middle of the river not far from where it was docked. It remained sunken for 333 years, but because it was encased in mud and was in cold water, it was well preserved. Eventually it was raised and restored and today is a tourist attraction located in the VASA Museum.

Stockholm is an interesting city geographically. The actual city of Stockholm consists of 14 islands, with 20,000 total islands in the area comprising an archipelago, making for a beautiful setting. Thousands of Swedes maintain summer homes on the islands of the archipelago. Stockholm's official date of origination is 1252, and it's existence is due to it's prime location along the trade routes in the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is home to about 1 million people.

On our tour, we passed by Stockholm's smallest theater, which consists of a one-woman show. The lady who runs the place is the owner, sole actor, ticket taker, cleaning lady, etc. The theater itself has 17 seats.

The oldest part of Stockholm is called Gamla Stan. The old buildings, churches, shops, restaurants, and cobblestone streets make it one of the more popular tourist destinations.

Sweden's government is a constitutional monarchy, with a King and Queen where the King is the head of state. There is a 349 member Parliament composed of 9 different parties, with the two most numerous ones being the Green Party and the Socialist Party. The parties in Parliament elect their head of government, the Prime Minister.

Sweden, like Iceland and the other Scandinavian countries, is mostly Lutheran. Stockholm is where the Nobel prize is awarded. We passed by the building where the ceremony takes place and the award is given out. The King is the one who actually presents the award to the winner.

Stockholm consists of 1/3 parks and green areas, 1/3 water, and 1/3 land living area. On our tour, we passed by the Grand Central Station (subway system), City Hall, and the home of the Nobel family, who also is responsible for the invention of dynamite, in addition to the prize bearing the name. Our tour guide told a story about how during the invention process, many accidents occurred, and the family was finally asked to leave town for safety reasons.

We were told about an ice bar in the city, where you are provided with a cape and gloves upon entering. Everything is made of ice: the bar, the stools, even the glasses that you drink out of. There was also an ice hotel that was built in Northern Sweden. Our guide told us that they have to re-build the ice hotel every year because it melts in summer. (I suppose one day they might figure that out and use a different building material.)

We also drove by Olympic Stadium, which is where the summer olympics of 1912 were held. We were told of a story that occurred during those Olympics. When they ran the marathon, there was a Japanese fellow who got half way through the marathon and then decided to stop for a drink. He got friendly with the people he was drinking with and then stayed for lunch, and then for dinner. He never did get back to the marathon. An article about him was written in the local paper at the time. Many years later, a journalist came across the article and made it his mission to locate the guy. He found the Japanese guy, who was now in his 80's, persuaded him to come back to the stadium in Stockholm and finish the marathon, which he did. It is now on record as the longest time ever run in the olympics marathon.

We drove through one of the islands of Stockholm called Djugarden. On this island is the VASA Museum where the aforementioned restored VASA ship resides, an amusement park, an open air historical museum with old farm houses and restored buildings, some green parks, a nice walk along the harbor, and a building which serves as a venue for musical concerts. Apparently there was a little start up group from  England that played here in the 1960's, a group called The Beatles. The music group Abba has its own museum here. One of the band members operates his own hotel where many famous musicians stay.

We also drove by the Royal Palace where a guard was standing duty outside. We drove by a Catholic Church and were told that for the first time ever, Stockholm now has a Cardinal as Pope Francis named the Bishop of Sweden a Cardinal in June of this year. We also saw the largest round building in the world. Here they play ice hockey, have musical concerts, and once had a Mass said by the Pope there. The name of the building is called The Globe, which I guess is a good name for the world's largest round building.