Stockholm
Stockholm, put simply, is most definitely in my top 2 places ever. Despite the fact that Sweden isn't generally considered a part of 'old Europe' however as a result of the cold weather all the history they do have got preserved (bad joke...). But seriously- I think Stockholm has as many museums as Paris or London, and the overwhelming majority of them are free of cost.
Here's an interesting note: Many, if not most Swedes have better English than native speakers. They have the vocabulary, accurate grammar and accent of a native speaker, without any of the idiosyncrasies- that is, if you understand English, you can understand a Swede when they speak English, but for a lot of people they can't understand American or British English (usually one or the other)- Swedes have the precision of speech of someone who learned English as a foriegn language, but they speak it so well.. Swedes English speak good. Although they often exhibit this adorable accent that doesn't make it harder to understand, it just adds a lilt to the way they talk. And unlike Germany, you don't have to be under 40 to speak English. You can ask an 80 year old woman (yes, I did do it) where something is and she can answer in perfect English.
Anyway, we flew via Ryanair to the land of the Swedes on the 25th of October, and we returned on the 31st (we means Naoko and I) Because we flew with Ryanair, this means we didn't land at Arlanda airport (10 minutes by express train to Stockholm) we landed at Skavsta airport (2 hours by occasional bus to Stockholm)..
Stockholm is not arranged like any other city I've ever seen before- Stockholm is actually pretty much an entire archipelago. The Gamla Stan (Old city) is located fairly centrally, and contains a series of narrow streets with no motor traffic and the royal palace. The shops are primarily tourist-oriented (there's an 'American specialty store'- you know only American tourists actually go in there), although many of the residents of Stockholm go there for a pleasant walk (esp. early in the morning and late in the evening, when most of the tourists (except obviously Naoko and I) are gone and the shops are closed. Other islands include Skeppholmen (where our hostel was located- more on that later)- which was until the 60's an exclusively military island and Langholmen (where our 2nd hostel was located- more on that later) which was a dedicated prison island until sometime in the 40s.
Funny notes- 'bus' is spelled 'buss' and an elevator is called a 'hiss'
Language notes- the standard greeting is 'hej' (j pronounced like German, that is essentially the same a 'y' in English). 'Thank you' is 'Tak'. 'And' is 'och'.
The Swedish language is essentially something stuck right between German and English. That's what people say about Dutch, but Dutch still sounds goofy to me and I speak English and a pretty good amount of German, whereas pretty much every word in Swedish is generally obviously related to either German (more often) or English.
On our hostels:
the first, which we spent the first 4 nights in, was actually a boat. We slept on a boat! How terribly exciting. But really, that's about all I can say about and I'll leave the rest to your imagination (and the pictures posted above).
The second hostel was actually the old prison on Langholmen. We got our own cell, which had a very thick steel door, and was situated in the middle of a museum display! The flavour of the place was actually more like a hotel, although at hostel prices (I'm not complaining!)
Now, I don't really intend to bore you with tedium about every single museum we saw and every shop we checked out, but the Vasa Museet is practically (for a naval history buff like me) worth the trip to Stockholm by itself. (see pics above)
The Vasa was going to be the largest ship in the Swedish navy during the 30 years war. It had a whopping 2 gun decks (a lot at the time of the 30 years war), but on her maiden voyage, she travelled 2 very shaky km and then promptly sank. For Sweden in the 30 years war: Disaster! For historians today: AWESOME! Because it sank in Stockholm's briny (if you don't know what briny means, I suggest the O.E.D. (this 'blog does not endorse the other 'dictionary' in any way. We suggest in the strongest terms you not use that.. thing.)) harbour, the boat did not decay. Then a bunch of folks in the '60s lifted the boat whole from the bottom of the harbour and towed to the museum, where it lies today. OK- we've got an INTACT 17th century ship with everything but it's masts and cannons sitting inside this giant museum. This wasn't just any ship, either. It was going to be the flagship. It is one flashy ship- see pictures above. But it's one of those things you have to see up close. There's something about the ship that can't be expressed in words (maybe it's just because I always get soft in the knees when it comes to history stuff like this). Seriously- if you ever go to Stockholm, go to the Vasamuseet. Even if you aren't a history buff- it is so incredibly amazing.
The Royal Palace- you get to see more of it than Buckingham, and they too do the changing of the gaurd, except there are some key differences:
1. The guard, instead being a bunch of guys in ridiculous hats like the Beefeaters, act and look like an active military unit. The Beefeaters hold their rifles like they're for decoration. The Swedish Royal Gaurd hold their rifles like they know how to use them.
2. The band plays more interesting music.
3. you can actually see what's happening because there are about 1/100 as many people.
Here's an interesting note: Many, if not most Swedes have better English than native speakers. They have the vocabulary, accurate grammar and accent of a native speaker, without any of the idiosyncrasies- that is, if you understand English, you can understand a Swede when they speak English, but for a lot of people they can't understand American or British English (usually one or the other)- Swedes have the precision of speech of someone who learned English as a foriegn language, but they speak it so well.. Swedes English speak good. Although they often exhibit this adorable accent that doesn't make it harder to understand, it just adds a lilt to the way they talk. And unlike Germany, you don't have to be under 40 to speak English. You can ask an 80 year old woman (yes, I did do it) where something is and she can answer in perfect English.
Anyway, we flew via Ryanair to the land of the Swedes on the 25th of October, and we returned on the 31st (we means Naoko and I) Because we flew with Ryanair, this means we didn't land at Arlanda airport (10 minutes by express train to Stockholm) we landed at Skavsta airport (2 hours by occasional bus to Stockholm)..
Stockholm is not arranged like any other city I've ever seen before- Stockholm is actually pretty much an entire archipelago. The Gamla Stan (Old city) is located fairly centrally, and contains a series of narrow streets with no motor traffic and the royal palace. The shops are primarily tourist-oriented (there's an 'American specialty store'- you know only American tourists actually go in there), although many of the residents of Stockholm go there for a pleasant walk (esp. early in the morning and late in the evening, when most of the tourists (except obviously Naoko and I) are gone and the shops are closed. Other islands include Skeppholmen (where our hostel was located- more on that later)- which was until the 60's an exclusively military island and Langholmen (where our 2nd hostel was located- more on that later) which was a dedicated prison island until sometime in the 40s.
Funny notes- 'bus' is spelled 'buss' and an elevator is called a 'hiss'
Language notes- the standard greeting is 'hej' (j pronounced like German, that is essentially the same a 'y' in English). 'Thank you' is 'Tak'. 'And' is 'och'.
The Swedish language is essentially something stuck right between German and English. That's what people say about Dutch, but Dutch still sounds goofy to me and I speak English and a pretty good amount of German, whereas pretty much every word in Swedish is generally obviously related to either German (more often) or English.
On our hostels:
the first, which we spent the first 4 nights in, was actually a boat. We slept on a boat! How terribly exciting. But really, that's about all I can say about and I'll leave the rest to your imagination (and the pictures posted above).
The second hostel was actually the old prison on Langholmen. We got our own cell, which had a very thick steel door, and was situated in the middle of a museum display! The flavour of the place was actually more like a hotel, although at hostel prices (I'm not complaining!)
Now, I don't really intend to bore you with tedium about every single museum we saw and every shop we checked out, but the Vasa Museet is practically (for a naval history buff like me) worth the trip to Stockholm by itself. (see pics above)
The Vasa was going to be the largest ship in the Swedish navy during the 30 years war. It had a whopping 2 gun decks (a lot at the time of the 30 years war), but on her maiden voyage, she travelled 2 very shaky km and then promptly sank. For Sweden in the 30 years war: Disaster! For historians today: AWESOME! Because it sank in Stockholm's briny (if you don't know what briny means, I suggest the O.E.D. (this 'blog does not endorse the other 'dictionary' in any way. We suggest in the strongest terms you not use that.. thing.)) harbour, the boat did not decay. Then a bunch of folks in the '60s lifted the boat whole from the bottom of the harbour and towed to the museum, where it lies today. OK- we've got an INTACT 17th century ship with everything but it's masts and cannons sitting inside this giant museum. This wasn't just any ship, either. It was going to be the flagship. It is one flashy ship- see pictures above. But it's one of those things you have to see up close. There's something about the ship that can't be expressed in words (maybe it's just because I always get soft in the knees when it comes to history stuff like this). Seriously- if you ever go to Stockholm, go to the Vasamuseet. Even if you aren't a history buff- it is so incredibly amazing.
The Royal Palace- you get to see more of it than Buckingham, and they too do the changing of the gaurd, except there are some key differences:
1. The guard, instead being a bunch of guys in ridiculous hats like the Beefeaters, act and look like an active military unit. The Beefeaters hold their rifles like they're for decoration. The Swedish Royal Gaurd hold their rifles like they know how to use them.
2. The band plays more interesting music.
3. you can actually see what's happening because there are about 1/100 as many people.
posted by Unknown at 22:58
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