Now presenting His Royal Majesty, the King! So in Stockholm, we rented
an apartment that was seriously just around the corner from the Royal Palace.
We happened to arrive on June 6, the National Day of Sweden, so there were a
lot of people out and lots of things going on. We walked around historic Old Town our first night there,
and then on our way back, we saw a bunch of royal guards outside the palace so
we thought we’d see what’s going on. We waited a few minutes, then around the
corner come the His Royal Majesty the King, the Queen, and the Princess with
her husband. First day there and we’ve already seen the Royal family!
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| Parliament |
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| His Majesty the King, and the Queen |
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| The Royal Princess and her husband |
Day 1: We toured the Royal Palace: the Treasury (with crowns, coronation
robes, and baptismal bowls from the 1700s-1800s), the Palace itself (the
chapel, coronation room with a pure silver throne, the royal chamber), the
Armoury (with King Gustav’s clothing when he was assassinated at masquerade
ball, old royal carriages, suits of armour). We weren’t allowed to take
pictures in most of it, but here’s what we got.
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They had the dress up room and needless it say it was awesome. If it had been socially
acceptable for me to spend hours there, I would have. |
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| The clothes of King Gustav when he was assassinated |
Then we went to a coin museum and saw a bunch of old money and
originals, as well as the world’s largest coin
We also went to some of their Cathedrals, which were exquisite and
beautiful – only the most expensive materials for their churches.
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| St. George and the Dragon |
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| An old church where someone was practicing the organ |
Then we went to the Hallwyl house, where the wife was said to love
everything expensive, so we thought it would be really cool. The outside was
really pretty, but we go in only to find what? Folded napkins. Lots and lots of
them. In all different shapes and sizes and put together into different animals
and people. It was kind of cool…? but definitely weird and unexpected
Then we went to the Vasa museum, of the Vasa ship. It was HUGE! It was
built for the king, but sank before it even left the harbor because it was so
heavy. Over 100 years later, they
resurfaced it and put it together with over 90% of it’s original pieces, and
that was cool to see. It was
different from the other ships in that is was more decorative and ornate, being
for the king, and simply huge!
Our last stop of the day was their amusement park, home of the world’s
tallest free fall drop. I am ashamed to say that I did not ride it because I
was basically terrified to death (I really really really don’t like those
things….) but Bridget and I rode some roller coasters and they were alright.
Definitely not the most fun ones I’ve been on – it was more like leasure rides
than a thrilling roller coaster, but still good.
We went to Roserberg’s Lott, the summer home of King Charles XIV. It was
quite the extravagant summer home, but not as intricate as a regular palace. It
was different because King Charles was actually a Duke before he became king,
so he couldn’t afford a lot of the regular stuff royalty would be able to
afford, so a lot of the rooms have painted wooden floors to look like rugs
because he couldn’t afford rugs since they were so expensive. Pretty interesting. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the home so here's the outside
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| The front |
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| The back |
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| Looking out to the garden |
Then we went to the Ericsson Globe, the world’s largest spherical
building. They had a tour ride in a glass globe that would take you up the side
of the building to the top, giving you a 360 view of Stockholm.
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| View from the top |
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| Going down |
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| Waiting to go up |
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| Mom was a little nervous, but she did it! |
We spent the rest of our day wandering, shopping, and
enjoying the beautiful history of Stockholm.
Day 3: Our first stop this day was the Botanical garden: YES! Haha It
was a huge garden, and so beautiful! We wandered through a few of their
greenhouses, one of which housed the world’s largest lily pad, and that was
neat.
Then we went to a toy museum we thought would be pretty cool, but turned
it outit wasn’t. They did have a room just for Barbie though, and that was fun-
especially seeing the different types of Barbie dolls, including Michael
Jackson: black and white!
Our last place we visited in Stockholm was the Stockholm LDS
Temple. It was a little different
from the temple’s we’re probably used to seeing, but it was still beautiful,
and so peaceful there. It was about a 40 minute train ride out from the main
city, in a very quiet place with not many buildings or homes around. We wanted to go to the Baltic Sea
that’s fairly close, but it wasn’t close enough with the time we had and we
weren’t quite sure how we’d get there. Another thing I love about the gospel:
it’s the same no matter where you go. Anywhere in the world you can find the
same teachings and principles, and the same beautiful buildings and same
wonderful, tender Spirit.
Well that pretty much sums up our trip to Scandinavia! It was
the trip of a lifetime, thus far, and am so grateful to have had the chance to
go. I’m grateful for my parents for taking us and sharing that experience with
us. If any of you reading this get
the chance to go, GO! It’s a beautiful, historic place and is certainly
something you’ll never forget.
