A Rainy Stroll around Gamla Stan in Stockholm -- 8/6/17

We awoke to another very rainy morning, so we returned to our hotel rooms after breakfast to give the kids a little downtime.  Our plan for the day was to trek around Gamla Stan, the Old Town of Stockholm.  It was a bit of a walk, so we didn't want to go out sightseeing in a steady downpour.  Dan and I took the opportunity to hand dry our newly washed clothing with the hairdryers in each room.  They were still exceptionally wet after being washed the previous day, and this is not the hot and humid South.  After an hour of the work with hair dryers, they were a little better, and the rain was beginning to slow.  We headed across the harbor to Gamla Stan.  Our first sight was a German church that was built in the early 1630s. We decided not to tour it, as we were planning to stop by the Stockholm Cathedral later.

We wandered down several of the main thoroughfares of Gamla Stan, which are quite pretty.  You can see that the rain started again between pictures.

We arrived at the big square of Gamla Stan, Stortorget. It was the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath of November 1520.  The event is worth a google search, if you are into history.  It sounds just like a page out of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones playbook.

The building behind the fountain was the Stock Exchange from the 1700s until 1990.  It now houses the Nobelmuseet, the museum honoring the Nobel prizes (other than the Nobel Peace Prize).  The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo.  We knew that we wanted to tour the Nobel Peace Prize museum in Norway, so we skipped this one.  We thought that might be too much on the kids in one trip.
Just down the street from the Stortorget was the Storkyrkan, the Stockholm Cathedral.  We lucked into there being a special service during our visit, so we sat down to listen.  It was called a Manifestation of Peace and Disarmament Hiroshima service.  Hadley read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in 3rd grade last year with Mrs. Martin, so we thought it would be great to experience this.  There were speakers, cello solos, Psalms readings, hymns and organ music.  They honored someone for receiving a doctorate in Anti-Nuclear Bombs, from the best of my translating ability using Google translate.  I'm sure there was more to it than that, but it was still interesting to listen to, regardless of it being in Swedish.  After the service, we were able to tour the Cathedral.

Check out the huge organ in the balcony.

The 17th century altar piece is made of silver and ebony.

One of the coolest things in the Cathedral is the huge statue of Saint George and the Dragon, which is carved out of oak and elk horn.  It was unveiled in 1489.   The legend of St. George and the Dragon is also worth a google search.

This symbol was carved over one of the doorways to the Cathedral.  Illuminati?!?

Next, we walked over to the Royal Palace to see the outside.  We opted out of touring the inside, as the guidebooks said it wasn't spectacular.

We were able to catch a bit of the changing of the guard outside of the palace.

We passed the Parliament building on our way back across the harbor from Old Town.

It began a pretty steady downpour, so we ducked into a coffee shop for a snack.  There was a toy store nearby, so I took Hadley and Jack for a walk around.  They had an entire selection of Pippi Longstocking toys!

I think we made the most of this soggy day in Stockholm!