Drottingholm Palace

The Drottingholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish Royal family. It is located within the confines of Stockholm,conveniently close to the city center. It was built on a small island for one of the former queens of Sweden to which it owns its name - Drottingholm means "queen's island".

The palace and its grounds have seen many renovations, changes and additions over the past 400 years. But you can still have a feeling of what it looked like when it was a vibrant place of power. This hall is the Hall od State, palaces assembly and ceremonial hall. It is decorated with portraits of the most important European heads of state from the nineteenth century.

In the library, you can find thousands of books. It was created in late eighteen century, with the help of the famous Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus.

Let's take the official staircase. Quite impressive (as it was meant to be).

Amoung the very many chambers, we can admire the Chinese drawing room with magnificent tapestries.

Chinese motives were very popular in Europe an Sweden was no exception. You can find Chinese vases in many parts of the Drottingholm palace.

The Green Cabinet looks a bit like an ancient version of Instagram, all covered with pictures, both small ...

... and large.

This room is the State Bedchamber of queen Hedvig Eleonora. And yes, in eighteenth century a queen would receive her guests in a bedchamber.

On one side of the Drottingholm palace you will find a small lake.

And this is the backyard.

Shall we take a closer look?

The Drottingholm garden includes large alleys ...

... and narrow lanes.

This fountain, shaped like a series of waterfalls, is dedicated to king Gustav VI Adolf.

Though of course the garden is filled with numerous fountains, usually shaped into classical monuments.

Look at this path, it looks like carved in trees!

At its top you will find the Chinese pavilion.

It was a surprise gift for queen Louisa Ulrika on her 33 birthday. When a king thinks of a surprise gift, he thinks big. I only wonder how realistic it was that the woman did not get any hint of a such construction happening in her backyard (no matter how large the backyard is).

Though I guess a wise wife can be surprised whenever needed and by a gift of any size, should it be a pavilion ...

... or a bouquet.

I guess that you will not be surprised to find out that the Drottingholm Palace was inscribed by UNESCO on its World Heritage List.

It is indeed a wonderful and unique place.

Royal Canal Tour

Today we will spend another day visiting Stockholm. But unlike last time, we will visit it not on foot but on a boat. 

We will take a tour on the Royal Canal. Djurgården Canal has been royal land since the 15th century.

As we start, we can admire the Parliament Hall.

And the National Museum.

Then we move on to the canal itself.

On the shores we see churches ...

... and old huts.

When you look back, you will notice a large marina. Every tenth Swede owns a boat.

Actually, the whole Scandinavia is very close to water. They use it for travels - short and long. Just like the Vikings.

But they also live on water. at least from time to time. This ship is a youth hostel!

And of course they have fun on water as well.

I hope that you had fun as well today. We are not yet living Stockholm - tomorrow we will visit one more special place that got its place on a very special List.

Old Town of Stockholm

I will take you today on a visit to the capital of Sweden - Stockholm. We will start at the City Hall. The City Hall was designed by the architect Ragnar Östberg and is built from eight million bricks. On top of the spire you can notice three crowns which you will also find in the coat of arms o Sweden.

The great Nobel banquet is held at City Hall. After dinner in Blå Hallen, the Blue Hall, Nobel Prize laureates, royalty and guests dance in Gyllene Salen, the Golden Hall, with its 18 million gold mosaic tiles.

The City Hall is located on the seaside, let's walk through those arcades to see more.

Between the columns of the arcades a cool shadow reigns.

But on the other side the sun is shining bright.

The red bricks of the City Hall become even more red now.

On the other side of the bay you can see the Old Town and the Royal Palace.

I propose that we see it closer. The streets of the medieval Old Town of Stockholm are narrow and colorful.

The Royal Palace is the official residence of His Majesty the King of Sweden. With over 600 rooms it is one of the largest palaces in Europe! The Palace was largely built during the eighteenth century in the Italian Baroque style, on the spot where the “Tre Kronor” castle burned down in 1697.

In front of the main entry you will always find the royal guards.

 The external walls are quite impressive, decorated with sculptures.

So is actually the interior of the palace.

Next to the Palace stands the Saint Nicolas church, belonging to the Lutheran church of Sweden.

But the most important thing in the neighbourhood of the Royal Palace in Stockholm is of course the statue of the horse of the Crown Prince Karl XIV Johan. And his master by the way.

Since the day is warm and sunny, I propose that instead of visiting all the dark museums the city has to offer, we discover Stockholm in a different way. Stay tuned for the next post on our blog

Västerås

I am very excited to take you today to yet another country, the last missing in my list in the Scandinavian Peninsula - Sweden. We will visit today a nice little town called Västerås, located in central Sweden, some 100 kilometres from the capital city of Stockholm.

 We will take from the airport a nice highway running next to many lakes.

You will quickly notice that the houses next to the road look all the same - wooden, painted in dark red colour (it even has its own name - faluröd), with white windows.

The buildings in Västerås are also red, but this is because they are mainly made of brick.

There are two major brick-built buildings in town. The first one is the gothic cathedral, dedicated to Virgin Mary and John the Baptist.




The tower is 92 meters, it does not seem to be as high as in some of the gothic cathedrals in the South of Europe.

Inside you could find the tombs of some of the Swedish kings. Unfortunately, we arrived in the evening and the church was closed. So we can only admire saints on the reliefs on the outside walls.

Let's move to the second important building made of brick. We need to cross the river Svartån. Like in Paris and Wrocław, the couples put padlocks as proof of their devotion.

Quickly, we will arrive to a very nice park, located next to a small lake. The building in the back is the Town Hall.



We need to pass next to the town's theater.

Finally here comes the second major building made of brick - the royal castle in Västerås. Actually it does not look like a castle at all. It was built in thirteenth century and rebuilt in sixteenth century. Nowadays it looks like a large residential building.

Those of you who are a bit tired can have some rest on one of these funny benches.

I propose we cross the lake to take a closer look at the Town Hall again.

As we approach the bridge, you will notice that there is a little water tourbine on the river, generating electricity. It is hidden in this nice little house.

Or to be more precise, next to it.
 

Next to the Town Hall there is a statue of a golden bull located on a high pillar. I have no clue what it represents but it reminds me vaguely of the golden calf that the Jews have made when Moses was getting from God the Ten Commandments.

The Town Hall, just like the cathedral, is distinguished by the tall tower.

I just noticed that in the middle of the lake there is a fountain! In the back you will recognise the theater.

I was at first surprised that this theater is so small but I was later told that the main cultural events take place in a new concert hall.

The truth is however, that Västerås is basically an industrial town. Vasteras is the town where the apparel retailer H&M was founded.

It is also the birthplace of ASEA, a large manufacturing company operating in the electrical industry. Nowadays ASEA is part of the ABB Group, but its Swedish headquarters are still in the historical ASEA building.

Next to the entry, you can even spot a monument of its founder.

But ASEA has given to Västerås one more monument and I must admit that I like it much more. These are the Aseaströmmen, a monument that commemorates thousands of ASEA workers that were coming to work on their bicycles. The name of the monument is a mixture of the name ASEA and strömmen meaning current or flow. This current filled the streets of the city each time the shifts changed at the factory.

I hope that you liked this little tour of Västerås. I propose we take a last and final look at the river Svartån, bordered by houses painted in Falun red.