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

Odrarium

The Wrocław's zoo has a few special exhibitions that focus on a specific region or a specific type of animals. Let me take you today to one of them. It is a bit special because zoos usually focus on exotic animals coming from remote places where most people living in that city would never go. But the zoo in Wrocław has a special exhibition devoted to the river Oder that runs through the city. It is called Odrarium.

All starts with a pump room.

The water runs of course on a smaller scale.

Oder is not a particularly clean river, at least judging by this tank.

The fishes do not seem unhappy though.

I was actually surprised by how many different species can be found in Oder. There are salmons and touts. There is even one called piglet.

Each water container is accompanied by a complete list of its inhabitants.

I wonder where does all this air bubbles come from. Do you think that the fish actually sing?

Odrarium is maybe not overwhelmingly impressive but it is really interesting to get to know the fauna and flora of one of the most important rivers in Poland.

These round-shaped windows make me think of the Shire, green and peaceful. Let us stay here for a moment to imbibe this tranquillity.