Stockholm, Sweden

August 28, 2006- Catching Up
(photos:Stockholm,
City Gate,
Bloody Square)

I’ve been remiss. I keep meaning to report that in my mind Minnesota is no longer the moose capital of the world. I’ve seen more “moosemobilia” on this trip than ever before. You name it and it has a moose on it.

We’ve flown an airline we’d never heard of. Fly Nordic is like Southwest Air. It’s no frills, open seating, and they charge for food. They charge for bottled water, tea, coffee, and soft drinks & don’t even offer tap water. They also don’t take U.S. dollars, only Norwegian, Swedish, or Euros. Credit cards are good if you are buying more than $17 worth. I packed a sandwich at breakfast at the hotel in Bergen but David didn’t. We had no Norwegian currency left and one sandwich and two drinks didn’t add up to $17 so he went hungry and we were both thirsty. As luck would have it he was able to find a lamb hot dog on the street soon after we arrived in Stockholm. It was grilled to perfection and quite juicy. The Diet Coke he got with it was only $2.50. That is an improvement from the high of $6 he paid in Norway.

People who claimed the VAT tax back at the airport had plenty of Norwegian currency. The VAT people are no dummies. They paid only in coins even if the refund was the equivalent of $75. Coins aren’t usable in other countries. Paper money is the only kind they want. That forced people to try to get rid of the money in the Duty Free shop.

Beauties & Blood

Yves had to admit that Stockholm was the most beautiful city in Scandinavia, but he qualified it by saying that they took a lot of it from Norway. It does have its share of famous people: Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Isabella Rosselini, Tiger Woods wife, the woman golfer Anicka Sorenstan, Bjorn Borg of tennis fame, Ingmar Johannson, Anita Eckberg, Max Von Sydow, and Pipi Longstocking. Volvo and Saab are world renown and it’s the home of Absolut Vodka.

There are nine million people in Sweden and 1.5 million in Stockholm. The city is comprised of fourteen islands. The archipelago that comprises greater Stockholm is made up of 28,000 islands. It’s a constitutional democracy with a socialist government and monarchs that are mere figureheads. It imported its king from France in the 1800’s at which point the people became Francophiles. It’s reflected in the language where French words are de riguer. It was the most powerful country in Europe for four centuries and has been neutral since 1814. It stayed ten years ahead of the rest of Scandinavia until the ‘80’s. It now has a worse economy than Norway.

There’s total separation of church and state and that has left churches in the lurch. They’re going out of business with no one to support them. Several have been sold as houses or for businesses. We’ve come down in the world of hotels but this one does supply us with bathmats. The location is right on the central square on Queen St. and within walking distance of everything we want to see. It’s the Scandic Sergel Plaza. There are 40+ Scandic hotels in Stockholm so we have to be specific if we get lost and need directions back.

Yves took us on a walking tour of Old Town and cautioned us that even though Sweden is famous for crystal (Costa Brava and Orrefors) due to the taxes here it’s cheaper to buy it in the U.S. We crossed two bridges and walked under the double arch marking the entrance to the old city. It was like walking into the 1600’s. Stockholm has done the best job of all the cities we visited at keeping its old buildings intact. Maybe they haven’t had as many fires here. Except for four skyscrapers they have managed to keep the skyline low.

Our walk led us to the Baltic at which point we turned around and headed through the narrowest street in Stockholm to Bloody Square. It seems that the Swedish king invited the King of Denmark to his wedding. When the king and entourage arrived, the King of Sweden had them locked in a room then taken to the square and beheaded. Yves thought that was a good note on which to leave us and let us wander on our own. We ended up having dinner with two couples we’ve spent time with over the weeks and whose company we enjoy. We try not to touch on politics although they do seem disenchanted with the present administration. Tonight David and I showed restraint. We were speculating about candidates for the Republican presidential nomination when one of them suggested that Newt Gingrich would be a good choice since he was so intelligent. David and I didn’t respond. I think we were dumbstruck and then the opportunity passed. Besides we didn’t want to ruin a good meal.

Tomorrow Yves is going to try to get us into the Ice Bar. Should be fun.

Toby