City Views, Stockholm

Something that is quite comical is a rather old dock crane painted up to look like a giraffe. After spotting it from a distance, when the ferry got closer, it looked even more appropriate.

Take any ferry through the main channel of Saltsjön and look for it to be just a little east of the Tivoli park, on the island of Djurgården.

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Stockholm is a great walking city that is full of life. I like it because it is a change from my home town. When i walk around my head is on a swivel and my camera is at the ready for the next interesting and different shot.

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A wonderful idea of doing something special is hiring a private guide to walk you around, f.ex. in Gamla Stan like we did. Since we were five travelling together, we paid around SEK 400.- per person for a 2,5 hours walk. For your next LUXURY travel to Stockholm, consider this.

We had an absolutely amazing guide, Ms Elisabeth Daude, that was arranged through NORDIC VISITOR in Sweden. She is fluent in English, most caring and thoughtful, showed us such nice places and answered all of our questions. She pointed out restaurants that we could try and even sent us a sms with ideas of evening entertainment, as we were thinking of the opera or a theatre show.

Elisabeth first showed us Kulturhuset and took us to the top of the building so we could have some view of the city. Next we walked to the upscale Östermalm neighbourhood, were Elisabeth showed us design shops and nice restaurants. An highlight there was the indoor market "Saluhallen" with luxury products, fresh meat, fish, fruits and small restaurants/cafés. Afterwards we walked down to the harbour, passing Grand Hotel and seeing all the different boats and ferries. We continued walking into Gamla Stan, viewing the guards in their beautiful uniforms at the Royal Palace and seeing the City Hall from a distance. We went by "Tyska kyrkan" and "Finska kyrkan" and to our delight, someone was playing the organ in the latter one, so we went inside, rested our tired feet a bit and listened to the music. One of the highligths in Gamla Stan was to see a small monument called Jarn Pojken or Iron Boy, a really tiny statue of a boy, no bigger then an adults hand. Elisabeth told us that the children in the surrounding kindergardens take care of this Iron Boy. As for this VERY cold afternoon, he had a long scarf around his neck to keep himself warm. Elisabeth left us in Gamla Stan, pointing out nice cafés to visit.

To sum this up, it was amazing and every penny worth to hire a private guide for a walking tour! We felt very well orintated afterwards and did not have to look at our maps, for the rest of our Stockholm stay.

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I saw a staircase and thought it would be nice to go up the hill and look at the city from there. There is a house there, and many benches, I think it should be nice in summer. I read this: "A defensive structure - a redout or skans - was built on this hill in the 1650s. There are still remains of a road for transporting cannon, built by Russian prisoners of war in 1710. The name Fåfängan (Vanity) comes from the wholesaler Fredrik Lundin's folly, the pavilion on the summit, built in the 1770s. The word fåfänge has been used in Sweden to denote infertile soil which is vain to try to cultivate, in Stockholm the word has taken on a special meaning, denoting a pavilion on a hill with an extensive view, where the owner sometimes assembled his friends for parties. There are several examples in Stockholm: Sabbatsberg, Skinnarviksberget and the Skansen Hill on Djurgården".

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Suddenly I decided to simply walk I don't know where. When my mom sent me sms - hey what are you doing now?, I answered - I'm on my way to Finland, mom.:oD (that's what the road sign showed :o) ). I'm really amazed with Stockholm's architecture, the way some houses are built on rocks, and they all have small gates around, so that noone would fall.:oD It looks so unreal.:oD There are a lot of people jogging there, so you can join them.:o)

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I was looking for the king's statue from the book abotu Nils and wild geese. I'm not sure that Konung Gustaf is the statue I needed though. Anyway a lot of great views open to you from that place, and I took a long walk to the right then, there were arrows on the road (to Finland :oD), till I came to some residential area, and then some highway, so there I had to stop.:o) There are also beautiful swans and ducks in the water and they are not much afraid of people.

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This place looks almost like home to me, as I lived so close to it, and passed it every day. Once in the evening there was a performance, people read poems, played the guitar and sang songs. It was very chilly outside (winter). This organisation was speaking for people who are in grief, who lost somebody or something. Funny enough, across the road lived a homeless guy. He sat near the bus stop every day. He didn't look unhappy, nope, he had a cool Rasta hat.:oP But knowing that here people are singing about helping those in grief, and there is a homeless guy sitting alone on the asphalt, that's kinda ridiculous.:o) A few days later I saw a demonstration at this place. Some people with flags. I don't know what country they presented. Looked like something muslim. Not sure. So I guess this is a common place for some meetings and performances.

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The Stockholm harbourfront is a lovely area for a leisurely stroll or a picnic. Brown brick buildings with green domed roofs and tree-lined avenues line the waterfront. The Grand Hotel is a classic landmark facing the harbour, Old Town and Royal Palace.