Baltic – April-May, 2011 217 -next on our route was Kungliga Slottet

-next on our route was Kungliga Slottet, the “new” royal palace, which was built on the
ruins of the “old” castle, Tre Konor, which burned down in 1697. The new palace,
designed by the court architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, took 57 years to complete
and, with 608 rooms, is the world’s royal castle still used for its original purpose
-at that point, however, we were in need of a toilet and none of us had any Swedish
change. Nearby, we noticed a little Finnish church whose service had just ended. G
went to ask if it would be possible to use their toilet but she was told that could not
be. Given their proximity to the palace with the bus loads of tourists around, we could
understand their reluctance
Baltic – April-May, 2011
217
-earlier, in our quest for a toilet, we had gone into Stortorget where the Stockholm
Bloodbath had taken place in 1520. This is commemorated by a monument in the
middle of the square,
-three sides of the square are formed by quaint tenements painted in various earthy tones
Baltic – April-May, 2011
218
-while there, we had noticed a small hot dog stand so we decided that our best way to get
some change would be to go back to that stand and buy ourselves some lunch since it was
approaching 13:00 already, and we were going to need to eat soon
-the hot dogs were the usual Baltic style, with the dog much longer than the bun but they
were tasty and enabled us to kill two birds with one stone – lunch and the toilet. With
coins in hand we returned to the WC that was tucked below the palace. Mission
accomplished
Baltic – April-May, 2011
219
-we looked around the outside of the palace but did not pay to go inside
-we wound our way through the narrow streets of the eastern half of Gamla Stan, which
follow their medieval 14th century lines and are linked by various lanes, arches and
stairways,
Baltic – April-May, 2011
220
until we found ourselves at Koepmantorget, a small square which contains a copy of
the statue of St. George and the Dragon
-we then turned into Oesterlanggatan and walked past a line of antique shops, art galleries
and handicraft outlets
Baltic – April-May, 2011
221
-across the short Riddarholmsbron which took us to Riddarholmen (Knights Island), we came
to Riddarholskyrkan, a large church built by Franciscan monks in the 13th century, with
an iron spire. It no longer functions as a church but has been the royal necropolis since
the burial of Magnus Ladulas in 1290. We didn’t pay to enter.
-beyond the church, we reached the far side of Knights Island and had a good view of the
impressive Stadhuset (Town Hall) across the lake
Baltic – April-May, 2011
222
-that brought us to the last site on the walking tour, after which we were instructed to walk
back to the central station, which we found to be an interesting walk past some interesting
buildings that were could not identify
and into the centre of the new part of the city
Baltic – April-May, 2011
223
where the Central Railway Station is located
-it was interesting to see a quite different side of the city from the old medieval section in
which we had spent our day thus far. From the station we headed over to Klara Kyrka
which had been built in the late 16th century
Baltic – April-May, 2011
224
-we found a Lutheran communion service under way and it looked like a somewhat
charismatic gathering who were singing a worship chorus that we recognized
-from there, we walked down Klarabergsgatan which is one of Stockholm’s main shopping
strips and is lined with big-name retailers and department stores
Baltic – April-May, 2011
225
-near Sergels Torg
was a line of stalls selling all sorts of things
Baltic – April-May, 2011
226