With a Suitcase and a Plan: 06-05 Stockholm's City Hall and Old Stockholm

Their City Hall is a very beautiful building, even though it is barely 100 years old, unlike most of the rest of Stockholm's buildings.

We walked down to City Hall and got tickets for the 11:00 English guided tour. The 10:30 tour was sold out. Then went over and got tickets for the 1:10 Tower Tour, allowing us to walk up the steps of the tower.

That done, we started our GuidiGO audio tour that we've downloaded to our phones for a self guided tour of the outside grounds. We start in the center courtyard, checking out the details of the building and the statues.

Above the entrance after you enter the courtyard is Saint Clare. A little girl donated 100 crowns to the building of the City Hall on the condition that she knew exactly where her money was spent. The architect told her that her money was used to purchase the crown that Saint Clare was holding.

Just before 11:00 we queue up for the guided tour inside. Our tour guide tells us about building this building. It was not designed for the Noble Peace Prize dinner, which takes place here, but it was designed for grand banquets. The builder had his wife and her friend try different stair highs and depths in gowns so the women coming down the staircase would be at ease. He also put in a star in the wall in front of them to focus on if they didn't want to make eye contact.

After explaining that the Nobel winners don't receive their awards here, they come here after getting the awards at the Noble Museum, she explained how the table of honor is placed down the center and there are 1,300 served a grand banquet. The floors here are marble and are supposed to represent all the water surrounding Stockholm. The courtyard is surrounded by tall graceful arches. It's called the Blue Room, even though there is no blue in it. It was designed to be open to the sky - hence the name blue (sky) room. But this is Stockholm, it rains, so it got a roof, but they kept the name anyway. Nobel banquets have been held here since 1934.

Next we went up the grand staircase and through some small rooms and halls to the city council chamber. A beautiful room full of wood.

The ceiling here was amazing. Wooden beams and the top of the ceiling is painted like a starry night.

They can fit 200 in the gallery for hot debates but usually it's only 4 or 5 on normal days. The opposite side has another gallery but it's just for special honored guests and visiting dignitaries.

There were beautiful huge tapestries hanging in an oval room we past throughout. Some famous-in-Sweden painter painted like the Italians did, painting the pigment onto the wet plaster on the walls (fresco). Painting with this technique is difficult because you must finish the painting in four hours because the plaster dries. He did four or five beautiful paintings representing Stockholm. They were full of detail, floor to ceiling the entire length of this hallway (or skinny room not sure).

Next we walked into an enormous glitter gold room. The entire room was covered in quarter inch square shiny mosaic tiles. It was amazing and totally unexpected. At the opposite side of the room was a queen; she represented Stockholm.

On the way out we saw a display of one setting of the dishes and full table setting for the Noble Banquet.

As our time approached for us to begin climbing the Tower, so did the rain, clearing out the grounds for a nice no-people shot.

Now it was time for our tower tour.

It's not really a tour. You get 30 min total to walk up 365 stairs, take your pictures and get back down before the next group starts up. It was plenty of time. Pictures would have been better with some blues skies, but you can't have blue skies everywhere.

"Downtown" Stockholm with the Royal Palace with the white bed sheet on during refurbishment and the black rooms of the "Old Town".

Next we started our 2 hour audio GuidiGO tour of Old Town, Gamla Stan. We toured around on the outside of some of the buildings we've toured on the inside and lots of new alleys and exterior details. Went in a couple of shops looking for Swedish hand made items.

Narrowest street in Stockholm.