05-29 Stockholm's Royal Palace

So this morning we slept in till 8. Even with a mini blind and a shade on the window, it's like noon at 4am in the morning. Put sleep mask on and go back to bed.

Finally out the door just after 10 and catch the #18 train to the palace. We arrived at the Royal Palace and decided to do the 11:30 English guided tour of the Crown Jewel.

Since it's 5 min to 11 we go downstairs to the Tre Kronor Museum in the basement of the palace to learn about the fire that burned the castle and on food storage which was down here. Most of the castle in the foreground was burned to the ground in 1497. The only thing left standing was the furthest wing away.

Back up out of the basement and around the corner we went, to a guided tour of the Crown Jewels at 11:30. Here we learned they no longer wear the crown, but place them on a pillow during special ceremonies. They haven't made any new crowns for a very long time. Each member of the Royal Family has a specific crown assigned to them.

After the Crown Jewels, we left and went to lunch at a nice little sidewalk cafe. We had two cheese burgers and two cokes. Very good.

Now we are ready to go back to the palace to tour the Royal Apartments on our own and the Tre Kronor Museum under the palace where they stored dry goods.

Next we went in the chapel which is connected to the Royal Apartments. They have polished English copper pipes on the pipe organ, something that was common at the time (1742).

We walked over to the Riddarholmskyrkan church that has all the Kings buried there. It's beautiful on the outside, kind of plain inside. No church services happen here, but concerts do and there are people buried under the floor and inside rooms and under. Strange.

We walk around Gamla Stan (the old part of Stockholm) looking though a couple of shops and then find a spot for dinner at a Bakery.

We split a lasagna with a bread and a piece of watermelon, then caught the train back to our apt arriving home about 6:40.

At the train station grocery we picked up some water and aluminum foil and tape. Our first job at home is to cover the bedroom window. Success. It blocks out a lot of light. Hopefully that will work.

Now to rework our days here. They are remodeling upstairs and start at 8 am each morning. No problem on most days, but our days off are not scheduled for the weekend. So I think we will change that and hopefully be able to sleep in a little later at least one day a week. The other item is that there is a marathon happening on Saturday and it's in the area we were planning on going. So we will switch a couple things and be good.