Our first full day in Stockholm. After about 10 hours of much needed sleep, I am human again. The first order of business is breakfast, and our hotel, which is more resturant and bar than hotel, puts out one hell of a spread for breakfast. There is charcuterie, fresh breads, cereals, fruits, strange juices…. Lots of good stuff. We decide to do the obvious touristy thing first and visit the royal palace. We walk down to Gamla Stan (old town) and buy tickets to tour the palace. Gamla Stan is both really interesting and kind of too touristy at the same time. You can tell this is an old part of the city. The buildings are very close together. There are the tiny little alleys that branch off in unexpected ways, often with even more restaurants and business inhabiting them. The roads are mostly just for pedestrians and paved in cobblestones that provide some innovative footing challenges. Also, like every second business is a souvenir junk shop… which, in my opinion, diminishes the charm of this section of the city.
Things we learned touring the palace. This is basically the third palace to stand on this location. The first was more of a fortress. Then it was rebuilt into something inbetween a fortress and a palace…. And then that burnt down in the late 1600’s and the current one was built to replace it. During the tour we learned that there were fire watchers employed that should have caught the attic fire before it got out of control, but for whatever reason, something went wrong that day and no one noticed it until it was too late. Later they tried the person in charge of the fire watchers and his deputies and sentence them to death for their failure to perform their duty. They ultimately commuted the death sentence to “running the gauntlet” multiple times, which is when soldiers all line up with sticks and beat the crap out of you as you run down the line. Harsh. I can’t help but to think of the last time that I heard someone in authority that was handed down such a harsh punishment for being a bad manager.
The palace is obviously crazy ornate (it's a palace), but the things that really catches my eye is the robotic lawnmower that maintains the royal courtyard. What can I say, I'm a nerd.
After touring the palace grounds we stop for lunch at a small restaurant in old town. I have an elk burger and Dawn has herring. The food is good, but not earth shattering. We wile away the afternoon walking around the city and stopping for the occasional beer or coffee.
Eventually, it’s dinner time. We did a bit of research before leaving for this trip and made reservations while still at home. Dawn found a restaurant that we’re eating at tonight, and it’s easy to see how Svartengrens caught her attention. The first few words in their about us section are: “We like meat. In fact, we love meat.” This is a restaurant that prides itself on meat and cocktails. The first cocktail I try is called of Woodruff and for the life of me I can’t figure out how that list of ingredients end up tasting this sublime. In short, this place is magical. For a starter we ordered a beef tartar that has raised the bar for “best beef tartare I’ve ever tasted.” For the main course I order a strip steak, and man-oh-man, this place is not joking around. My only regret is that I didn’t come hungrier because I had to leave food behind that I desperately wanted to eat. Stupid physical limitations of my stomach.
After our meal we tried to visit a night-market that was supposed to be going on not far from hotel. When we got there it looked like they had shut down the market early. It was the last night-market of the season… so maybe that had something to do with it. All-and-all not a bad first day in Stockholm.
No comments:
Post a Comment