Stockholm Day 3-City Hall and Changing of the Guard

We were up pretty early again today, the kids had a tough time getting up though. After we finally got the kids up we headed down to breakfast. The choices were the same as yesterday but again there was enough to keep everyone happy. The food at the Clarion Hotel Tapto has really spoiled us! I'm afraid my family will be dissapointed when we move to our next place.

At about 8:30 we headed to the bus stop to go to the Stockholm City Hall. I wrongly assumed which side of the street the bus stop would be on but I caught my mistake before the bus came. It was a short ride and the bus dropped us off right at the City Hall. We knew the first guided tour was at 9:30 and it was our goal to get on that tour. When we arrived City Hall was a madhouse, I was worried at first but then I realized it was the tour groups from the cruise ships. They all had their own guides so I had no problem signing us up for the 9:30 tour. We had some time before the tour to walk around the courtyard. The building is right on the water so we checked out the views from there too. The big tour groups were let in a bit before 9:30 and then our tour started at 9:30. There were probably 20 people in our group. Our guide was great and I was happy to not be with one of the groups that was on excursion. I know many people love cruising in Europe and if you are only going to come once it is a great way to see a lot in a short amount of time. It isn't something that interests me because I really like more than a day in each place. As with anything you have to choose what works best for your family.

Stockholm City Hall is a newer building it was completed in 1923. The tour started in the blue room of City Hall. The room isn't really blue but apparently the architecht had planned for it to be blue before changing his mind. This room is where the Nobel Prize dinner is held. We then entered the political chambers, they were lovely with a view of the water. The Stockholm City Council has 101 members and more than half of them are women. Finally we toured the Golden Room, this room is all done in a mosaic style with glass and gold tiles. The Golden Room is where they hold the dancing portion of the Noble Prize reception. I'd recommend this tour if you visit Stockholm, it was very informative and taking the guided tour is the only way you can see the inside of the building.

Stockholm City Hall

Photo op behind city hall

The Gold Room

The Gold Room

Where the politicians meet

This is where that Nobel Prize banquet is held

After the tour the kids wanted to climb the tower where you can have a nice view of Stockholm from the top. I knew this wouldn't be a good option for my parents so I told the kids that if they still wanted to do the climb after the rest of our plans then we could come back and do it. We walked across the bridge to Gamla Stan to head to the Royal Palace. After a bit of walking my mom suggested we look at a map to make sure we were going the right way, we stopped and I tried to figure out the map. Then we realized we were about 50 yards from the Palace and basically it was right in front of us. I guess we didn't really need the map!

We knew we wanted to see the changing of the guard at 12:15 and we'd read it was important to arrive early to secure a good spot to watch. At this point it was a little after 11 am, my parents decided to stay in the courtyard and have some coffee while Dan, the kids, and I went to the Royal Armory museum (part of the palace). I didn't know what to expect at the Royal Armory but I was pleasantly surprised! There were several rooms of armor, Connor and Dan enjoyed looking at that! There were also several rooms of clothing and artifacts from the royal family, Ali and I really enjoyed looking at the old clothes especially the children's things. The Royal Armory also had a hands on room where kids could dress up and partake in different activities. Downstairs there was a collection of royal carriages, they were beautiful! We were in a hurry to get back for the changing of the guard so we didn't spend as much time at the museum as we usually would have. I'd consider the Royal Armory a bit of a hidden gem, it really was well done and I wish we'd had more time. It is small so an hour would be about perfect to see it all and not feel hurried.

King Connor

Having fun (well one if them was)

Royal Coach

We headed back to the courtyard to see the Changing of the Guard, it was about 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. We quickly saw that my parents had secured a spot in the crowd. They'd saved a spot near the rope and Ali was able to stand right at the rope. It quickly got very crowded, Connor wasn't very happy about being crowded and having to wait 30 minutes. He didn't act up but he was pretty whiny for a 12 year old! I do understand his frustration though, there really was no space to move as people were trying to get as close to the rope as possible. At 12:15 the fanfare began, it was interesting and definitely not something we can see at home! I think the kids enjoyed it even with the crowded conditions!

Ali is smiling, the guard is not

The band at the changing of the guard

Changing of the Guard

As the Changing of the Guard wrapped up it started to rain, we quickly gathered our things and headed to lunch. It was about a 5 minute walk to Vapiano, a restaurant that got very good reviews online. We walked quickly because the rain started coming down quite hard! Vapiano was great, everyone was very happy with their lunch. When you enter the restaurant you are given a card. There are stations set up where you stand in line to order your food, then they scan your card. At some stations you get your food immediately as they make it in front of you, at other stations like the pizza one you are given a buzzer. We all had pizza, it was fabulous! The restaurant has open seating, we were able to find some tables near a window. When you are done eating you take your cards to the cashier and they scan them and you pay. The food was excellent and the prices were reasonable.

It was still raining when we were done with lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel. The subway stop was right across the street so we hopped on and headed back to our room. When we got back everyone was tired so we spent some time resting. Ali fell asleep for the second day in a row! I don't mind her napping but she seems to have a hard time falling asleep at night when she does. We didn't let her sleep too long. I knew my mom really wanted to take the kids to NK a huge Swedish department store. We headed there at around 4:00. My mom wanted each of the kids to choose a Christmas ornament that was made in Sweden. There wasn't a very big selection and the prices were higher than we'd seen at other places but Connor and Ali both chose an ornament. It was a quick stop and we were back to the hotel in about an hour.

NK department store

For the third night in a row we ate at the hotel. Tomorrow we leave Stockholm and head to Norway so we packed up our stuff tonight. The temperatures are going to be about 20 degrees cooler in Norway so we packed up our short and we have our jeans and sweatshirts ready. Tomorrow we will fly to Bergen and then we have a 4 hour boat ride to Balestrand. It is going to be a long travel day, our flight leaves Stockholm at 10am and we arrive in Balestrand at 8 pm. We have 4 hours in Bergen before our boat leaves, we plan to eat lunch and walk around a bit if we have time.

I'm so glad we decided to start our trip in Stockholm. It is a lovely city and it is an easy place to be a tourist. The public transportation is excellent and there is plenty to do. I was pleasantly surprised with the prices at restaurants, they weren't nearly as high as I'd expected. Hopefully we'll return to Stockholm in the future so we can do the things we didn't have time for during our short stay!

 

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