Stockholm Diary – Part 2

So as we returned to the palace there was some sort of ceremony with the guards going on. Not the official changing of the guard as this was supposed to happen on Sunday, but perhaps a smaller version. Guards were parading down the street with a Swedish flag out front. They then did some sort of song&dance out the front of the Palace. I found it interesting to watch. After it finished, the Palace was then open for guests. So we got our tickets and headed in to see the Royal Apartments. It was very grand. Lots of colour and the ceilings were painstakingly detailed in their design.


We also got to have a quick look round the treasury. Soooo many sparkly things. I’ve never seen so many diamonds. Although I found the crowns a bit disgusting up close, so much detail, so many stones, it just looked like too much for the eyes. But the overall effect was nice.

After spending quite a while in the palaces, we headed back to get our bags and check into out hostel. This was a bit of a mission, as some people wanted to walk, some were willing to pay for the metro. In the end though, we all made it to the right place at the right time-ish. So we checked in. The room was a good size and the TV was huge! Haha. I was excited to get out and do some Cd shopping. I hadn’t wanted to bore my travel buddies with it while we had such limited time in the city, so took this opportunity while the others were resting to go exploring. As you may have read, it was very successful.


Apon returning, I was told people were heading off to look for somewhere to eat. We ended up finding an Indian restaurant that looked relatively cheap. I’ve been craving a good Chicken Korma since I’ve been here, so was happy to finally have my wish granted! Twas a lovely meal, with great company. Although I did think it was a bit strange to come to Sweden for a curry! Vowed to try some Swedish food the next day…


We headed back to the hotel where some people had talks of going out to boogie in Stockholm. I liked this idea, but my feet didn’t seem to want to cooperate. So I stayed in with the girls I was sharing the room with and we watched some trashy Swedish telly. We mostly watched Singing Bee, a karaoke style programme where you had to guess the lyrics of the song. Get it right and you go through to the next round, get it wrong and you face elimination. It was a funny show actually, and although most of the songs were in Swedish, I did recognise a few (e.g. Det Gör Ont). In the end the guy we were rooting for won. I think he might have come from the Ålands, as they were waving flags that looked a little different to your usual Swedish flags for him in the audience.

After that I feel asleep.