Wow! It's been 3 days already. Considering the sun rises at 4:30am and it stays light until 9:30pm, the days have flown by. Today was no different. Up at 5:45, downstairs for another proscuitto, cucumber, and tomato sandwich with coffee and fresh orange and grapefruit juice. One thing I have to comment on is when you ask for juice here, it's ALWAYS fresh squeezed and it is phenominal. Another thing that is interesting is a 22 ounce beer costs less than a bottle of water. When ordering water, you also have to order "still water" or else you get sparkling water. I'm still getting used to that.
After breakfast, we decided that we wanted to go visit the Royal Palace. We've walked past it every day/night that we've been here and we finally wanted to see the inside. Just like everything else in Stockholm, it was beautiful. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed so I wasn't able to take any pictures. I learned quite a bit about the country. For example, the "founder" of Sweden was a man named Gustav Vasa and he also was the first king of Sweden in 1541. 1541!!!! The Gustav family is still ruling. In fact, you may read about the family in tabloid magazines due to the son and daughters being stunningly good looking.But remember the name Vasa. That name will come up at a later date.
We also witnessed the changing of the Royal Guard. This was a neat ceremony. They rope off the entire courtyard and the current Royal Guard, wearing modern uniforms and carrying modern assault rifles are relieved by a set of guards wearing vintage uniforms carrying vintage bolt-action rifles. It is a neat exch
ange. They face each other and the ones being relieved remove their bayonet from their rifle and sheath it. Then then step aside and the replacement steps forward and switch places.
We also witnessed the changing of the Royal Guard. This was a neat ceremony. They rope off the entire courtyard and the current Royal Guard, wearing modern uniforms and carrying modern assault rifles are relieved by a set of guards wearing vintage uniforms carrying vintage bolt-action rifles. It is a neat exch
ange. They face each other and the ones being relieved remove their bayonet from their rifle and sheath it. Then then step aside and the replacement steps forward and switch places. After the changing of the guard, we saw the royal carriage museum, the armory museum with all of the armor from Kings past, and the "Tres Kroner" musuem. Kroner I deduced means "Kings". "Tres Kroner"
meaning "Three Kings". Three Kings is representative of the three founding countries of the Scandinavian Republic (Sweden, Denmark, Norway). There are symbols all over that show three crowns in a triangle. I also wondered why there is a Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian Kroner as currency but none can be used in each other's country. Now it all makes sense.
meaning "Three Kings". Three Kings is representative of the three founding countries of the Scandinavian Republic (Sweden, Denmark, Norway). There are symbols all over that show three crowns in a triangle. I also wondered why there is a Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian Kroner as currency but none can be used in each other's country. Now it all makes sense. The day ended early and I think we're going to take the afternoon off from anymore sightseeing. We are starting to feel the effects of the lack of sleep. We're pretty tired, our legs are sore, and our feet swollen.
Tomorrow is going to be a VERY fun day but I won't give anything away, you will just have to return to find out. ;-)
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