Taking Stock of Stockholm

 Friday, September 4, 2026

We had a full day of touring Stockholm and learned so much about the country of Sweden and the city of Stockholm.  Sweden is the 5th largest country in Europe, about the size of California, and 68% of the country is forest.  Another thing that really surprised me is that Stockholm is made up of 14 islands and 37 bridges! It sits between the Baltic Sea and Lake Mälaren

There is water everywhere!

It was very busy in the city--there were several cruise ships in town.

We learned that Minecraft and Candy Crush were both invented in Stockholm!  Also, Stockholm was the site for several crime novels, including the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.  Also noticed Sales force is in Stockholm too!

A main mode of transportation is a bicycle or scooter.  There were tons of them. They have the right of way...priority over pedestrians!  Look out!

We visited the Vasa Museum which houses a 17th century ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. 

It is an intriguing story about how the ship was finally discovered and raised after nearly 300 years under water.  It is the largest fully intact ship ever salvaged.  98% is original.  

They are currently working to stabilize the structure from further deterioration due to age.

The depth and cold water helped preserve artifacts which have been able to provide a lot of information about the ship and its occupants.  

They think it was a design error...the ship was too tall and not wide enough to be stable.  The tragedy left us with history that we may not have had otherwise.

Following a yummy traditional lunch of Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam, we visited City Hall, a beautiful building (a bit "over the top" compared to most city halls) built in 1911-1923, during a time when the country was struggling.  

The top is adorned with 3 crowns, the national emblem of Sweden (and also the ice hockey team). 

City Hall is also the site of the banquet following the Nobel Prize award ceremony.  The ceremony is held at the Stockholm Concert Hall on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.  The banquet in the huge City Hall atrium has about 1300 guests, and the king and queen attend, with a grand entrance down the stairway.   (All Nobel Prizes (chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and economics) are awarded in Stockholm, but the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo.)  We also learned that Alfred Nobel discovered Nitroglycerin, and most of his wealth came from the invention of dynamite.

The city council meets the 3rd Monday of each month in a grand meeting room in City Hall. 

 City Hall has an ornate "gold room" with mosaics of gold leaf on all of the walls. A city entrepreneur (a relative of Saks, of Saks 5th Ave) provided funds to complete it.

Of particular interest was the section that included an American flag and the statue of liberty!

We did a quick walk through Old Town, seeing a lot of different things, including the Nobel Prize Museum, and a statue of George slaying the dragon.

We also saw the royal palace, complete with a guard on duty.

The cutest thing we saw was "Iron Boy", a small sculpture less than a foot tall in a courtyard.  Our guide helped us find him.  The boy is said to bring good luck, so people leave coins or mementos, and if you pat him, you will be sure to return to Stockholm!

Scooting on to Stockholm

 Thursday, September 3, 2026

It's another long driving day today.  We're continuing across the country to the east side of Sweden to the city of Stockholm.  Along the way we found a plethora of speed cameras...about every 10 km...we're told you don't want to mess with them!

We stopped at Sigtuna, the oldest city in Sweden.  

It was a harbor town established around 980.  The main street is a narrow cobblestone walkway surrounded by shops and cafes.

The town also has the greatest concentration of rune stones...medieval markers for territory, a message or a memorial.  These stones date back to the Viking age.

Continuing on our route we saw a Swedish army convoy...not sure where they were headed.

Also got caught up in rush hour traffic which delayed us about 30 minutes.  Sure didn't expect rush hour on Thursday afternoon at 4pm.   Traffic was backed up for miles.  We finally arrived at Bredang Campground in Stockholm.  We discovered there is an international dog show this weekend in Stockholm, and many of the dogs are staying at the campground. (Ruff ruff). 

The show will have about 19,000 dogs!  We met a few!

We are staying here for 3 nights...the longest stay we will have anywhere on this trip.  Looking forward to getting laundry done, as well as spending time in the city.

Roadtrip to Rättvik

 Wednesday, September 2, 2026

We had a long driving day today--364 km/ 226 miles.

There weren't any tunnels, or sheep, but we did see a few animal crossing bridges along the way.

We noticed the landscape begin to change.  The mountains disappeared, the trees got shorter and  smaller and then we entered Sweden.

There was just a small marker indicating the border...I expected a grander entrance into the country!  No stop, no customs, just drive on in.  One thing we noticed immediately was the change in the roadway.  The road surface changed from gray to a slightly reddish tint, and there were center lines on the roads.

And, lots of road construction...they must be getting ready for winter.  

Just when we got used to Norwegian words, letters and road signs, we'll have to learn Swedish.  (Already used a new letter ä) The currency is the Swedish Krone (exchange rate similar to the Danish Krone) but the words in the grocery store are all different!  We bought decaf coffee by mistake, and braunschweiger instead of bacon, so now we know to ask. (Phone translators don't work very well.) 

We stopped at the Nils Olsson Dala Horse workshop. In Sweden they call it Dalahäst.  These wooden, carved and painted horses have been around for centuries and have become a symbol of Sweden.  

Dala horses were introduced to America for the 1939 world's fair in New York.  A giant Dala Horse was placed outside the Swedish pavilion, and it became a favorite.  A guide explained the detailed work that goes into making a dala horse.  

We got to tour the workshop (the "tinkering" area). This workshop has been here since 1922!  The wood used is from pine forests in the area.

Historically the horses were all hand carved.

Recently they have begun using robots to do some of the carving on the small horses.

But all of the painting is still done by hand.

The carving of wood horses in Sweden has been around since the 1600's.  It was fun to see how this tradition continues.

We arrived at our campground in Rättvik just in time for a group dinner at a local restaurant and enjoyed a nice sunset to top off the evening.

Loving Lillehammer

 Tuesday, September 1, 2026

There was a special delivery this morning.  Our wagon masters delivered "breakfast in a bag" to each camper!  What a treat!  It was enough for breakfast AND lunch!  Orange juice, milk, yogurt, ham and cheese, buns, teabags, and bananas!  We needed the energy for the drive today!  It was another challenging road..steep grades, switchbacks and lots of curves.  Our GPS (and the driver) is sure getting a workout!

We also see that fuel prices are increasing - yikes!  I guess that's why they have so many electric vehicles and charging stations here.  A little tidbit--all electric vehicles have an E on their license plate. Maybe to be sure they are legitimately parked at a charging station? 

One stretch had road hazards...steep grades and "watch for sheep"!  Well, we found plenty of sheep on the road, off the road, in the middle of the road, etc.  They didn't seem to be bothered by anything.  One thing the farmers in our group pointed out was that they all had tails which is something you won't see in the US.  (In the US the tails are removed for hygiene purposes.)

We had a major "Holy Sheep" moment when we stopped for a group of sheep running down the middle of the road, and a semi truck came speeding around the bend.  We had to take a breath after that one!

We stopped for a tour of the Maihaugen Open Air Museum.  It is a very interesting and unusual museum--a collection of old items and buildings begun by a dentist, Anders Sandvig, who came to Lillehammer in 1886, began collecting things and wanted to preserve history!  (I can't imagine collecting buildings!)  But this has created a valued living history museum depicting Norwegian life over the years. 

See if you can find the founder's face hidden in the fence behind the guide.

There is a Stave Church on the grounds, moved from another part of the city to be part of the museum.  It dates back to 1200.

We also got to see the family summer home and see how the family lived and worked together 200 years ago.

Of special interest was the schoolhouse, where we learned only men could be teachers prior to 1860.  Boys and girls had to sit on different sides of the room, and youngest in front, oldest in back.  We learned how to count to three in Norwegian (I forgot already) and learned about the three unique Norwegian letters (which I already know about and now know how to type!  Æ Ø Å)

We also learned that Norwegian children are taught English as part of the regular curriculum in elementary school.  And they really like to hear "your English is very good"!

There was an interesting map of Europe in the schoolroom. Norway shares a small border with Russia!

There are 200 historic houses and buildings as part of this museum.  What a treasure to have these buildings preserved to teach others about Norwegian daily life from the 13th century until today.

Adjacent to this museum was the Norwegian Olympic Museum.

The museum shares the history of the games through interactive displays. 

There was also quite a collection of things from Olympic games over the years, including torches, flags, medals, etc. as well as articles from famous Norwegian Olympic athletes.

One of the famous Norwegian athletes is Sonja Henie (could she be a relative?)

She is quoted as saying "Jewelry takes people's mind off your wrinkles."  I agree!

The most fun we had today was a trip to the ski jump from the Olympics held in 1994 in Lillehammer. It is two towering slopes that hang over the city--one large hill and a smaller one.  

It's hard to appreciate the height of these things.  But we found out, because we climbed to the top!

Once we started walking up, we wondered what we were getting into.  We kept thinking it couldn't be much farther, and if we're halfway there, we can't turn around now.

There are 960 steps to the top of the jump!  

But it was worth it...you could see where the skiers line up and get ready for their jump.

--and there were some phenomenal views of the city!

Athletes practice at the facility year round.  The surface is a rubbery grass-like material.  They water it down to give the skiers the feel of a ski slope.

The torch is still on the site.

And the lifts weren't working, so we had to walk back down 960 steep steps!

This is almost half way!

 The city of Lillehammer was filled with people and way too many one-way narrow streets--pedestrians and bikers don't use crosswalks and ignore lights.  I remember watching the 1994 Olympics and remember seeing this housing for the Olympic athletes.  

We finally made it to the Lillehammer Campground which sits right on the river.  After a short rain there was a pretty sunset.

What a great way to spend our last night in Norway...it's a beautiful country with intriguing history and wonderful people.  On to Sweden tomorrow.