We slept in as late as we could and still make it to breakfast which was a pretty good spread. Nothing as fancy as what was served in Gothenburg but still plenty to eat with eggs, bacon, sausage, and the usual Scandinavian breads, jams, meats, cheeses, and yogurts, as well as some pickled herring - which I tried, and caviar in a tube - which I did not try. The pickled herring was something that I decided I didn't want in my mouth again. And since we had a fridge up in the room we were able to make ourselves a little breakfast for tomorrow. Score!
After breakfast we rode the metro down to Gamla Stan to see the changing of the guard at the royal palace. We got there a little early so we walked around a bit, tried one of the famous Swedish cinnamon buns with salt - okay but the tartlets are crazy better, and took some pictures. Dad was given a firm hand up, "Halt!" from one of the guards when he got too close to a cannon so we parked ourselves behind some barricades while we waited for the day's relief guards to arrive. And they arrived with much pomp and banners and barking of orders. It reminded me of the changing of the guard at Arlington cemetery only with a band.
We then went out and wandered Gamla Stan which is really beautiful and old world. Lots of narrow twisting cobblestone lanes and unfortunately lots of tourists. It was a relief to find a lane that didn't have any shops so you could spread out a bit and enjoy the ambiance. We both bought some souvenirs for family members and then stopped for a beer at the very cool Medusa Rock Bar which had an enormous underground space that was probably pretty awesome during the peak bar going hours.
After our beer we walked up to the central city again, past Swedish Parliament, and through their formal gardens to ride the metro over to the western island. I mainly wanted to see the stations along the blue line which were just blasted out of the ock, fireproofed, and turned over to local artists to decorate on a grand scale and boy were they cool. The first one looked like an underground grotto with ruins and streams and plants (probably fake since we were so far down) and another was painted a deep red and had these huge columns flanking the escalator portal.
We then walked around the very sleepy western island down to the waterfront to sit a spell and watch the city before heading back. We dropped off our things and went down the street to a steak place for our last dinner. Except neither of us had steak. Dad had a burger - which he ate with a fork and knife like everyone else, and I had the lamb. Both were good, not great. We then left, got some dessert next door. Ice cream and cake and headed back to our hotel to pack and go to bed, we have another long day tomorrow.
I feel I should also mention here that Stockholm is beautiful. The city was built on a vast archipelago and is actually a series of islands, small and large, all connected. There is so much waterfront that you really can't escape it. Some of the islands are also quite hilly like Sodermalm with dramatic bedrock cliffs rising straight up from the water's edge. The only real disappointment was the central city which had a lot of brutalist and uninspired modern buildings occupying entire blocks. You could still find beautiful spots here and there but it was not as stunning as when you got out and into the surrounding neighborhoods and islands.
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