Stockholm (Sweden) - 15th to 17th June 2010

Having planned our arrival to Stockholm to coincide with the start of the NZ football match, we went straight to the pub and put the touristing on hold for a few hours. After a 3 hour bus ride, we were of course thirsty! Great result by the boys which made it all worth it.

Once we finally got going we realised that it was an exciting time to be in Stockholm. The Crown Princess Victoria is getting married this Saturday so the town is going crazy. There is a special 'Love' festival for a couple of weeks leading up to the big day with stages and marquees everywhere but it also meant for some reason we were able to buy a hotdog for 50p, considering they are normally around £3, a pretty good deal!

We wandered around the Royal Palace and Gamla Stan (the old town), but it was a pretty grey and cold day so we had an early night ready for a full day touristing on Wednesday...

The sun was shining so we were up bright and early for a look over the city from the nearby cliffs and back into the old town for some more aimless wandering and a looksee in the Royal Armoury underneath the Royal Palace. Back outside we fought the crowds for the midday changing of the guards. It was a spectacular day in Stockholm, a city which is situated on 14 lovely islands, so we walked over to the parklike island of Djurgarden to the "Sweden in miniature" attraction, Skansen. With buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries relocated to sunny Stockholm plus a zoo of scandinavian animals, we spent the afternoon soaking up a bit of Swedish history.
The last act before the clouds came over was a trip out to a small island half an hour away by boat for a few rounds overlooking the water. A super day sightseeing, pushing Stockholm right up there in our list of favourite cities.