Journal no. 3

on this day, we activated our Stockholm Card to begin a 5 day frenzy to visit as many of the attractions as we could.

we started with Drottningholm Palace, which we took the subway and bus to get to.
as you can see, it looks rather austere.
the setting is in front of a large lake, separated from a sparse collection of ordinary houses by a road.
still, its simplicity itself is very attractive, since that is one of the unique charms of the Swedish.
and it was built in the 1600s. they sure build to last.

the sky was overcast and it threatened to rain.
we were amongst the first to go in, and photography is not allowed inside the castle.
i did think they were not serious about that, but the roving young guards were very alert and caught me twice.
many frescos were painted on the walls, in the style imitating 3D sculpture, which was pretty amusing. there were many ancient tapestries hanging.
i regret that i am only writing about this now, because i can't really remember much, but the areas we could visit were oozing with history. lol

outside was the baroque garden, which was h-u-g-e and spacious.
but still, quite simple and lovely.
walking past an outdoor theater where the rose bushes make up the wings for entering and exiting, we go into an spacious area where a funny collection of ornate buildings start to appear.
this was the Kina Slott, the Chinese Pavillion, built in the 1700s.

then, China was very exotic and mysterious, so this become a time capsule for how the Swedes romantized China. there were collections of vases and personal mirrors from China, and paintings of children playing their mothers done in the Western-style imitating Chinese-style.

the attendant lady asked us if the style looked familiar to us, since we have Chinese heritage, but i felt quite awkward being asked that. yes, i can identify with that culture but it's a very old style.

i also want to commend the people there. i dropped my Stockholm Card in the Pavilion, and got so freaked, but it turned out that the staff picked it up and i got it back at the reception.

after a nice morning at the Palace, we went to meet C at Mariatorget.
she took us to the hilly area that overlooked Gamla Stan.
the sun was in our faces and we enjoyed taking selfies with the fantastic view.
it would be great to visit again in winter when the rooftops are covered with a white veil.

there were some locals enjoying the sun and some tourists out to take photos as well.
in addition to the view, the cityscape at Mariatorget is very pretty, with glamorous buildings, elevated walkways and cobbled streets.

C mentioned that this area was the location for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo too!
Mariatorget just exudes urban cool.
we then went to Slussen to visit Fotografiska, the centre for contemporary photography.
the photo shows a portion of the sexy fruit sculpture and bar area in front of the re-converted brick warehouse.

we were lucky because the main exhibition showing then was pretty awesome.
we have been seeing very attractives adverts for "Genesis" by Sebastião Salgado at most of the subway stations, featuring gorgeous black and white photos of a seal staring at the camera with its beautiful round eyes.
Sebastião Salgado has an amazing and huge body of work, ranging from breath-taking landscape shots of the Artic to desert plains, to remote tribes of the Amazon and Indonesia.
it was terribly impressive and awe-inspiring to see this photographer's work.