Journal no. 3

 in the morning, we went to Riddarholmen Church, a wonderfully old church from the medieval times.
it's small and dark but the history it holds has a powerful impact.

 Swedish kings and queens have their final resting place here.
i especially liked looking at all their different coat of arms, seen in the background.
they cover the walls and range from 1600s to the modern time.

 next we went to the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan, Kungliga Slott.
this is the entrance to the Royal Chapel.
we were palaced-out from Drottningholm so we didn't want to queue to see the royal residences here, but it probably was very spectacular.
we did see the Treasury, where royal crowns and jewels are kept in a high security vault in the basement of the Palace.

 i think this marching band is part of the changing of the guards, which we also did not see because the square was too crowded.
they were quite a sight to see though, marching across the bridge, then around the palace to get to the square!

 next was the museum under the Norrbro, near the Swedish Parliament -  Museum of Medieval Sweden (Medeltidsmuseet).

the cool thing about this museum, other than it not being crowded, is it's centerpiece, the original town wall from the 16th century.

 it showcases various aspects of medieval life in a kid-friendly way.
there was a free English guided tour that we joined. again, the guide was very cheery and professional. he told us about the life of a real widowed business woman to illustrate how different life was then, and a bit about the crazy weapons they used in the military.

after lunch under a tree, we went to Gamla Stan again to see the Stockholm Cathedral (Stockholms Domkyrkoforsamling) aka Storkyrkan.
 it's another grand olde cathedral, dating back to the 1200s?
i am always amazed by the super long history of things in Sweden.

that's a very old wooden statue of St. George fighting a dragon.
i was very moved by the fact that this organic material was made into something so beautiful, and preserved for so long.

 the interior of the cathedral is huge!

 we were walking on history. these are the memorial stones laid all over the grounds, dating back to the 1600s, worn smooth by our footsteps.

 the Nobel Museum was just next door!
it was very high tech, full of electronic displays of the winners that you can search individually at the stations.
it was impressive but strangely unsatisfying. i guess i was expecting something else, to have anything laid out, but it was a small place so they packed a lot of info into the interactive station, which i couldn't be bothered to look through carefully.
we also took a nap in its video room.

but we did learn some interesting facts about Alfred Nobel. he become very rich from his dynamite business and left his money to award those outstanding contributors in 5 categories - physics, chemistry, medicine, peace, and literature.
i was very touched by the story of his life and the impact made by the Nobel laureates.

 we dragged ourselves to the Modern Museum (Moderna Museet) since this contemporary art museum had a late closing time that day.
unfortunately!! the section with the Marcel Duchamp/Matisse works was closed already!!
/cry

but i did discover the work of Nils Dardel (1888-1943), a handsome dandy who painted some beautiful things.
see his work here. i was captivated by the Dying Dandy, with its sexy curvy lines that contrast with the green-face man holding a mirror.

 the museum was uber cool and rather large ~
i thought its layout was very inspiring.

here's a view of the bus stop - nice right?