It is the day of the Stockholm Marathon! We've had a marathon every weekend for a month now. We decided to get out of the city and see the palace that the Swedish Royals actually live in (as opposed to the one yesterday, where they just work).
First was a boat to the island that it's on. We arrived five minutes after the boat left, and, because their server was down, were told to wait to buy our tickets until right before the next boat came in an hour. We sat along the pier (stone wall) for about half an hour. A crowd was at the ticket counter, so we decided to try our luck again. The server was still down, so they sent us to the nearest ATM (a five minute walk) fifteen minutes before the next boat left. Thankfully, we made it in time, or else Alisa would've given them a piece of her mind.
The location of the palace is superb, right along the water, with vast gardens in the back. We got nondescript (and slightly intelligible) tours of Drottningholm (the palace) and the Chinese Palace, where the royals would come during summer afternoons. It wasn't quite as big, but still three times the size of Alisa's house.
The inside was as it would have been in the 1760s, when the perception of Chinese art and decoration was much different. The tour guide was even saying that Europeans would send their designs to be made in China. (Actually, that sounds like what they still do.)
In a few of the rooms were really creepy porcelain dolls, and the tour guide said that their heads would nod if touched. Makes you wonder... how long ago were bobbleheads invented?
We got off the boat back in Stockholm (with our world still rocking a bit, but that has been happening ever since we checked into our floating hotel). I really enjoy Swedish design, and so we walked to one of the stores they suggested, DesignTorget.
Between that and the department store we went into afterwards, I want to outfit my apartment in Swedish design. Sadly, I'm only bringing back coat hooks. Darn luggage (well, how much I'm willing to carry) restrictions.
We treated ourselves to a fancy meal aboard yet another ship. Alisa had the "Swedish fish" (perch) and I had a reindeer steak. Yum yum Rudolph.
Finished up the night relaxing on the boat, listening to the Swedes on board raucously playing Mafia.
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