The Royal Dance Party, or Day 8 in Stockholm

We spent most of the morning trying to walk to Stockholm Central Station (ending up in a dead end loading dock instead) then buying our tickets to Bergen for Monday night. We have a 3:30 to 9:30 train to Oslo, then a 11:40 to 6:50 am train to Bergen. We didn't splurge for the berths, so we'll see how much rest we get. (By the naps we can take, I'm thinking we'll be tired but fine.)

This afternoon was shopping along the pedestrian streets in Old Town (which is also an island), before spending a few hours taking really interesting tours of the Kungliga Slottet, or Royal Palace.

While we were shopping, I wanted to get something to eat, but I apparently get hunger decision paralysis and start shutting down when presented with too many options (or any options at all, really). That and the sticker shock had me sitting in the "glass" (ice cream) shop for ten minutes while internal debates raged. I ended up getting a muffin with ice cream, and I've already forgotten how much it cost (not quite true, and my credit card hasn't forgotten).

But on to the palace. We went into the Royal Gift Shop where we bought our Royal (student) Tickets, and paid for the Royal Loo (I don't feel so bad about the student ticket). We were in time to see the tour of the Royal Apartments.

If you've been reading along with all the palaces we've visited, you might have an idea about what happened to this one. In the 1690s, there was... a fire! The new wing had just been built in the square, French Baroque style, and the fire missed it, just destroying the old part.

Our guide said that the fire was well-documented because of the trials that happened afterward. The guards that were stationed to watch for fires were at a pub and in the kitchen. Instead, they smelled the smoke and began trying to rescue what they could from the flames.

In the process, they threw books out of the third floor library. The only casualty in the fire? A man who had a book dropped on his head. Books can be deadly.

We also saw the Royal Ballroom (or something). In 1999, over New Years, they had a discotheque in there. To see if the floor (and ceilings of the rooms below) were strong enough, they had the guards come in and jump on cue.

That was only the first of our intriguing tours of the Royal Palace and its different sections. We peeked into the Treasury (sparkly) and the chapel (regal) by ourselves, but caught up to the tour of the Museum of Antiquities.

Our tour guide entertained us for an hour talking about a dozen Roman and Greek statues. The king who collected them (and the collectors that sold them to him) wanted full sets, and when only pieces of statues were found, the other pieces were added (or, in the case of some of the heads, modified).

We were on our feet all day, so we decided to bask in the sun before heading to Medatraplatsen (again, a rough approximation) for some people-watching. We ended up sitting next to some soccer fans, who told us about the game that was happening a few blocks away. We heard a few cheers from the normally staid Swedish, and continued to sit and watch as it began to pour.

Thankfully, by the time we decides to migrate for dinner, it had slowed to a trickle. We followed a suggestion by Frommers to eat at Garlic & Shots. We found a very crowded bar, put our name on the list, and waited for a table.

My "chili" was a bit more like pulled pork plus nachos, but it was delicious regardless. The burgers looked delicious as well (and by the fact that Alisa ate it up, I would assume they were). Less garlicky than I would assume with a name like Garlic & Shots, but still an experience.

We walked back to our boat hotel as the sun was setting (at 9:30pm). We are enjoying the evenings of relaxing and reading or television. More touring tomorrow!