No Salvation in Sweden

We hopped the plane from Copenhagen to Stockholm enjoying the thought of freedom from a tour group for a while.We got to the hotel and decided to head to the Old Town of Stockholm which was one of the nicest that we saw.  We lunched at a place called Hair of the Pig which oozed warmth and coziness.  Completely aimless we stumbled upon the Royal Palace.  It would have been hard to miss.  It is set atop the Old Town hill with views over the water and islands. It may have outdone the Papal Palace in Avignon in terms of stairs to be mounted and dismounted.  After the workout we decided to walk back to the hotel.  And then we got lost.  I was still sick and getting sicker but we slogged on until reoriented.  Michael's watch clocked us as totaling more than 15,000 steps for the day which equates to something between 6 or 7 miles.  I was a little grumpy.

This is the Nobel Peace Prize Museum in Stockholm (as opposed to the Nobel Peace Center Museum in Oslo).

Even though there are no more public telephones, we encountered several Swedish telephone booths preserved for posterity so young Swedes can ask: "What is that?"

The Royal Guard was established in 1523 to protect the Royal Palace.

On this day there were some Swedish military outside the Royal Palace as well.

The southern entrance to the Swedish Royal Palace (Kungliga slotten) in Gamla Stan, Stockholm is the official residence and major Royal Palace of the Swedish Monarch.

The translation above the entrance reads: "Sweden prays tirelessly for life and victory for the King, the splendid fortunate, pious and always venerable Charles XII, the pride of the northern world, Father of the fatherland, whose invincible bravery under Herculean effort brought him to the heights of glory. May the fortune of the House remain and add generation to generation."

The National Museum of Sweden, is the national gallery of fine arts of Sweden. The building was constructed between 1844 and 1866, inspired by Northern Italian Renaissance architecture.

This is the first of four sculptures created by Bernard Foucqet at the beginning of the 18th century. Two are to the left and two to the right of the entrance. The four are known as the "Abduction Group". This is Pluto & Porsepina.

This is Romulus & Hersilia.

This is Borseas & Orithyia.

And finally one of the most memorable abductions in Greek history, Paris and Helen.

The ceiling of the Royal Chapel in the Palace.

The altar and the ceiling in the chapel...

and a closer view of the altar.

The ceiling at the rear of the chapel and the pipes for the organ.

These carved wooden pieces in the chapel are full of symbology reflecting cultural and historical themes, such as royal lineage, religious beliefs, and national identity.

These symbols can serve as a means of storytelling, conveying messages about power, faith and the heritage of the Swedish monarchy. 

The Royal Throne in the Hall of State, which is two storeys tall.

The Hall of State meeting hall, with different country's heralds on the wall. This is the cabinet meeting room.

A closer view of the country's heralds, with Mexico on the lower right.

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The Wave and the Beach sculpture in the Royal Palace was sculpted by Theodor Lundberg in 1898.

Two of the antique pieces of furniture in the palace.

These two sculptures are in the Pillar Hall of the palace.

As we have seen throughout our travels, the heaters in the royal palaces are quite decorative.

This chandelier in the Royal residence is definitely Swedish modern...

as are the furnishings in these two photos.

It is quite a contrast from the furnishings in the rest of the palace.

Portraits of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

Another one of the ornate painted ceilings in the palace.

A view of the northern facade of the the Royal Palace, which is not as ornate as the southern facade.

When we headed to breakfast the next day we noticed that NATO soldiers were everywhere.  There had to be over 200 in the hotel.  We heard Italian, French, and a number of Scandinavian and Baltic accents among the group.  It is very clear that the entire region is on edge.  Later in the trip we would get a taste of why that is.  We nodded and smiled and they nodded and smiled and on we all went.  

Something odd happened in Sweden  with us and our nationality.  Everywhere else we went we were immediately pegged as Americans and addressed in English.  However, in Sweden, we were frequently mistaken for Swedes and addressed in their native tongue.  We were baffled in that we looked the same in every place.  But, then again, I couldn't differentiate a Swede from a Dane with a gun to my head so we just graciously said "Ja" a lot. 

Having exhausted ourselves the prior day, we decided to hit the water for a tour of the waterways of Stockholm and a taste of the archipelago.  The archipelago consists of around 30,000 islands ranging from tiny outcrops to fairly significant land masses.  It was pretty, undemanding, and of reasonable duration -- just what we needed.

The Gröna Lund (Green Grove) amusement park in Djurgården, Stockholm dates from 1883, 40 years after Tivoli Gardens.

Kastellhomen (Castle Island) has Kastellet Castle, which was built between 1846 and 1848 and designed by a Swedish officer and architect, Frederik Blom. Today it is uses as a Naval Officer's Club.

The Aftonbladet building dates from 1830 and has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Sweden.

This modern building is the Stockholm Waterfront Congress, located close to the Central Station of the railway. The architect had to be creative because of the limited space available for the building.

We had one more full day in Stockholm before we would set off to spend a few days on Vaxholm Island.  We decided to go and take a look at the Vasa ship.  It was rainy and pretty miserable so we were glad to seek shelter.  The Vasa was the pride of Sweden.  It was built in the early 1600s and purported to be the largest war ship in the world.  As you will see from Michael's photos, it is almost a work of art with elaborate carvings and artistic touches abounding.  The only problem it turns out is that art doesn't float.  As proud Swedes stood in awe as the ship launched, they watched it traverse 1,000 meters, flip on its side and sink.  It was top heavy -- really top heavy.  Oh well, live and learn. The Vassa sat at the bottom of the harbor until the 1950s.  It is huge and the museum was built specifically to accommodate it.  We emerged from the museum and set about waiting in the rain for our Hop On/Hop Off vehicle.  We are probably the only humans who have used the transport and only hopped on/off once.  Just a warning.  A lot of companies advertise as Hop On/Hop Off but their schedules and diligence vary tremendously.  We were not thrilled with ours as we waited over an hour for a pickup.  Stop whining Deirdre.

The Nordic Museum is dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (1520) to the contemporary period. It is located very near the Vasa Museum.

The figurehead of the Vasa.

The side of the Vasa bristled with canons, which were never fired in battle. There were a total of 64 guns on the Vasa.

The stern of the Vasa contained many ornate carvings...

such as this Swedish Royal Crest between two lions ...

other ornate carved figures ...

and a carved figure of King Gustavus Adolphus.

The carved figures even extended beyond the stern to the port and starboard quarter of the ship.

In the center is wood carvings in the Dutch grotesque style, depicting fantastic and frightening creatures. When the Vasa was launched all of the figures and carvings were painted with very bright colors.

We packed up once more and Ubered down to the port to pick up our ferry to Vaxholm Island.  The island is a favorite of Stockholm folk in summer and is cute as a button.  Sort of like Martha's Vineyard in 1890.  Filled with adorable red and yellow cottages and endless fika bars and restaurants it was a good stop.  Fika is a Swedish thing wherein folks gather seemingly day and night to imbibe coffee and eat pastries that average about 4,000 calories.  They must be genetically coded to "thin" because no American could feast on fika regularly and fit through a door. Michael loved it.

Vaxholm Fortress, aka Vaxholm Castle, was built in 1548 and was designed to protect Stockholm from the east.

We came across this sea mine from WW I, which is only one of five preserved from this period. It weighed 138 kg and contained 50 kg of TNT.

The next series of 4 photos show the colorful variety and sizes of the houses on Vaxholm.

One day while looking for information, we stumbled into the Town Hall, where the tourist information office was located. The individual encouraged us to tour the Town Hall on our own. This is the Town Hall meeting room.

This ceiling painting was in the meeting room.

The exterior view of the Town Hall.

While walking to get the best Fika on the island, I came across this sign offering speed dating for seniors.

Many of the coffee shops had Fika, but none had Fika like this place. They offered no cappuccino, latte, flat white, cortado, espresso or any other special coffees only regular coffee.
However they did offer the most amazing assortment of Fika, as can be seen from these photos.

Meanwhile, Deirdre wasn't loving anything.  Our first day there was beautiful and we hiked the island soaking in its charms.  By the end of the day I had hit the wall.  I knew I had a full on sinus infection and, based on previous torturous experiences, knew that only serious antibiotics would deal with it.  Luckily, our apartment -- lovely-- was directly across the street from a medical clinic.   So, off we went content that the Swedish social safety net would catch us.  Wrong.

"Where are you from?" said an imposing woman strongly resembling Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

"The U.S. " we replied in a friendly manner.

"That will be $220 U.S. she snarled

"Well, we really live in Mexico," I said angling for a developing nation price.

$220," she intoned

"What about Iceland?" I tried

"Give me your passport," no smile or thank you.

We were seen by a young Swedish doctor.  I explained that I had endured these infections since before he was born and that I needed some serious antibiotics to clear it.

He looked me in the eye and said, "In Sweden we don't give antibiotics."

What??? I told him I'd be back in 2 days with a good sized fever and horrible, horrible nasal output.  He seemed unphased and told me to go get a nasal spray.  All in all, not worth $220.

As predicted, two days later I was running a 101.6 fever,  producing the usual byproducts of such an illness and to add to the fun was harboring a nice case of tendonitis. I stumbled over to the clinic with Michael patiently waiting as I had to stop every 25 feet to knock down the pain in my hip and leg.  We arrived.

"Well, I'm back I said to Nurse Ratched. "And I need to see someone because I have 101.6 fever."

"One hundred point six is not a fever in Sweden," she replied haughtily.

"What? Are Swedes a different species?  All humans are supposed to be 98.6"

"Well, you can't see anyone because two doctors are out sick," she said

"Probably because you don't use antibiotics," Michael offered.

She suggested we take a public bus off island for about 35 minutes to get to another clinic.

"Will they give me antibiotics?" I asked

"Maybe," she shrugged.

At that point a young doctor walked in, looked at me and said: "I'll take her.|

I explained my situation and grave need for antibiotics and their refusal to provide them.

"Don't worry," he said.  "I'm Greek.  We give them out like candy." At that point the door opens and Nurse Ratched yells: "That's another $220."

So we got the antibiotics that proved to be both too weak and two short run.  I don't recommend getting sick in Sweden. Really.

 Michael is contesting the first charge on our credit card since they provided exactly no diagnosis, prescription or even sympathy.  They also didn't even take my vital signs.  Amateurs.

OK.  That's enough moaning for now.  I'll try to refrain from complaints for the next blog.  We're on to Finland.