Stockholm Old City (Sun., Aug. 20)

Our ship arrived in Stockholm at 10 am and we took a short Uber ride to our hotel, the Sheraton Stockholm. This was another very nice hotel booked with points and only a short walk across a bridge to the old city (Gamla Stan). Gamla Stan is actually an island or maybe two with cobblestone streets and 17th- and 18th-century buildings. Gamla Stan is also the main tourist attraction in the city.

It was here that Stockholm was founded in 1252 and is home to a royal palace and Riddarholmen Church (on the right). This church is the burial place for all Swedish king and queens except for one until recently when they ran out of room.

We took another walking tour, our fifth one of the trip. The tours all focused on different aspects of life in the city and this one was pretty heavily history-oriented. I'll spare you most of the history lesson and stick to the photos.

On the left is the city hall of Stockholm. The banquet awarding the Nobel Prize is held here. As you can tell from the photo, Stockholm is a town with water pretty much everywhere around.

St. George and the dragon. This symbolism here is that St. George is Sweden finally breaking from Denmark (the dragon) and establishing themselves as an independent nation.

The Nobel Prize Museum.

After dinner we went for a walk and discovered that there was some kind of festival being celebrated with food trucks and music everywhere. I don't know if it was related or not, but the orchestra from the Swedish Royal Opera House was giving a free concert in the square in front of the Opera House to mark the beginning of the opera season here. We had a very pleasant walk even though it was 62 degrees and threatening to rain.