Posted: July 16th, 2009 | Author: Gergana Milusheva | Filed under: fun, trips and notes | No Comments »
there is a separate section for It, the hotel, because it plays a big role in us liking Stockholm 🙂
and maybe it is because of the history it turned out to have…, although it seems this history is a natural part of its charm
the building was constructed in 1937, hosting a unique combination of functionality, including a hotel, a movie theater, a restaurant, apartments and a pastry shop.
nowadays, all of this still exists thanks to the fact that a few years ago Mr. Benny Andersson (one of the two former male pop-idols of ABBA) became an owner of it;
he renovated it entirely, putting a lot of style in it with the help of famous specialists; the results is a beautifully preserved atmosphere from the 30s and 40s of the 20th century without this interfering with the simplicity and modernism that I am looking for; see for yourselves
only a portion of the rooms have balconies which is the difference between a regular and a luxury room but the “deluxe” was definitely worth it as we spent the majority of our time on the balcony…
the waiting room by the reception desk
the lobby
the entrance and the lobby in front of the movie theater which are presently a bar and a very lively location in the evening
a hotel corridor
the lit up thing in the lower end of the door is the room number
a nice element from the room
to the other side
during our stay, there was an international tournament involving a game the Swedish call Bloom (if I am not mistaken) which is really popular; the primary playground was the sidewalk on the other side of the street and all the players had rooms in our hotel; this is how the sidewalk looks after the end of the tournament and the removal of the wooden mobile stand:
for those of you who are curious – the hotel’s website
coming up next – day 11 – 13.07.09
Posted: July 16th, 2009 | Author: Gergana Milusheva | Filed under: fun, trips and notes | No Comments »
our stay in Stockholm continues with a sunny Sunday which we have decided to dedicate to the museums
museums here work on Saturdays and Sundays at full capacity; the non-working days are on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (different for each place); and there are surprisingly many museums…
we get on a low boat which takes us around the main bay area, stopping at the major tourist spots where we get off, look around and get on the next boat that comes in every 15 minutes… the rolling terrain around the bay makes it possible to see the masts of the sailing boats “parked” in the bay from almost any spot
sailing boats are definitely highly respected here
we take off and this is what we see around us
there is a feel to it 🙂
besides being situated on multiple hills and canals, Stockholm is also a part of the so-called Stockholm archipelago of 30,000 islands (!!!); they have a special definition of the word “island” – apparently, the rocky formations accidentally showing above the water do not count if they are less than 3 meters tall… a descent portion of the population lives somewhere on this archipelago or has a villa there; apparently this is for the rich (although there is no other way to tell that they are rich); there are also islands which have roads and small boats are a part of the public transportation lines; this is how it looks
we have chosen a single (I am merciful, right?) museum that we want to go to; this is it from afar:
this is Vasa: a Swedish military ship pulled up from the bottom of the sea about 45 years ago; Vasa sank on the day it first set sails some… ahmmmm… 400 years ago; for the record: it has nothing to do with the Vikings… (I looked for them everywhere but without any luck…)
in front of the ship museum
we get inside and we almost bump into it
it is difficult to imagine how huge this thing really is from these pictures… there is a 5-floor construction going around it (plus, each floor is about 5 meters tall, suitable for a museum); aaaaand, the masts are up to the first line, meaning about a third of their original length…
there are some fun things in the exhibition such as models showing the process of taking it out of the water: (above)
(from below):
the equipment of the vanguard who stretched the ropes (this is a deed of heroism):
we go around it
a bow
A deck
from the rear (for sure there is some very sophisticated name for it but I must have been asleep when we were having ship architecture….):
all of it
the dimensions are quite stunning, at least for 1630
there is also a fun model of it in a 1:10 scale, so that you can perceive it somehow (the part that is submerged in the water is not part of the model)
we leave a bit dazzled by the scale of the Sweden from that time (which was already a nation with a king at that point, in contrast to Norway)
the next stop is Moderna Museet (where the architectural center is as well) but taking pictures is forbidden and there was not much to shoot anyway…. After a short walk around, we sit at a café and about thirty of these buddies keep us company
I saw large flocks of these buddies elsewhere in the city, so it seems they are among the permanent residents 🙂
we leave the islands with the small and yet smaller museums, deciding that we have no energy to see Skansen (a reconstruction of a Swedish settlement from 200 years ago in its actual scale, inhabited by people, with represented crafts) and by Grand Hotel we saw the preparations for the appearance of some big shot – there were many of these:
Swedes are really afraid of the police…. in fact, it seems having respect for the police is typical around the world, except in Bulgaria
the following pictures go especially to the fans of the unique Swede comedy Koops:
Benny himself in all his glory
and this is how the people who are afraid of the police look like:
Swedes and Norwegians almost seem to belong to different races… they have nothing in common; and it is no coincidence that Swedish women have a name in Bulgaria 🙂 (we are talking about beauty here and I have no idea what you thought it was…)
but the Swedish men are another story; the answer to my question “Where did the Vikings go?” was: they got skinnier, epilated and metrosexual… and those who stayed away from that trend married women from the Philippines! or men from the Philippines, or, as a last resort, Chinese or Korean
we board the boat again
this tiny sailing-boat is one of the many around
there are larger ones as well
and even larger ones:
the city is major destination for all kinds of marine tourism and there are several boats like ours at all times in the bay; there is also a sea station: you get off and sleep in one of the many hotels in the center while the ship gets cleaned up and loaded with tax-free alcohol, ready to embrace you back on board… you can also do it the other way around: board a boat to let’s say Helsinki or Tallinn in the evening and in about an hour, the ship is already in international waters and the alcoholic fiesta begins… you get drunk as a skunk and you are back home in a day without getting off…
Swedish people are alcoholics; and so are the Norwegians; and so are the Finnish; the Russians as well… needless to say… and if at this time of the year night time is around 1 am and the sun rises at about 3 am, in January the sun hardly shows to the south for a brief hour or two; six months of winter; half a nation constantly on antidepressants (I am not kidding)… I suppose that if it weren’t for the socialist structure they have formed here, no other possible form of settlement would have lasted for long.
and all of this is in the company of Emil of Lönneberga, Nils Holgersson and Pippi Longstocking… here she is, 15 years old (the freckles and the red hair are the same…)
coming up next – day 11 – 13.07.09 – hotel1
