Saturday, July 13, 2024

2024 Viking Homelands - Day #21 - Stockholm, Sweden

Explore Stockholm on your own today. Indulge in a smörgåsbord—once the realm of the noble elite—of maritime delicacies such as cured herring, dill-smoked salmon and chilled Belon oysters. Visit the Vasa Museum, home of the Swedish warship Vasa—the only surviving 17th-century ship in the world. Be sure to stroll the quaint cobblestone streets of the 13th-century Gamla Stan, pausing to admire its German-influenced architecture.
For the first time in almost three weeks, we didn’t have part of our day scheduled by Viking Cruises. It was glorious. We wandered the city and explored. I need to discuss the subject of cruises versus scheduling our own trips in a lessons learned.

Going to bed at 9:00 pm and getting up at 6:30 pm, this was the best night sleep that I had on the trip. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel.

After breakfast, we headed out into the shopping streets on Gamla Stan. Unfortunately, few shops were open early.

I talked Sharon into touring the Royal Apartments in the Palace. Rick Steves had panned the apartments in his travel guide, but Sharon and I both enjoyed the tour. Part of the reason that we enjoyed it so much was that we were literally the first people in the Royal Apartments; we had the place to ourselves. As we turned a couple of corners, we could see a herd of people way behind us.

Afterwards, we had a Fika.

We then spent some time shopping. I bought a Christmas Ornament to give Sharon this year. Sharon bought some gifts and a couple of things for herself. Although she hasn't done as much shopping as she has done on some trips, we are going to have a fourth bag on the way home!

We dropped everything in the room at the hotel. From there, we walk to the Moderna Museet. It is Sweden's premier museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art. The Moderna Museet is situated on the picturesque island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm. I think that I enjoyed the museum more than Sharon. Given how much I have read about Pablo Pscasso, I am always looking for his work.

After the museum, we walked to the Strandvägen. It is undoubtedly the most iconic boulevard in Stockholm. This elegant thoroughfare runs along the waterfront in the Östermalm district and offers stunning views of the city skyline and the Baltic Sea. We found a cafe on the water and had a late lunch. We split a hamburger.

Looking for some nail clippers, we walked through the Kungsträdgården after lunch. I was shocked at the number of people in the shopping district in the modern part of the city.

We took a short nap and then got ready for dinner.

We finished the day with dinner at SKEPPSBRON 10. We had the the Chef's Menu with the wine pairing. It included:
  • SNACKS
  • TWO OF CHEF'S FAVOURITES SKIO'S SOURDOUGH BREAD [CARAMELIZED ONION BROTH - WILD GARLIC BUTTER - GOUTWEED - ONION FLOWERS];
  • RAVIOLI [PRAWNS - PIMIENTO DE ESPELETTE - SPRING ONION - RYEBREAD - LOBSTER BISQUE];
  • BEEF TARTAR [ZUCCINI - LOVAGE - ELDERFLOWER - CARPET OF SNOW - CRISPY ONIONS];
  • GRILLED TURBOT [WHITE ASPARAGUS "AIGRE DOUX" - BROAD BEANS - LEMON - CONFIT - LOVAGE ROOT - CHAMPAGNE SAUCE];
  • SORBET;
  • ORGANIC LAMB [NETTLES - CHAWANMUSHI - MORELS - SUGARSNAPS HERBS - FRAN LILLA LABÄCK - GRILLED LAMBIUS], and;
  • DESSERT - CHEF'S CHOICE
  • .
It was very nice dinner. It took three and a half hours!

Sharon definitely used her superpower to find the restaurant. When we rate all of the dinners on the trip, it will probably be the "best" dinner of the trip...

By the time we got back to the home and to bed, it was 11:00 pm.

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