I do have a learning curve hey…. directly applied it when I do another walking tour in Stockholm, accepted that my memory is faded as time goes by, hence I type type type everything our guide said 🙂
The meeting point is on Monument Gustavus Adolphus or King Gustav II. She said there will be many Kings in Estocolmo with the name Gustav.
What was so special about King Gustav II? He was very success in military battlefield, well known either as “Captain of Military History” or “The Father of Combined Arms Warfare. Not gonna doubt his ability… doch! have to doubt it 😉
He too, was a keen artillerist, saw the potential of ships as gun platforms, gave the order to private entrepreneur to built one of the most powerful armed vessels in the world with richly decorated as a symbol of his ambitions for Sweden and himself. He ordered a series of ships with two full gundecks, outfitted with much heavier guns. It was named The Vasa (or Wasa) Ship.
The making of Vasa took 2 years. Did it work? Was the ship actually sailed? Yes it was! Was it a smooth sail? For 120m before it started to swiftly sank to a depth of 32m. It’s officially out of sight after sailing roughly 1300m into her maiden voyage on 10th of August 1628. Just like that, the Great Vasa sank to the bottom of the ocean in full view of a crowds who had come to see the ship set sail. The crowd included foreign ambassadors, in effect spies of King Gustav II’s allies and enemies. He witnessed his most pride ship sank in 20 minutes. It was sink for 333 years before a team pull it up to put it into the museum. Next thing he was famous for is trying to kill the Germans alone, he failed btw. Which lead us to Gustav III.
Turn around to see the Opera behind you. Gustav III also special person, genes runs in the family. He really likes to party, yet as a King he need to be somewhat protected, we can’t afford losing another Gustav again. Did we? Tragically yes, he died doing what he likes most. He held a Masquerade Ball only to got shot on his left hip by Jacob Johan Anckarström, to which he was sentenced to death and executed. Gustav III was the only king who saw his own assassins’. It is being said that his outfit with a bullet on it or the Assassins’ one are stored in The Royal Armoury. Spoiler about the assassins’ masked, it’s like someone who wears a paper mask.
Leave the monument Gustav II, walk straight to the bridge, turn your head to the right, the Ministry of Finance building. There is a Valkyries without her sword. 4 people below her represents the Swedish society: Nobility, Church, Merchants and Farmers. There are many speculation of what is the meaning of the 3 crowns. It could be representative of 3 Magi who came to visit the birth of Jesus. Nevertheless, nobody can confirm it, they just left it for mystery or open suggestions 😉 #I think.
When the Danish took the 3 crown symbol, Swedish drop it for 333 years, the same exact length as the Vasa was under water #Coincidence or conspiracy theory? Yet, its now serve as a symbol of both countries. Lions symbol associated with a royal family or some kind of royalty.
On the end of the road is the Parliament. There is a tunnel underneath the bridge made out of “glass” didn’t see it no matter how much I concentrated or squinted my eyes, write me if you can find it. Some people who were able to see it said wasn’t really a full glass. The little crown in the middle of Swedish flag meaning the king is there. Yep, backlight, can’t see it from the picture but it was indeed there.
Funny faces on the facade was based on real people, the sculpture asked some people who works in the Ministry if they allowed him to make a statue of his face to put it on the wall. Little did they know know, the sculpture wasn’t planning on engraved a real face rather emphasis some characteristic they have, at the end he was being asked to stop doing it. They also have changing the guard scene on the Parliament area every day at 12:15 but on that day we can’t go through it as they were filming a demonstration scene hihihi
The OG Idea of Stockholm City Hall to be called a Blue City Hall to represents the blue sky, it would have been a gradation of blue color. However, on the making, he falls in love with the red color of the brick, that’s why its a Red City Hall now 🙂 He waited purposefully until the Denmark’s City Hall finished only for him to made his’ 40 cm taller than the Danish one. Put the 3 crowns facing Copenhagen as a slap in the face showing “We have a bigger tower”
Chair is definitely not a part of the sculpture. We are in fact in the area of Stockholm’s WG for the Parliament people.
The condition is not that prima, 3 people in a WG with private bathroom. They shared the common area like kitchen and living room. They’re geographically grouped, consequently, one could be in one WG with his opponent. I mean…. I don’t even want to leave in a WG when I reached 29 years old….the reason behind is to show how open and fair Sweden is. Another fun facts that I managed to wrote half of it, if we see a phone booth with red green and something color, it is a direct call to the Parliament.
They said you can have a “basic” information from hitter.si. How basic is this basic? Not basic at all: name, address, tax return, closest body to water haha are you planning a Dexter move? #Orphan Black reference.
The Swedish likes to put “Sustainability” in every word from make sense to having less sense like Sustainability Bridge blablabla in order to prove their sustainability, they have a public washing machine in every apartment building 🙂 I can confirm that, Erin doesn’t have the Anschluss at her place. They need to booked a time slot to do it, each round is 3 hours. It’s very common excuse in Sweden “sorry, can’t go out, I have to do my laundry”
We stopped at a candy shop because our guide needs to rest her voice, at the same time we can get a sample candy hihihi. She said the real candy cane is straight, but USA put a hook into it to what candy cane we know.
Around that candy shop we saw a Valkyrie symbol with sword. We also walked through the so called “narrow” street which is not narrow at all for some luck or so. There was a statue named Engelen…. something? I tried to surf for him more but couldn’t get more information…. anyhow, I am sure our guide said he was the one who successfully (there were many tried before him to no avail) lead the rebellions of Danish.
Look up at the Gamla Stan area please, there are some buildings that doesn’t have window. Because having more window meaning you are being taxed more. Some people doesn’t want to pay it, to please the eyes, they decided to paint it.
Some house also have a proof that they paid a fire insurance for their house. How do you know it? look at the symbol / ornaments on top of their door. The symbol of Phoenix rises from ashes…. how ironic can you be. In worse case scenario, if 2 houses were on fire. The house with the fire insurance symbol will be saved first. If both have the symbol then the one with colorful symbol will be saved first. Fast forward now, it’s not valid anymore 😉
They have a German Church in Estocolmo whom doesn’t have Gargoyles but rather a north metology.
We visited the little iron boy statue sitting on a kitchen table looking at the moon and dreaming. His head is made from Swedish iron, really easy to be mold meaning a very high quality. During WW Swedish iron is on a very high demand. He gave access to Germany for the iron… for all that, Sweden asked in return for Germany to never step foot in Sweden. That is why Sweden is not bombarded during WW and became a safe heaven for Jewish population.
May peace come to this piece of our beautiful world. A sentence serve as a slide show on the display in front of the Nobel Prize Winner museum. She said if one of your friends got nominated for Nobel, he or she can take 12 friends with him / her to the banquet. So… my friends, maybe it’s time to do your job? hahaha
The Gamla Stan (the one who always come out everytime you type Stockholm) is like a red banquet scene from Game of Thrones, nope I didn’t watch it. So what was happening? The Danish locked the door, only to start the beheaded party of each Swedish Nobel on that evening, it was very gruesome. The ground we are on are uneven, it was believed caused by the blood was running out from the building. The white square in the wall represents the number of the beheaded Swedish high noble, it is that much!! Gustav managed to survived, gathered the crowd, attacked, send back the Danish intruder without clothing to Copenhagen.
The rivalry between Denmark and Sweden is still existing, if you go to IKEA all the name for beautiful decoration will be in Swedish name, on the opposite all the doormat will be in Danish name.
How about my learning curve? Will keep typing 🙂