Day 9 - Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan, the historic city center, was a 15 min. walk down Sveavagen (the street we were staying at). I found it to be a bit more enjoyable (and touristy) than the Drottinggatan shopping area we were staying near, as like in Copenhagen- it was too upscale for our taste. We had to cross a waterway to enter the area, which had us walking through the Swedish Parliament over to the Royal Palace (our first destination of the day).

Entering Swedish Parliament

The Palace Guards

The Royal Palace

Because the museum opened an hour later than my guidebook had indicated, we killed time letting Ryan get his daily scooter fix in riding along the canal.

That's part of the palace in the background, and where the Armory Museum was that we were waiting to see.

The armory appeared to be in a former dungeon...and because a good portion of it was closed for renovation, we didn't see much aside from some period clothing and their former carriages. A bit of a letdown, but meh...there were still a lot of other things to do that day.

We continued our walk to and among the narrow, cobblestone streets of Gamla Stan, and split up for lunch. 

Touted as the narrowest 'street' in Gamla Stan with hordes of visitors, it was really just a walkway with lots of graffiti. Meh.

We lost Ryan for a bit...then found him. You can see why we'd pass right by.

We reconvened to head over the Medieval Museum, which was discovered by random accident during the construction of a car park for Parliament many years ago. Under the rubble, workers discovered a walled structure with artifacts, which was preserved to better tell the story of medieval Stockholm.

Although the museum was somewhat interesting, it wasn't nearly as captivating as I'd hoped it would be. We were a bit more excited by what was right outside the museum- wild swans! And they were so tame, they were eating right out of Ryan's hand. It's best that I not share what we fed them, as PETA could be watching...but I will say that swans like sweets too.

Our walk back home through the tourist district had it's upside- churros for my dad and Joey, donuts for Rich and candy for Ry!

This candy was gorgeous- curled tendrils!

Our evening ended with a surprise cake for Rich's birthday (it was a few days early, but we wanted to celebrate with Joey). We managed to buy the party hats, candles, lighter and cake without Rich knowing, and lured him into the living room so we could fete him with this interesting cake! What looked like chocolate cake, was actually filled with 1/4 chocolate cake, and 3/4 layered meringue.

And because Joey was catching an uber the next morning to the airport, he scored all of Joey's leftover currency. ;-) Before you get too impressed, you should know that he couldn't spend it all in one place, because it wasn't enough to spend at even one place. :-D