Day 3: Modern Stockholm and Cozy Kalmar
City Hall and the Nobel Prize
We headed to our bus at 8:20 today and took a short drive to City Hall. Asa gave us a tour of both the outside and inside. This building is the site of the Nobel Prize banquet each year on Dec. 10. It was a very impressive structure, more so on the inside than out, and it’s fairly new, only about 100 years old. One of the highlights included walking the stairs where the Nobel Prize recipients walked each year. We were also dazzled by the intricate mosaics in the large golden room as well as the towering ceilings of the parliament chamber. |
On To Kalmar
Then we loaded the bus for a long travel day to Kalmar. On the way, we stopped at the small town of Soderkoping for lunch. It sits on a man-made canal connecting the two sides of the island, and it has one of the many locks. Further on, we stopped for a bathroom and a Fika break. Fika is a chance for people to converse and have refreshments. It was fun and appreciated. In Kalmar, we walked along the shore for a view of the castle. We saw a beautiful rainbow that followed a brief downpour. It felt like another welcoming. Throughout the day, we learned more about Sweden. We discovered that it's known for entrepreneurship, IKEA, and Pippi Longstockings. We also learned that the area we are staying at is a center of a lot of the emigration to the US in the late 1800’s. It’s also the Swedish Bible Belt. |