KYQ4: Stockholm

In the Royal Palace

The 16-carriage express train pulled into Stockholm station around 4 pm. Three and a quarter hours of travelling through a landscape of forests and lakes with the occasional settlement, usually hosting more industrial buildings than houses. My hotel was about a mile north of the station in the heart of Norrmalm. The hotel was modern, with a large corner room on the top floor. Very Swedish, with all amenities available, and the receptionist gave me recommendations for good nearby restaurants. I spent an hour or so exploring the neighbourhood before selecting an Italian restaurant. The waitress was Palestinian and had settled into Swedish life with ease and gratitude. It appeared that Stockholm was a well-integrated cosmopolitan city, although my novel suggested a darker side. I began to plan the next few days, taking into account the weather forecasts, which were for mellow autumnal days with an occasional shower.

I bought a three-day ticket for the metro and buses for £16 and decided to head for Gamla Stan, the heart of the city, an island wedged into the waters between Norrmalm and Södermalm. The Royal Palace, Cathedral, and Nobel Museum were there, along with the panoply of attractions that gravitate around these magnets of global tourism. It was still early, and the streets were quiet. I admired the patterns of the cobbled streets and felt my way towards Stortoget, the square adjacent to the Nobel Museum. I entered the museum when it opened, and a guide was assigned to the first group of visitors. It is not a large museum, and the talk she gave was so much more revealing than I could have achieved by pottering round in my usual style.

Alfred Nobel was a chemist and linguist whose wealth arose from the invention of dynamite and gelignite. He became the owner of Bofors, a steel producer that he transformed into an armament manufacturer. His wealth came from inventing ways to kill people; this rankled with him, leading him to bequeath his considerable estate to more noble causes. Five prizes to be given annually to eminent people of any nationality in the fields of physics, chemistry, medical science, or physiology, and for literary work. His final Prize was for the furtherance of international fraternity or Peace and to be managed by the Norwegian Parliament who would nominate five independent judges. This was to ensure that Sweden would not be seen to be influencing the decision. I was greatly moved by the tour and spent the next half hour in the cathedral, seated on a bench and reflecting.

I had thought about a visit to the Palace, but there is only so much culture to be observed in a day, so I walked down to the harbour areas and booked a boat trip to the archipelago for Sunday. And then along some of the busy pedestrianised shopping streets where I called in for a late lunch in on eof the cafes that spilled out into the road, and being Sockholm was in a dining pod. I spent the late afternoon travelling to one of the coastal stops on the Metro. The weather was changing, and I had already walked miles, so I travelled back to the hotel to read my novel and watch some news on TV.

I had read that there were tours around the Parliament and made that my first objective for the day. The guard on gate duty told me that there could be no tours when the Parliament was not sitting. It could take weeks for the next government to be agreed upon following the election. The Royal Palace was close by, and the posters in the square outside made it look appealing. It was a monstrous building that could hold Buckingham Palace in its basement, where the crown jewels were kept with a collection of swords and crowns that belied the modest lifestyle of the Royals. They had been married on my birthday, 50 years ago, and from the photographic exhibition, they seemed to lead a very normal life despite the history and opulence of the crown estate. Meetings of the Parliament took place in the Palace several times a year, and receptions for visiting heads of state were held in the Palace. There was a gallery based on the Palace of Versailles and a reception room adorned with furniture, clocks, and uniforms that were probably even more expensive than if they had been sold by Fjällräven.

This made me think it was time to visit one of the large parks that surround Stockholm. I headed by Metro and then bus to Hagaparken, a Royal National City Park founded by Gustav III. There is a large lake that provides a 12-kilometre path that would have made a perfect run a couple of years ago. The University of Stockholm is located on the other side of the lake. I had a late lunch in a massive tented structure and walked around part of the Lake. The park is home to many royal palaces and follies. I returned to the hotel, getting in before some heavy rain.

The next day was an early start to catch a boat through the archipelago to the island of Grinda, where we had 4 hours to explore an unspoilt island, lush with oak, pine, and birch trees, and clearings for sheep and cattle. Unfortunately, it was out of season, and none of the three cafes were open, and the holiday cabins were all closed at the end of the season. Neveteless the walks were splendid as they snaked around the coast.