Impressions of Sweden: Odds and Ends

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

 

Every day at noon at the Royal Palace, there is the changing of the guard. Twice we had the opportunity to see this. The first time was when we disembarked from the boat tour we took our first day in Stockholm; actually, we missed the first part of the parade and only saw the marching band. The second time, just as we were leaving after the Royal Palace tour, we caught it from the beginning.

On the inner courtyard of the palace, it gets quite crowded from all the people (tourists) crowding in to see, hear, and get pictures/take videos.

First comes a standard bearer and then the guards.

Next come two guards on horseback. At the end of the video, you can hear the clip-clop of the horses' hooves.

Last comes the marching band.

 

BIRDS

 

Swedish geese

Swedish gull

Swedish crow

Växjö, Sunday lunch. The people at the table next to us hadn't been gone a minute before this bird swooped in.

 

BUTTERFLIES

 

On our tour of the Småland countryside, there was a multitude of these little butterflies. Usually, butterflies won't land anywhere long enough to get a picture, much less being so obliging as to land on someone's hand.

RIVER TOUR

 

Things we saw on the river tour of Stockholm.

Kayakers

Houseboats

Sailboats

Duck boat

Wooden boats

SOUVENIR

 

I bought my daughter an "I [heart] Stockholm" sweatshirt. We saw magnets and mugs, but we already have plenty of those, and just didn't see the point of buying something just for the sake of a souvenir.

The one thing that I did purchase was this butterknife that I saw in the gift shop at the Nordiska Museet. The little moose motif appealed to me.

I had previously seen a similar silhouette in the artwork of a postcard for sale at the information desk in the Central Station when we inquired about where to buy our Stockholm cards. I had thought I would like to go back later and get one, but then I never did.

As you can see, it's already been put to use, hence the darker stained wood where it's been in the butter.

ONE LAST MUSEUM

After leaving Stockholm, my sister and brother-in-law spent a couple days in Copenhagen. While there, they visited the National Museum of Denmark. Whereas the Swedish National Museum, judging from its website, appears to be an art museum, the Danish one focuses on Danish history — more akin to the Swedish Historiska Museet.

At the Danish museum, this display case full of lurs caught my sister's eye.

Here is what they sound like.