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Mårten Trotzigs gränd 1

Walking through Old Town

We had organised for a walking tour of Old Town in Stockholm this afternoon. The tour started at 2 in the afternoon and the temperature was already starting to drop. Old Town is the original part of Stockholm and some of the buildings are over 800 years old.

We started at the Nobel Center where the Nobel Prize for Literature, Science etc is decided and awarded. Only the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Norway, while the rest are awarded in Sweden.

The tour guide told some macabre stories about the time when Denmark invaded and all the royals in Sweden were executed in the square where we stood. He also showed us the pathways that the executioner took on his way to and from the gallows.

We walked around the royal palace which was rebuilt 500 years ago after the original burnt down in suspicious circumstances. The royal family don’t live in the palace but use it for royal engagements. The next in line for the throne is only the 4th ever Queen of Sweden.

We also walked through the Finnish and German sections of Old Town. The Germans played a major part in the development of Stockholm and in defending it, to the point that they had their own mayor and the King had decreed that they didn’t need to pay any taxes. The German church built over 400 years ago was still the tallest building in Stockholm till the early 2000’s. We also saw the second narrowest alley in Europe which was only 90cms wide in places.

In the final leg of the tour we saw the Town Hall and got to hear the story behind its construction. It is across the lake from the Munich brewery, the owner of which provided free beer to the workers every day. Apparently a painting of the brewery owner still stands in the Town Hall, and not of the architect who designed it.

For dinner we went to a Swedish restaurant and I tried the traditional meatballs while Ben had the Ox Tail.

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