Sightseeing in Stockholm

Although I spent four nights in Stockholm, I only spent one full day exploring the city. I have day trips scheduled for my other two full days. Stockholm is a city made up of fourteen islands. Despite the cold, I enjoyed my time sightseeing in Stockholm. I spent some time exploring the narrow, mostly-pedestrian old town streets. I saw  Swedish Parliament building, the Cathedral of Stockholm, and the Stockholm Palace. From the palace, I walked past the Moderna Museet on the island of Skeppsholmen to the island of Kastellholmen.

I have been amazed by the colors of the leaves. The leaves don't turn those vibrant colors in Texas or California. It actually feels like fall. Most years, I don't notice it's fall until it's almost winter. But here, I noticed as soon as the plane landed and I saw the trees.

After exploring the Kastellet, a small castle built in the 1800s on Kastellholmen, I walked back toward the Strömbron bridge to Stockholm Sightseeing boat company to go on the last Royal Canal boat tour of the day.

On the 45-minute tour, I listened to a recording while the captain steared the boat. The boat floated through the Djurgården canal and around Djurgården Island. The tour featured Rosendal Palace, Villa Gröndal, and the home of one of the members of Abba. As we neared the port at the end of the tour, it started raining. I was glad I was dry on the boat rather than wet outdoors. The rain lightened up. Fortunately, I had taken my rain coat, so I was okay even after I disembarked and started walking back towards the hostel in old town.

Reykjavik

I can't talk about my trip to Iceland without talking about the time I spent exploring Reykjavik. I didn't actually spend much time in Reykjavik. I flew into Reykjavik on Saturday and spent the afternoon that first day walking around. Yesterday, I had a full day in Reykjavik. I suppose I thought the city was bigger or would take more time to see, but it turns out that I saw much of the city in my short walk on Saturday. Although some of what I saw yesterday is what I saw the day before, I did see a few new sights.

Since the hostel was near the Hallgrímskirkja (the large white church at the top of the hill) I started my exploration of the city there. I had seen the church the day before in fading light, but I had wanted to see the church again to see if I could take some better photos. Also, the church was on my way to Because yesterday was Sunday, the church was busy with Sunday activities, so I didn't go inside. I took a few photos then walked past the church and down Skólavörðuholti Street to downtown.

Parliament House from Austurvöllur Park

I had visited Austurvöllur Park the day before, but I walked through again to take photos in better light and to get to Tjörnin (the Pond). The Parliament house (Alþingishús in Icelandic) borders Austurvöllur Park. Interestingly, the Icelandic Parliament is the oldest in the world. Founded in 930 at Þingvellir (now a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site), the parliament was moved to Reykjavik in 1844. The Alþingishús was built some years later in 1881

Tjörnin (the Pond)

As chronicled in another post, I spent some time sitting in the sun feeding the ducks and watching others feed the ducks at Tjörnin (which literally translates to "the pond"). Once I got too cold to sit there anymore, I walked through downtown to the harbor area where I found a rather unusual playground.

Unusual playground along the harbor

Although it doesn't look like it in the photo (above), that is actually a playground. With the exception of a few tires, all of the play equipment was created out of seafaring items. I spent some time on this playground because I was really intrigued by the boat. I realized that the boat was actually part of the playground equipment when I noticed a couple of tourists climbing the unstable ladder to board the boat. The boat was fairly small, and I didn't want to explore the boat with the couple on board. Additionally, I thought I might get scared, and if I did, I didn't want the couple to witness my fright. I waited until they had left before I took my turn.

Climbing the ladder was definitely nerve wracking. I was a little afraid that the ladder would fall despite being held by what I could only hope was a trusty rope. Once aboard, what I first noticed was the complete disrepair of the boat. The paint was peeling, and that was the least of my worries. All metals aboard the boat were rusting through, even the anchor. The wood that the boat was made of was rotting in places as well. I saw a hole in the wood deck. Worried about the boat's ability to not fall apart while I was aboard, I climbed down very, very carefully.

As I walked away from this rather unusual playground, I saw a father walk over to the boat with his son, wiggle the ladder as if to test it, and allow his son to climb up to explore the boat. Apparently, Icelanders are far, far less uptight about things like child safety than we are.

View from Göngustígur, a walking path along the shore

I continued walking northwest along Mýrargata Street until I reached a roundabout. At this roundabout, I found a Bónus Supermarket. I got something for lunch, checked my iPad to see where I was, and crossed over to Göngustígur, a walking path along the shore. I followed this path until it ended then crossed back to Mýrargata Street to head back to the hostel.