STOCKHOLM CONTINUES

Our departure time from Stockholm was mid afternoon so we had a few hours to spare and hopped on the number 2 bus and got off at Gustav Adolfs square and headed to see the Stockholm Cathedral.  We had passed it yesterday but didn't go in so thought this time we'd go around to the front and enter.  It's an interesting building from the outside.

The first written mention of the church is dated back to 1279.  The oldest parts of todays brick church was consecrated in 1306.  Major conversions and extensions took place in the 14th and 15th centuries.  Most of the fittings and adornments were added towards the end of the 17th century, such as the Royal Pews, the pulpit and the gallery in a sweeping Baroque style.  The plaster encasing the pillars was removed in 1908 and the brickwork was polished to give the cathedral a medieval look.   The exterior was rebuilt in 1736-42 in Italian Baroque style to be a more appropriate complement to the Royal Palace.

The  alter is made of ebony and silver and was donated to the church in 1650. The central section was made in Germany and the doors in Stockholm.

The Pulpit dates back to the 1700's and was created in a sumptuous extravagant style by the sculptor, Burchardt Precht.  The text in Hebrew reads JAHVE, meaning God.

    The regular pews...

                          

The Royal pews .  They are used only by the Royal Family when attending official ceremonies in the Cathedral.  The pews were designed in 1684.I much prefer the Royal pews but when I started to climb over the wall to try the pew out Sharon pulled me back.  I could be a Swedish princess, I am part Swedish.  Perhaps if I had worn my tiara - next time.

The organ was built in 1960 and has 53 stops.  The facade of the organ was created in 1789 for an earlier organ.

This seven-branched candlestick is made of bronze with a height of 12 feet and has adorned the cathedral for more than 600 years.

There are four bells  in the tower and the largest weighs 4.5 tons.

"St. George and the Dragon is a very well-preserved ensemble, unequalled among its kind and carved out of oak, probably by Berndt Notke of Lubeck, with details made of materials such as elk antlers and horsehair.  It was consecrated in 1489 as an altar monument for the shrine to St. George.  It was consecrated in 1489 as an altar monument for the shrine of St. George.  It was commissioned by Sten Sture the Elder, who had put to flight the forces of King Christian of Denmark, thereby rescuing Stockholm from the Danish invaders.  

The legend of St. George and the Dragon tells of a terrible dragon that demanded human offerings from the town of Selene as its price for not destoying the town.  The day the King's daughter was to be sacrificed, St. George came riding by.  On condition that the town's heathen inhabitants converted to Christianity, he killed the dragon.

In St. George, Sten Sture probaby wanted to see himself as the knight who conquered the Danish 'dragon', thereby saving the princess ( Stockholm) from ruin.  For people today this amazing monument provides inspiration to take up the struggle against evil - wherever it might appear."

The Candle Globe is an assembly point for prayers and the lighting of candles for the world that the globe represents.  It has been in the Cathedal since 1972.

We left the cathedral behind andstarted to walk toward the steeple that we had been seeing from all over the city.  

We were wondering what it was when we ran into a young girl who happened to have a guide book aqnd she was nice enough to look it up for us. We decided to go have look.  It is the Riddarholm Church and is one of the oldest buildings , with parts of it having been built in 1270 and completed in around 1300.  Ever since King Magnun Ladulas who died in 1290, was buried there the Church has been the site in which most of Sweden's royal family have been laid to rest.  The last funeral to take place in this church was the funeral of King Gustaf V in 1950.  Members of the Royal Family who are not buried here but in his lifetime was a knight or member of the Order of the Seaphim has his personal "Seraphim shild" hung here.  In 1920 when Crown princess Margareta of Great Britain wished to be buried on a small island close to the English landscape garden at Haga, just outside Stockholm city a new burial tradition was introduced within the royal family.

Coats of arms of knights are also on the walls of the church.  When a knight of the Order dies, his coat of arms is hung in the church and when the funeral takes place the church bells are rung constantly from 12:00-13:00.

There are many burial chapels in the church.

This is a close up of one of the powter coffins.

This is the monumental sarcophagus of King Karl XIV.  The sarcophagus is made out of pale red Swedih granite and took some eight years to produce.  The weight is some 15 tons.

The burial chapel of Gustav II Adolph.  The sacrophagus which you just barely see was made in Rome in 1772-74.The other coffins which are made of tin have been thoroughly restored during the 1980's.

This Karolinian Burial Vaultwas completed in 1697.  The present brown color and the gilt stars were added during a renovation in the mid 19th century. The coffins are all of the highest artistic vaue and best craftsmanship to be found.  All the remains in this vault are of Royalty.

                                            

We left that church and our next destination was City Hall.  We set out in the general direction and thinking we had quite a walk ahead of us we were delighted, when we asked a couple where the City Hall was, they pointed in the direction and we could see the famous spire with the three crowns.

Yes, that is three crowns on the top.

The City Hall was opened on Midsummer Eve in 1923.  It is built from eight million bricks, and the 106 meter tower has the three crowns which is the Swedish national coat of arms, at its apex,  The great Nobel banquet is also held in the here.  After dinner in Bla hallen, the Blue hall, Nobel Prize recipients, royalty and guests dance in Gyllene salon, the Golden Hall with its 18 million gold mosaic tiles. You are probably anxiously awaiting my photographs of those rooms.  I am sorry to report we got to 

City Hall too late to go on the tour.  Well there was one at 1:00 and the tour was just 45 minutes and we didn't have to be back at the hotel until 3:00 but Sharon looked at me and said " I don't think we should do it".  I was really tempted.  We asked the young girl to help us figure out what form of transportation to take to get back to our hotel.  She told us to hop on bus 64 or something  which randirectly  in front of the Hall and than go to the Gustav Adolph Square, depart and pick up our bus, the number 2.  So easy but still Sharon was reluctant so I gave in.  How nice am I?  We did walk around and it is a beautiful setting.

   Every once in awhile I have to put in a picture of myself so when I'm old and I look at these pictures I'll remember I was there. That is if I recognize myself.

It's a great place for weddings as well.  These were just two of the bridal couples we saw.

Well it was time to leave - it really was early but we had seen as much of the City Hall as we were going to see unless we went on the tour and Sharon was holding firm so we left.  It wasn't long before the bus came by and we hopped on.  All of the buses have these electric signs that post the next stop and we knew exactly where we were going to catch our bus.  Some signage came up and we just looked at it, it wasn't what we were looking for. Some people hesitated and than jumped off.  Pretty soon we are headed, we don't know where.  We were familar with the area around the square where we were going to catch our bus and we did not see anything familiar.  I ran up to the bus driver and asked him where do we get off to catch bus number 2.  He named some street and I asked him to let me know when we were there.  ( He was one of the few people who did not speak English).  Anyway we rode and rode and finally he stopped the bus, signaled at us to get off and pointed in a direction.  We thanked him and started to walk.  This did not look right to us.  We walked and walked and finally met someone and asked him where we could catch bus number 2.  He never used public transportation but told us there was a big street up a couple of blocks and perhaps the bus stopped there.  We walked in that direction and got to the big street and asked another person where bus number two would stop.  She pointed back in the direction from which we had just come but told us to keep walking to the "big" street.  We did that and found a wonderful street which we think is the designer area of Stockholm.

We continued walking and pretty soon we came to a "big" street we recognized from our bus trips into the city.  We walked up to the bus stop, our number 2 bus came by and we hopped on board and headed back to the hotel.  It was such a good idea not to go on the tour of City Hall.- I'm so glad I made that decision :-). We would not have made it back in time to be picked up by our cab if we had gone on the tour and experienced the problem we encountered.  I figured that when everyone jumped off the first bus and we didn't,that was where we should have gotten off because the signage did indicate a lot of numbers which were probably bus numbers.  We were just looking for the wrong thing.  Next time we will be so much smarter - well we hope! 

We even had a little time to grab a bite to eat at the deli next to the hotel.  The hotel staff had recommended it when we checked in and we went over and looked it over and they didn't have sandwiches or soup or anything that we could see that looked interesting so we left.  The deli was inside a grocery store so we thought maybe you just picked up some groceries and made your own sandwiches.  Everytime we went by we 'd joke - maybe we should eat at the deli.  Well we did eat at the deli.  This time the young lady behind the counter explained the menu to us and we ordered a shrimp salad that was absolutely delicious.  There was a lovely sitting area, either inside or out and I recommend it if you ever stay at the Best Western.  

Our cab picked us up and transported us to the Viking Terminal where we would board our ship for our trip to Helsinki.