Stockholm Syndrome!

Famous baby statue!

After a nice little airport delay (!) we landed back in the capital Oslo. In the Contiki spirit of trying to fit as much as possible in, with varying degrees of success, we headed straight to the famous Frogner Park. Okay, apparently it's famous but I had never heard of it. Anyway. It's primarily well known because Vigeland Sculpture Park is located within it - the sculpture park consists of bridges, fountains and statues all to do with 'the human condition'. Some of the sculptures are a little, saucy shall I say? Or at least open to interpretation. 

With the rest of the day to explore Oslo we headed to the town hall to see where the Nobel peace prize is given out. The town hall is a really unique building, from the outside it looks rather utilitarian and stark but inside it is full of the most creative and unusual artwork. The walls are covered in paintings (on the actual walls, not in frames) of Norwegian folklore and history -worth a visit. Next headed to the National Gallery. Not a massive art gallery fan if I'm honest but couldn't turn down a chance to see Munch's 'The Scream'. So I went! Was a nice gallery, some interesting paintings, a few by Van Gogh, some old icons and such like. 


We rounded the day off with a walk along the beautiful riverfront and some dinner. The riverside had some amazing bars - I only wish we had of had the energy to come and enjoy the nightlife! I'd say that's a fair reason to pencil in another visit to the city again sometime soon though :).


The next day - Stockholm baby!! We headed early into Sweden - got excited when we saw Ikea and tried out some Swedish fast food at 'Max' - where they have surprisingly healthy options including a no carb burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf! 


We were actually staying in a hotel - good in theory but we were a fair old distance from the city centre! The stay did not start well when another room mix up resulted in another room change (including a 10 minute stop in a broken lift as we went to sort things out). That evening we headed into the city for a walkabout dinner - we ended up going to this food court kind of place where we had a massive plate of chinese food for about £12 - which is cheap for Sweden! But it was awesome, wish I'd took a photo! Oh and we also saw the place where the bank used to be where people were held hostage and the term 'Stockholm Syndrome' came from. I think it's a McDonalds now!

We then headed for a drink in a pub and I learned to ask the price of a drink. I paid the princely sum of £14 for a cherry flavoured beer - ouch. The alcohol taxes in Scandinavia are a killer! Then it was home for a few 'room drinks' and ready to explore the city the next day.


The following morning we took the coach again into the city and most people went for a tour of the town hall - this one is where the rest of the Nobel prizes are given out. I'd been told it was a bit dull so me and Rachel headed for a walk around the old part of the city - this was actually a great idea as there was hardly anyone about and you could get a real feel for the history of the place (note the city is not actually that old like most Scandinavian cities -well not compared with places in the UK and the rest of Europe I mean!).

Later that morning we watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace - it was baking hot and there was a huge crowd and it lasted 30 MINUTES! Really. It was fairly cool though - lots of shiny hats and swords and horses and such like. They really do like the pomp and spectacle of their royal families in Scandinavia.








Next we headed over to a Museum called Skansen on an Island just a bit east of the main part of the city. Skansen is an open air museum -  a bit similar to Beamish for those of you who have been there! There are old buildings from all over the country that have been recreated - including a little town area. It is also part zoo and has things like bears, although it was really hot so most of the animals were sensibly hiding away. I will say they looked well looked after and had plenty of space and appropriate environments. From there we headed to the Vasa museum. Vasa was actually a warship built for one of the kings of Sweden for a war against Poland. The ship was also meant to show how powerful Sweden was. It failed miserably. On it's maiden voyage the ship sailed less then one nautical mile before it ceremoniously fell onto it's side and sank. The ship had in fact been built far to tall and with not enough ballast to keep it afloat. This combined with an unfortunately windy day and and the fact the lower gunports were open in order to give a ceremonial salute caused water to flood into the ship and it to sink to the bottom of the harbour. Many people died - not least because families of the crew were allowed on board for the journey out of the harbour and also most people could not swim. The mast was so tall it actually remained sticking out of the water and had to be cut down. The ship was salvaged in the 1960's and restored and the museum now houses the ship including reconstructions of some areas - well worth a visit, it's amazingly huge and covered in the beautiful detailed carvings of the time.

That night we had dinner in the hotel and met some of the 'newbies'. The tour was a modular one where some people leave halfway and then more join, we had to points this happened - Stockholm and Helsinki. The new people were mostly a little jetlagged and decided not to join us for our jaunt to enjoy the Stockholm nightlife and the beautiful people of Stockholm.


What they say about Scandinavia is very true - the people are gorgeous. Stunning. Beautiful. Now that said I think you get gorgeous girls everywhere but so many gorgeous guys is hard to get used to! In Stockholm the men were very 'metrosexual' - all pastel colours and tailored shorts. Everywhere also has 'face police' - you need to look the part to get in. Our TM arranged in advance that we would all get into one bar (which had a cheap happy hour - yay) to avoid any embarrassing situations . . .

It was great to get out and enjoy some nightlife in a city - first time we had really done it this tour. There were enough of us to enjoy that 'group outing' feeling and there was a nice outdoor area and dancy bit inside (I really wish I could remember the name!). As with all good things they start to go a bit awry . . . some people there were very drunk (and quite early), my feet gave in on me - I didn't want to leave but I HAD too, one of my friends got thrown out for no reason. Ah, fun times. Most people decided on public transport home but my crippled feet rebelled and I convinced a couple of people to take a (dodgy) taxi home -and we actually beat home the group who took the train 45 minutes before us! But guys - never take a dodgy taxi alone, we had strength in numbers :)


The next day, feeling slightly worse for wear, we headed back into the city for some more free time before our cruise to Helsinki. The weather had taken a turn for the worst so we took the time to get our final few souvenirs and we visited the royal apartments in the palace. All I can say is THEY NEVER END!!! Once you have seen one highly decorated slightly pointless room you have seen them all, it took about 45 minutes to walk through with very little stopping. Oh, we also looked at the crown jewels but the collection is about 1/10 of that in London. Oh I shouldn't compare I know :)


So that was Stockholm - awesome city, well recommended! Next we were going to take the 'Love Boat' to Helsinki and start the second part of our tour, but more on that next time.