Well , I hate to say it, but today’s tour of Stockholm was the most boring I’ve ever been on. Jan is a lovely guy, but he’s not a thrilling raconteur. We got the facts. The facts.

This is City Hall, where every Saturday around 80 couples get married. You can choose a wedding ceremony of 1 – 3 minutes if you want, so they obviously churn them through.

There’s the spire of the church I’ll be going to tomorrow. It’s where Queen Desideria/ Desiree Clary is buried. Ever since I saw the movie Desiree when I was a teenager, I’ve never forgotten her story. When Scott and I were in Paris 10 years ago, I unexpectedly came across her portrait in a little art gallery, (in the same room as a portrait of Josephine), which was a highlight of my trip. I still have postcards of the two of them on my fridge.

Here’s Desiree’s husband, the first king of the current dynasty of Sweden. He certainly had a honker on him.

The little castle was built for the royal family so they could go ice skating in private when the sea/ lake froze. 

Directly across the water is an amusement park. It was once an island where the king would go hunting.

Old a town is full of buildings that are charmingly lopsided-sided, because they were built on reclaimed, or soft land. The black metal thing is actually holding the building in place.

There were lots of intriguing side streets.

I love the colours here.

This is the oldest pub in Stockholm. It’s owned by the committee who decides the Nobel Prize for Literature. They meet here every Thursday for drinks.

Look at the angles on the building to the right!

And then we walked up the narrowest street in Stockholm.

One last shot of Old Town.

After a morning of gentle tedium, I found a park bench and actually went to sleep for 20 minutes. I must have looked like a homeless person!

I was ready for more exciting things when we embarked on the 2.5 hour Archipelago cruise.

Today was not the day for my wishes to be granted.

It was more gentle tedium, which, as I’m still not 100% recovered, was probably a good thing. I sat on the deck of a boat, by chance out of the wind, and looked at pretty little islands for a couple of hours.

My life is so hard…

Citadel. Since 1600’s they have always had the Swedish flag, showing that Sweden was not at war.

In 1996, 5 students from Norway came in and flew the Norwegian flag from the Citadel for 43 minutes. So, technically, Sweden was occupied by Norway for that time.

Royal hunting park. It was established in the 1400’s and stayed that way for 400 years. One king in the 1600’s actually built a huge wall around the whole island to keep the wolves away.

When Desiree’s husband became king, he gave the park to the people. It makes sense, as he was brought up in revolutionary France. It probably felt a little weird to have a whole hunting island for yourself.

This used to be owned by Bjorn Borg. When he owned it, it used to be pink

Cat Island. I I was ever going to buy an island, I’d want something like this.

It’s a very expensive area, full of houses that look like this. In other words, it was easy on the eyes.

Had dinner at a sushi restaurant with a couple of couples, which was very nice. We’re all dealing with caring for elderly parents. I’ve decided that 6 weeks is too long for me to be away. Mum had a fall when I was in Greenland and she’s not doing so well. I think it’s best that I only go away for shorter hops from now on.

Dad joke of the day: