Kungliga Slottet, Skansen och Kungsträdgården

Today was very busy! We (Orwar, Marie and I) woke up around 10 and took the train and the tunnelbana (subway) into Stockholm where we went to Gamla Stan (old city) to watch the changing of the guards at the Kungliga Slottet (Royal Palace). The guards change every two hours and in the summer time it is a big event with music and lots of people that come to watch. (See video and picture).

Once the performance was over, we went and had coffee and sandwiches. On the way to the cafe, Marie got a call from her best friend Pia, who said that she had just won 1,000,000 Kronor (about $140,450!)  from a scratch off lottery ticket! Marie was so happy for her she was almost crying!

After that we took the ferry to Skansen, which is an outdoor musium with animals and old shops. You could watch them in the shops blowing glass or making pottery and then they had the handmade things for sale. Everything was very pretty. We walked around for a few hours and then took the trolley back to the city.

We were going to take a boat to another island and eat there then take the bus home, but it was 15:30 and the boat didn't come until 17:00, so we decided to just eat dinner in the city. We went to Kungsträdgården (Kings garden), which is a park in the middle of the city with outdoor cafes all around it, and ate there. Its so lucky that it has been so nice out! The picture below is the cafe where we ate and another view of Kungsträdgården.

After that long day we were all tired to we took the tunnelbana and the train back to Vallentuna and just watched some TV. We watched a new show called Dansfeber (Dance fever) where swedish celebrities (actors, athletes, etc) did dances from movies (Saturday Night Fever, Chicago, Spice World, etc.) and judges commented, then people called in to vote for the favorite. All the proceeds were going to Pakistan, which is cool. The show was quite silly though.

Then we watched Mamma Mia. Because Marie loves that movie, and what is Sweden without a little ABBA?

Tomorrow at 15:00 I wil go to my host family!