Wednesday October 4 was cinnamon bun day (Kanelbullens dag) in Stockholm, first declared in 1999. Apparently, the average Swede eats cakes and pastry equivalent to 316 cinnamon buns per year. In Sweden, 'fika' is an essential part of everyday life. In fact, it's so sacred that two coffee breaks per day are an unwritten rule in many Swedish workplaces. Apparently, some of the best ideas are hatched on fika breaks!!
October 4 was also a lovely, sunny day with a high of 14C. It is our last full day in Stockholm before we head to London on October 5, for the last leg of our trip. We decided to pay a visit to Stockholm's City Hall (Stadshus), which is located on Kungsholmen, only about a 30 minute walk from our apartment. We had seen it from the Old Town on our Free Tour.
City Hall is renowned architecturally and its 106 metre high tower also makes it a distinctive landmark in the capital. It was designed by Ragnar Östberg, a proponent of the Swedish National Romantic style and inaugurated on Midsummer's Eve 1923. It hosts the annual Nobel Banquet and also is used for many activities. We had read that it can only be visited with a guided tour. We planned on meandering there for the 2:00 p.m. tour.
Unfortunately, when we got there we were informed that no tours were available for the day as there were a number of special events happening inside. The man in the gift shop showed us on the website (definitely in small print at the bottom of the site, where it listed this week's schedule).
We took a number of pictures of the magnificent red-brick building. The tower has the heraldic symbol of Swedish power, the three royal crowns. Inside there is a Golden Hall with mosaics made from 19 million bits of gold leaf and a fresco entitled The City on The Water by Prins Eugen. Too bad we would not be able to see in inside of City Hall.
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| The tower with the three crowns as we approached |
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| Approaching City Hall from the street |
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| Walking into the courtyard with porticoes leading to the water |
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| Another side of the Inner Courtyard |
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| On the water side, looking back at City Hall |
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| At the water's edge behind City Hall |
It is a magnificent building surrounded by water on three sides.
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| Convention centre nearby |
We decided to walk to Östermalm and perhaps go to a museum. We walked down a few streets where we hadn't walked before and passed a number of former bank houses that are kept up as heritage buildings. Today they have spaces for Government Offices and a bank.
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| 1906-09 Bank House |
We passed the Royal Swedish Opera building. The original Opera House opened in 1782 and served for a century before being replaced at the end of the 19th century. The new building opened in 1899, and is a neo-classical building that presently seats 1,200 for opera and ballet performances.
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| Royal Swedish Opera building |
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Another street with horses.
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It was too nice to go to a museum, so we stopped for fika at one of the locations of Fabrique, our very favourite bakery, which has a few tables and also serves great coffee.
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Stopping for fika on Cinnamon bun day. Allan had cinnamon and I had cardamon.
Candles are quite common for Swedish fika. |
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| Freshly baked cardamon (on the left) and cinnamon buns (on the right) |
We decided to walk back to Djurgärden, the park island with the Vasa and many other museums. The Royal National City Park forms a unique historical landscape of interlinking woods, open space, beaches and many distinctive buildings. Within the park, there are four royal castles, over 20 museums, several legendary entertainment venues and important institutions of higher learning, such as Stockholm University.
Djurgården has been Crown land since the 16th century. It remained a hunting ground with deer until the mid 18th century, when it was opened to the public. It contains over 800 species of flowering plants and 100 bird species. In 1995, the Royal National City Park was designated as the world's first national city park, on the grounds that it is of great significance for the nation's cultural heritage, the ecology of Stockholm and human recreation. The Island is quite large, and we just explored a tiny part.
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| Crossing the bridge- looking back on the buildings that line the Östermalm waterfront |
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| Passing the Nordiska Museet (1907- Renaissance-style castle designed by Isak Gustaf Clason. |
We walked further into the gardens. There was a display of park benches through the ages, near a beautiful flower garden. Each bench had a plaque with information about its history.
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| London Fair Fern Bench- one of the most well known and popular models in Sweden. Launched at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. It was purchased for the Rosendal Palace on Djurgården in the second half of the 19th century |
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| One of my favourites - London Fair Fern Bench |
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| Flower gardens |
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Näfveqvarn Bench- "Park Bench No. 1"- made in Swedish Grace style and exhibited
at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1925. |
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| Allan on Park Bench No. 1 |
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Stockholm Bench designed in the early 20th century and first presented in 1930
as part of the Stockholm Exhibition. |
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| Stockholm Bench |
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| Today's Park Benches |
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| The Stanford bench-in a traditional style with a frame made of recycled aluminium. This model was purchased for Djurgården because of its durability and weather resistant properties. |
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| Walking back on the bridge- designed by Erik Josephson as an entrance to the 1897 grand exhibition of art and industry. Four Nordic gods protect the bridge. |
We walked back to our neighbourhood of Vasastan for dinner at 7:00 p.m. We had chosen Lilla Ego, a restaurant with a Michelin Bib star. There is a short seasonal menu with wonderful Nordic flavours. It is always busy. The two owners are award-winning chefs who serve fabulous contemporary Nordic food at a very reasonable price in a neighbourhood restaurant. We were able to reserve two seats at the bar, which meant we had a great view of the kitchen.
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| Small area for seating |
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| Main courses- Allan had the slow-cooked lamb shoulder-- (first item) and I had the Veal Entrecôte. |
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| Allan's lamb- beautifully presented |
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| My veal-- another beautiful presentation and very filling |
A server brought us each a small spatula so that we could mop up the delicious sauces. That was a restaurant first, but a wonderful idea.
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| Allan with the spatula |
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| Kitchen prep of the same dish I had |
It was a fabulous meal-- our last dinner in Stockholm. We head to the airport on October 5 for a 1:15 p.m. and will be arriving in London at around 3:00 p.m. (London time). Please join us for the last leg of our adventure.
We have really enjoyed our Nordic Adventure. Oslo and Stockholm are wonderful cities-- we loved the architecture in both, the outdoors and green spaces, food and the friendly residents. We managed to explore many different neighbourhood in both cities. The cashless society was a real eye opener. We are still trying to get rid of a few Swedish krona. Even the museum gift shops won't take them to buy a postcard.
We, of course, will have to carry on the wonderful fika tradition!
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