Stockholm Is Off To a Great Start!

Well folks, Stockholm is off to a great start! We arrived yesterday afternoon after a far too short 45 minute train ride. I say far too short because naturally I fell asleep I couldn't even get a good nap in. We were greeted with sunshine and wonderfully warm weather. We loaded all of our luggage into a van to be brought to the hostel and proceeded to walk through the city. (A milestone: I got far too warm wearing only my light jacket) We are living on a ship which has been converted to a hostel. I wake up with sun shining through a porthole. I can't even begin to describe how very cool it is. At night I get to look across the water to the incredible lit up city. We were all in some of best spirits yet as we looked at "our boat" set against a huge city just calling for us to come explore.

Our ship is in short walking distance of Old Town. To get there, we walk right past the Royal Palace- no big deal. Last night, a few of us found a Palestinian Restaurant which was literally a hole in the wall. Afterwards, some of us ventured down the very old streets and found an Irish Pub which advertised free live blues music Tuesday- Saturday. Loving free things like we do, we figured why not go in? Best decision to be made in a long time. We walked down to the "Jameson Cellar" and packed in among other music lovers. I hear a lot of live music and this was the absolute best I have heard in a long time. All of these musicians could easily be professionals. In fact, one guy who was singing got in trouble with his agent for singing 3 songs for free and got pulled out of the place. I can't wait to find more places and go back to this one!

Today we got some love from home. Tom Young and Barb Larson Taylor from Gustavus came to meet up with us. (Barb even brought us Girl Scout cookies!) I am realizing more and more that Gustavus has fantastic connections. I started to see this earlier this week in Uppsala when we went to the Botanical Gardens. They are not open on Mondays, but they opened it and gave us a special tour because we are Gustavus and there is a Paul Granlund statue outside. These connections were also evident today. We went in the back door of the palace and basically saw where King Carl parks his car. We got a presentation on the monarchy and then were given a tour of the royal library. (incidently also named the Folke Bernadotte Library like Gustavus.) This is the library where Strindberg was a librarian and this is where Nobel Laureates hang out and talk about world affairs the night before they receive their awards.

We then got a tour of Parliament and got to talk to a member of the Liberal Party, Frederich Malm. He was very candid with us and we got a great presentation. After that, we moved on to the Swedish Academy. This was so incredible. We sat in the chairs where the Nobel Committee sits and chooses who is going to win the Nobel prize. There is so much incredible symbolism- everything is done just as it was done when Gustav III began the academy. We walked through the door the Permanent Secretary walks through to be blinded by cameras to announce who is going to win the Nobel Prize. It was so interesting how it is mandated that the winner give their speech in their mother tongue and not the one most will understand. It's all part of preserving culture.

Today was full. After our tours, we ventured down the streets of Old Town and found the "Sten Cafe." ("the Rock Cafe"- like our favorite River Rock Coffee Shop in St. Peter?) We walked down into yet another cellar- I saw a sign that it was 700 years old. We had a two plus hour fika where we discussed all we learned today.

I came to the realization today just how much we are ambassadors of Gustavus. This is a big responsibility but also such a fantastic one. This makes me remember how very much I love Gustavus and how incredibly lucky we are to be here.