We crossed the road to Oslo Central in plenty of time to catch the 7.32am train to Stockholm. This is an amazing Railway station and would rival many an international airport. We were looking forward to our train ride to Stockholm as the trip to Oslo had been great.



Unfortunately, today would not be a repeat of that journey . The train, when it arrived was old and definitely not the cleanest we had seen. After the usual struggle boarding the train with all our luggage we managed to find our seats and settle in.  Sal and I were seated together and Trevor behind us. The train would be packed to capacity by the end of the journey so we were definitely not looking forward to spending the next 5½ hours in these uninviting surroundings.

We had hoped to purchase lunch on board however the buffet facility was only slightly larger than a shoe box and provided tea, coffee and muffins of suspect origin. It was hard to believe that a train servicing two such major cities would not provide a quality buffet service for its passengers.

To add insult to injury, their preferred currency was Swedish so if you were Norwegian forget even trying to buy a cup of coffee. By the time we went to purchase our beverages there wasn't even an English breakfast tea bag left - it was green tea or nothing! 

Despite our earlier reservations, the journey did end up being an interesting ride as you can always turn to people watching for entertainment - especially when in a foreign country .

The antics of some passengers as they boarded the train were odd to say the least. One young lady joined our carriage and immediately demanded that every window in the carriage be opened. Her demands were not met with enthusiasm by many of her fellow travellers.   Unperturbed by this the young lady (now joined by a male friend) proceeded to strip off most of her clothing and settled back in her seat to read a book.



It wasn’t long before other passengers boarded our carriage and soon after the young lady was confronted by a couple requesting that she and her partner remove themselves from where they were seated as the boarding couple held tickets for the seats.



It was quite a pantomime, we didn’t understand a word of the language but body language is the same the world over . When the young lady and her partner made a hasty exit from our carriage the passengers who’d been upset by her earlier antics could not hide their glee in seeing the back-end of her. All very entertaining and it did help to make our journey a little more tolerable.



We arrived at Stockholm Central - another great railway station with good facilities and as we were in dire need of lunch, we quickly found a restaurant serving sandwiches and good coffee and settled down with maps to get our bearings. We managed to locate the information centre where Sal and I walked to pick up our Stockholm cards, and while there sought directions to our hotel and were informed it was only a "10 minute" walk from the centre.



This information differed to my research which showed we needed to catch the T-Bana (or light railway) however we took their advice as Trevor had been complaining he was a little tired of lugging his suitcase on and off public transport so thought walking to the hotel might be the better option . Not a good idea - Copenhagen should have taught us a lesson – but not so!



We set off in the heat, pushing and pulling our heavy suitcases and carrying our backpacks over cobblestoned streets and every other undulating surface you can imagine for what seemed like an eternity (but was probably 30 minutes) until finally, hot and exhausted we reached the very aptly named “Victory Hotel”.



Having attempted this feat for a second time and almost killing ourselves in the process we were not surprised when Trevor announced “I’m never doing that again” - so Trevor’s decision? Sally and I can please ourselves what we do but he's catching Taxis in future - point taken!



The Victory Hotel is quite a landmark in the “old town” (Gamla Stan) area of Stockholm . In the breakfast room located below ground level you can view the original wall of the Castle that was unearthed during excavation work to construct renovations.



The hotel is also a museum of shipping artefacts and the family who own it have collected pieces worldwide, but the best thing about the hotel is its location. It is situated on the fringe of this fascinating “old town” area and places us within easy walking distance of the harbour, great restaurants and places of interest to visit.



It was good having two whole days to explore Stockholm. After settling in and recovering from our arduous trek from the Railway Station we set about sightseeing. We found a lovely cafe serving good coffee that would become our “local” for the duration of our stay. The coffee shop was situated near the Royal Palace which we had put on our list to visit the following afternoon.



After breakfast the following morning we set off early to catch a ferry to Djurgarden which is the location of many of the museums and also another amusement park owned by Tivoli.   Today, Sal and I were in for a treat, we had reserved tickets to visit the ABBA Museum . Trevor wasn’t keen to join us so had opted to visit the Vasa Museum instead to take in some more Viking history.



The ABBA tickets are timed so we arrived in time to start our tour at 10.30am. After donning our audio equipment, we were off into the musical world of ABBA. We were not disappointed with our tour as the museum is very authentic.  The voices you hear through the audio are those of ABBA themselves so, as you roam through the Museum you hear each of them tell their own personal ABBA story from start to finish.



The Museum is full of ABBA memorabilia including costumes, awards, and musical equipment etc. There are also replicas of their recording studio, homes, dressing room and even the sewing room where their costumes were made . Their Helicopter is also exhibited so Sal and I climbed aboard and were photographed at the controls by a kindly Aussie tourist.



All too soon our tour ended – the duration of the tour is around an hour and a half - so we left with smiles on our faces and the music of Abba still ringing in our ears.



After making our way through the ABBA gift shop Trevor was waiting (unexpectedly) for us at the exit door. It appears his visit to the Vasa Museum had not been so successful. After joining the entrance queue he had waited in line for nearly an hour and as it had only moved a few metres during this time he decided it wasn’t worth the wait. Sal and I were supposed to join Trev in the Vasa however due to the long queues we all decided to give it a miss .



After lunching in the Tivoli we gave our Stockholm cards a workout and hopped on and off trams and buses to take us around the city. Our ride took us a little further afield than anticipated and we ended up in the suburbs where the majority of residents live. It was interesting to see that just like all the other Scandinavian cities, the Swedes also choose to live in apartments.



We found our way back into the city for our planned afternoon visit to the Royal Palace Museum just in time to join an English speaking guide for a tour of the palace treasury. Once again a great guide giving an enjoyable and informative tour. The Swedish crown jewels were beautiful and have a very interesting history.



In bygone eras elected kings (or queens) chose to have a new crown made especially for their coronation, so the treasury contains many ancient and beautiful crowns and other coronation objects .  The oldest crown or regalia as they are called dates from 1561.



Since 1907 the Swedish elected head of state has chosen not to be coronated therefore was not entitled to wear a crown.  This practice has continued through to the current monarch who despite choosing one of the many crowns from the treasury for the duration of his reign he doesn’t get to wear it. Instead, the crown is placed on a chair beside him on special occasions. All very interesting!



We also toured the royal apartments which are no longer occupied by the current royals but are home to their mammoth collection of silver, porcelain, art and sculptures. These apartments also house the orders bestowed upon the nobility over many centuries. Sometimes it’s hard to get your head around the accumulated wealth of some of these grand palaces – it is just mind boggling .



We had known very little about the Swedish Royal family before our visit so it was good to have learned a little more during our visit. Walking out of the Palace we were met with a heavy downpour. We had been fortunate during our first three weeks of travelling to have perfect warm weather so chances are the rain had to catch up with us sooner or later.



Unfortunately for Trevor he had changed backpacks so had forgotten to change over both his umbrella and weatherproof jacket. So, with three of us sharing two umbrellas we arrived back at our hotel drenched. Unfortunately it was still raining when we ventured out for dinner so we found a lovely Italian Restaurant just around the corner with tables inside so we enjoyed some great pizzas.



By morning the rain had cleared so we were off early for some more sight-seeing. Firstly we went to take a few photos of the local area as we didn’t get many photo opportunities the previous afternoon due to the rain. As the Swedish Royal family was still fresh in our minds we decided to pay a visit to their burial church which was also close by. There was just enough time for a coffee at our favourite café before checking-out and waiting for our taxi to take us to the Viking line terminal where we would join the ferry for our overnight crossing to Helsinki.