Scandinavia - Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Up and packing by 6:00 for another travel day.  Down to breakfast by 7:30 and ready for our cab pick up at 8:30.  A snafu with regard to cab size - not the van we had ordered, but we persevered (and suffered with luggage on our laps) to the airport for our 10:45 flight to Stockholm.

Arrived Stockholm at 11:55. Cloudy and then rain by the time we arrived at our hotel on Gamla Stan (Old City) of Stockholm. After check in at what, to this point is the smallest set of rooms, we left in search of lunch and adventure.  We first stopped at Coran Cafe for a spot of lunch, which included our first Swedish meatball serving, and they were delicious - I see many more orders of this before we leave Stockholm.

On to sightseeing, beginning with the Royal Palace and a tour of the Royal Apartments.  A huge (some might say over the top) display of finery, medals, furniture, tapestry, rugs, etc.  Not dissimilar to a palace tour in England or any other European capitol.  We bought tickets good for multiple days, so we will be back to view other parts of the Palace.

We then wandered for hours along the winding streets and shops of this area, dating back to the 1300's.  Nice shopping and small stores, interesting sites and damp weather.  By 7:00 we were ready for a meal and debated various locations, We reached agreement and traipsed back up a winding hill to the "Yndor Kastanjen" which translates to Under the Chestnut Tree restaurant; yes, there was a chestnut tree standing in a small yard in front of the restaurant. The food looked promising and turned out to be amazing.  Two had a lamb sirloin dish, accompanied by a well made and tasty sausage, with parsnips and sauce, one had potato pancakes accompanied by bacon and a fruit salad, and one had cold poached salmon, accompanied by warm new potatoes and tastefully sauced.  All accompanied by a few bottles of the huset roda, or house red wine, which turned out to be a sublime merlot from the Castille region of Spain.  We all agreed it was a wonderful way to start our tour of Stockholm.  We were back to our hotel by 9:00.