Wednesday, June 8
Today started with a breakfast buffet. We learned that the famous cardamom rolls (see below) are not breakfast fare (!) but that smoked mackerel and pate are (!!). They had delicious croissants as well.
The official tour does not begin until this evening, so in advance we had booked our own half-day walking tour guide, primarily for things Jewish related.
We headed out right over the same bridge and back into Gamla Stan. Having a guide was a lot easier and more informative than doing it on our own. All in all we walked 5.4 miles (not including a short subway ride).
Some things we learned along the way:
The name "Stockholm" comes from the logs (stokker; much like the English "stockade") which were put up around the original island (holm) to keep enemy ships from docking there. There was no explanation how their own ships would dock!
Health care is fully paid for, as is all education through university.
All schools start the same day and end the same day. That ending day happens to be this Friday, and it is apparently a big deal here for people finishing elementary and high school. All along the way we saw and heard students celebrating, honking horns in their cars or open-backed trucks, wearing white caps (which indicate they did well on final exams), and gathering for parties. Reminded us of the noisy gay pride parade in Vienna in 2012!
The subway system is called "the longest art gallery in the world".
The station we went to was 33m below ground. Yikes!
The art work is different than in, say, Moscow. It is more of a social statement than pure decoration. Shown below is ceiling artwork--characterizing workers.
Though there are many very old buildings, there are obviously some from succeeding centuries and architectural styles (though with a few exceptions, no building is over 4 stories; just like in Paris!).
Here is an example of late 19th-century ornamentation.
Sweden, Norway, and Denmark all use a krone (sometimes pronounced "crown") as currency, but all three are different. But everything's credit card here--so for the first time, we may not even secure any local currency (unlike past trips, we didn't secure any currency in advance). Times change!
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We stopped first at one of several memorials to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat posted in Hungary, who saved thousands of Hungarian Jewish lives during WWII.
The briefcase represents his "day job".
Next we went to the Great Synagogue of Stockholm, the largest of the 3 in the city. It was built around 1870 and considers itself progressive, with a female rabbi--though it's not officially part of the progressive movement. There are approximately 25,000 Jews in Sweden--making it the largest Jewish community in Scandinavia. Like elsewhere, here in Sweden, affiliation rates are down (only 4,500 are affiliated in Stockholm). Like everywhere, recent surges in antisemitism has made life for the Jewish community more precarious.
Truly magnificent!
The synagogue guide opened the ark for us. One of these Torahs is the original from when the building first opened.
At the entrance to the sanctuary is this sign:
It basically says "this is the only way you can make a telephone call during Shabbat"!!! The synagogue also had Lulav and Etrog holders (for Sukkot)--first time we'd seen those!
Outside the temple is a memorial for the Holocaust. It contains the names of 8,000 victims (with the locations where they died) who were related to Jewish Swedes. Interspersed among the panels are black metal arcs of the Star of David. These symbolize the chimneys at the concentration camps. As in Jewish cemeteries, there were small stones placed by visitors- in memory of those who died. 
At the end of this brick path is another Wallenberg memorial.
This granite globe is about 1.2 m in height. On the side toward the bay, the stone bears the inscription Raoul Wallenberg. On the opposite side, leading to the Holocaust Monument, is inscribed the name Aaron Isaacs (the first Jew in Sweden). The globe contains the line: “The road was straight, when Jews were deported to death. The road was winding, dangerous and full of obstacles, when Jews were trying to escape from the murderers”. This sentence appears first in Swedish, followed by English and then in 22 languages, beginning with Polish, given that this is the language of the largest group of victims, followed by the other 20 languages of the countries from which the victims originated.
Next, we walked past the Government Building, where Parliament meets.
Sweden has basically the same type of constitutional monarchy as Great Britain. There is a king, but he does only ceremonial duties and has no actual power.
Next, we went to the Jewish Museum, in the same building where the original synagogue (from 1795) was located. They did a fascinating job of repurposing the building with lots of explanation about the original Jewish community and the challenges with welcoming Jews in subsequent centuries (from Eastern Europe in particular). Highlights were the recently-renovated murals and the original pulpit. According to the promotional brochure, (the restored building) "may be one of Europe's last surviving synagogues done in the German style." The museum guide shared that Sweden (because of its 200+ year old history of neutrality) was not at all involved in WWII--which means Jews were safe here. Indeed, he shared that Jews were evacuated here from Denmark during the war.
When we started out it was a little chilly, but by now it had warmed up so that we were in shirt sleeves. We had also walked enough to work up a thirst and a taste for the Swedish specialty: kardemummabullar (cardamom buns). So our guide Eva took us for fika (coffee break) and pastry (we decided to pass on the pizza slices topped with tuna, but they sure looked tempting!)
Bulle means bun, and these were definitely first class. Kinda sticky and very tasty.
Here is a recipe if you want to make your own. We sat outside overlooking the bay where the fresh water from the river meets the salt water from the Baltic Sea.
Wendy and Eva
The last stop on our tour was at a beautiful overlook where we could see 3 of the 14 islands (and some of the 54 bridges) that make up Stockholm.
The long walk back through the Old Town ended this excellent tour.
We rested for a while and then finally got to meet the group. This is our 12th Tauck trip, and we have done others with other companies, and the groups always have 20 - 30 people. This group has only 10!! Our guide told us that was all that had signed up (as opposed to people canceling), and that the last few tours have been the same way. So people are not yet traveling in the numbers as they were pre-Covid. It remains to be seen whether this small-sized group will work to our advantage or not. When there is a larger group, you can find your "peeps." In a small group, you have fewer prospective "peeps" to choose among.
The first official sight-seeing stop was at the Vasa Museum. A marvel of a museum! Must see! We had a special after-hours tour arranged. The Vasa was a warship built in 1628 by King Gustavus II. At the time, it was probably the largest warship in the world. What made it so big was that it had two decks of canons (36 in all). Each one weighed about 1,100 pounds. Unfortunately, the builder did not take this into account (!), and did not make the overall girth (couldn't resist using this word today, wink, wink!) of the ship wider. So it was quite top heavy. On its maiden trip, there was lots of ceremony. Many people were on deck, and the gun ports were open. A strong gust of wind blew just as it set sail. It listed, and water rushed into the gun ports. Down she went!!!! How embarrassing!!!!!! And she sat there until being floated to the surface in the 1970s. As our guide explained, the fact that she sunk in the Baltic Sea accounted for her long-term (300+ years) survival. The Baltic is brackish--meaning that the creatures who would normally feast on a wooden ship cannot exist in its environment. As a result, when it was brought to the surface, it was primarily intact--98% of the original ship is on display. Surrreal. And over 7,000 artifacts from the ship were also recovered. The fact that the she was put on exhibition here only a few miles from where she actually sank makes this quite a special museum. Quite impressive.
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The desert as well looked like the prior one, but again it was different. It was a champagne glass filled with heavenly chocolate mousse topped with raspberry puree. Alas, it was gone before we could snap a photo. The amount of caffeine in this dish alone was guaranteed to have an effect on our ability to sleep later--but we took the risk.
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