An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We were so happy in our luxury suite that we hung out and read until around noon. We then taxied to the Stadshuset (City Hall) where we caught the boat to Drottingholm Palace. The ride was sunny and hot, but went through Lake Malaren, which is basically a fjord, but they probably think that would sound too Norweigan so they call it a lake instead. (Norweigan jokes here are like Polish jokes elsewhere).
The trip was about an hour, and passed some small, but very crowded beaches and many nice waterfront houses rising up the small hills which form the lakeside. We arrived at the palace (the permanent home of the Swedish Royal Family, since allegedly the original one in Stockholm was just too enormous. Like this one’s so practical. . .) and immediately went for lunch. We shared a greek salad and a tuna nicoise salad, which turned out to be quite good. We went in, and fortuitously joined an english tour almost at inception.
The building was built during the late 1600s and was modeled on the palace in Vienna and somewhat on Versailles (certainly these gardens resemble the latter) Seen one stupendous European palace, seen ‘em all, but this was notable for the staircase, which was so grand that it takes up 1/3 of the floor space in the main building (the royal family lives in the East Wing, we toured the center section) and was done in marbelized granite and goes off to the left and right upon entry, with trompe l’oiel paintings and carved stone up both floors. Also memorable were the plentiful allegorical paintings covering the walls and ceilings of many rooms, and the extensive and beautiful library.
We then walked the gardens (an enormous park with ponds, actually) and found time to pick up a few delicious pastries and then make a mad dash to catch the 5:00 boat back to Stockholm. Pleasant ride back with much less sun and a cool breeze off the water.
There was an art show along the waterfront that we perused, but they were closing up, so we found Fredsgatan 12, the restaurant recommended by the Swedish chef at Aquavit in N.Y. He portrayed it as the Mesa Grill of Stockholm, which it basically was. We began with two arctic margaritas which were perfect, down to the sugar on the rim, which we originally disappointedly mistook for salt. We had the appetizer medley — 5 wonderful offerings, the best being salmon chunks in a broth of lemongrass and corriander — and a flavorful duck carpaccio. Entrees were angler fish (similar to catfish) with oyster pistou, and grilled halibut w/wasabi. Both were seasoned exquisitely, which was a much-appreciated departure from the french influence usual here.
Dessert was an egg custard in a cloudberry gazpacho with almond croutons. We were seated next to two older couples who were starting a cruise around the Baltic. They are now retired, though still doing consulting; the men had been engineers and the women had been chemists, all for Standard Oil of Ohio for over 30 years, and in fact, one of the women had been the Head of Research until BP bought them out and, evidently having an issue with women in senior management, offered her a job in Public Relations. Very nice and extensively travelled people.
We got in a cab to go home, and ended up amidst a procession of vintage antique American cars of all types cruising (slowly) up and down Sveavagen, the largest street in Stockholm. A truly mind-blowing collection of immaculate (for the most part) Ford Fairlanes, Chevys from the 50s, huge old convertibles (that seat about 20), stripped down jeeps, hot rods, etc. Lots of people lined both sides of the street to watch, some even dining on set-up folding tables. Pretty weird. . .
We returned to our cozy little inferior room (now vastly improved with an opaque window shade and a functioning Cool Man) while the bride and groom borrowed our suite for the night.