Day 11 July 25

Our tour today started later than usual since it was a walking food tour for lunch. Due to Lee’s old knee giving her a little trouble a wheelchair was borrowed from the hotel, but it it was mainly used as a walker. We met in the lobby for the bus to take us to our guide. Imagine our surprise to see a 44 passenger touring bus waiting in the front of the hotel with a sign in the window saying “Richmond Group.”

Thor arranged for our intro into Swedish gastronomy through FoodTours.ed. Teresa, our guide, was a local who did know all about the foods and food scene in Stockholm. She explained Stockholm traditions and how people shop. We started off in the market area known as Saluhall. It is currently being housed in a temporary building while the old market is being renovated. There is a law that says old buildings cannot be changed but things like plumbing and heating can be updated. We walked through the market and stopped at a couple of booths for tastings. We tried three different cheeses along with crackers and cloudberry jam at the first stop. Then we had moose smoked in oak, moose and pork sausage, and reindeer smoked in juniper along with a local beer. Karin was wondering about the taste of bear, so we tried a little bear sausage. It wasn’t terrible and not everyone tried it. Our next stop was a turkey shop. It sold turkey any which way you could imagine. There were some tastes on the counter so I tried a spicy turkey hot dog type thing. We were served a turkey meatball with a boiled potato, gravy and lingonberry compote. We then hiked up to a fish market inside of a shopping mall, that served us fish soup with fried herring on a cracker, shrimp salad on toast and a glass of wine which was the only thing not Swedish all morning. For those who didn’t want to try the herring, they had cheese pie instead. It looked so good, Teresa helped me locate the recipe on the internet so I can try to make it at home. We headed upstairs to the candy store where we all tasted three different flavors of licorice: salty, smoked and sweet. My favorite was the sweet. Mom was able to find gluten free licorice which she was very excited about. Our last stop in on the tour was in a world renowned chocolate shop where we were given three different chocolate confections and coffee or tea. Apparently the entire country gets a break for coffee or tea twice a day. It is an actual thing called “Fika.” When we were finished, Teresa called a cab for us and we headed back to the hotel.

I realized at the end that we learned about everything but the vegetables. There was no real mention of vegetables. It was also interesting to learn that no alcoholic beverages can be served until after 11:00 in the morning. “Sweden has a government alcohol monopoly called Systembolaget for sale of all alcoholic drinks...”

An hour after we got back to the hotel, Linda C. Evie, Lee, Victoria, Mom and I set out for Sightseeing by Boat tour. It was a two hour tour around the waterways of Stockholm. It went from the Mӓlaren lake to the waters of the Baltic Sea through a set of locks. I began the tour sitting next to Mom, listening to the headset with the tour commentary in English. About a third of the way through the tour, I went to the front of the boat. I couldn’t see much due to the lady in the seat in front of me with the big hair and extra large camera. Since I was standing by the first mate’s seat, the captain offered me the seat. I took it and stayed for the remainder of the trip. I had an awesome conversation with the two young men and learned a few things about Sweden.

Sweden does not require a licence for private boat owners no matter how big the vessel.
There is an area along the bank where the homeless have taken over derelict boats for their housing and the government takes care of them.
Everyone learns to swim in Sweden. You cannot pass junior high, 9th grade physical education without passing the swimming course.
The lake and the sea around Stockholm freeze over in the winter so you can ice skate from one bank to the other.
All boats in Sweden have underwater fans to keep the water moving in the winter so boats will not be damaged by the ice when the water freezes over.

The other ladies picked up a few things from the tour information

The Grand Hotel first opened in 1874. It was also the first hotel to change the linens between guests.
Sweden has what is called Passive houses.
Stockholm recycles nearly 100% of its waste.
There are 57 bridges in Stockholm and the tour went under 9 of them.

We caught a cab back to the hotel.

By the time we got back we were all starving so I called the others. We set out for Akkurat, a local gastro pub just up the street. We could not find seats at first, walking all around the place. They were able to fit us in though when we told the waitress we were there for dinner not just to drink. She opened up a private room just for us. The food was excellent.

Tomorrow it is off to the Vassa Museum and the Skansen Entrance at the park.