Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and the most populous urban area in all the Nordic countries. Stockholm has nearly a million residents and the whole metropolitan area has around 2.4 million people. The city is spread out across 14 islands right where Lake Malaren flows into the Baltic Sea. This area has been settled since the Stone Age in the 6th century BC. The city proper was founded as such in 1252. Stockholm is the center of Sweden for politics, culture, media, and economics. It has many top-ranked European universities. It has many famous museums and art galleries. Stockholm hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics and the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics. It is the seat of Sweden’s government, its highest courts, and the official residences of the Swedish monarch and Prime Minister.

Stockholm Palace, or the Royal Palace, is the official residence (but not actual residence) Of King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia. It’s located in Gamla Stan or the island between the bridges. Our guides mostly called it Old Town. The palace is the offices of the King and other members of the Royal Palace and the principal workplace of the Swedish King. It serves the King while he performs his duties as the head of state of Sweden. The royal residence has been located here since the middle of the 13th century. The original palace was destroyed by fire in 1697. The current palace was started in 1700 but due to construction stops, it was not completed until 1754. Interior work continued until 1770 but there has been no major changes since then.

I actually could have gotten into this palace but it was not highly recommended by our guides. You can see a poor photo of the Stockholm Palace in the first photo. I probably needed to be another island away to get it all into one decent photo. It’s a very large building. I was impressed by the ‘changing of the guard’ which we happen to see when there. You can see one contingent in the second photo. We saw the changing of the guard at two other royal palaces in Scandinavia but it was not like in Stockholm. I don’t know why they needed so many horsemen to change the guard but it made for a large tourist spectacle. I suspect that is the real reason. I noticed that all the horsemen in the guard changing were men. But then I noticed that in addition to the royal guards, Stockholm police people were on duty as well. So I took a photo of a police horsewoman which is the third photo. I thought she looked better than the royal guards and she didn’t have their silly pointed helmet.

The Nobel Prize is something that Stockholm is most noted for in the world. The Nobel Museum is also in Gamla Stan or Old Town. The Swedish Academy and the Nobel Library are also located in this building, seen in the fourth photo. The museum showcases information about the Nobel Prize itself and about the Nobel prize winners. It also has information about Alfred Nobel who lived from 1833 to 1896. This museum is located in the former Stock Exchange Building and was opened in 2001 for the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize. The museum features exhibitions of prominent Nobel laureates such as Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, and Winston Churchill. If you turned left standing in the plaza in front of the Nobel Museum, you would be seeing what you see in the last photo. It was a popular and active neighborhood.