ett uppsala äventyr: Royal Palace Tour and Christmas Market in Stockholm

Last Sunday, Matteus, a friend from UF who also works at the Royal Palace as a tour guide, set up an UF activity group palace tour. We got to see all of the parts of the Royal Palace that were open, and afterwards, went to fika (of course) and then to the Christmas market in Gamla Stan.

The Royal Palace Tour

We arrived in Stockholm, and there was sunshine. This was a big deal, as it has been probably the rainiest, cloudiest, most miserable weather of any November ever.

You weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle, so here are the only pictures I took, as well as some fun facts!

The changing of the guards happens every day. It's lots of pomp and circumstance, but fun to watch!

Some other fun facts about the Royal Palace - it's still in use! Many heads of state actually stay there when visiting Sweden, since the king is still the monarch.

The castle's location is incredibly old. The first tower of the original castle was built in 1100. But the original castle burned down completely in a fire in 1697. Later, they rebuilt the castle with a lot of Roman/Greek/French influence.

Marble, a part of the style, is used frequently throughout the palace. The marble is not real marble for the most part though, but painted brick, because Sweden could not afford real marble at the time.

Speaking of not being able to afford things - the budget for the palace upkeep is relatively low, since the Social Democrats have run the country for so long, and monarchy and socialism aren't very compatible.

And one more fun fact, the Swedish monarchy is actually of French descent, because way way back they chose a Frenchman to be King just after the Napoleonic wars, starting the current dynasty. That king at the time didn't even learn Swedish.