I KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ABOVE: YES!
I usually have visitors who are interested in the same things I am, and I have guided many friends from Farawayistan.
This is what the route looks like — blue dots — where you can walk, take the bus and the tram, but above all, take boat no. 82 between Gröna Lund and Slussen — red line.
- Start at Stockholms centralstation (“Centralen”, which opened in 1871).
- Go into Klara kyrka and say aaah and ooooh. It is Scandinavia’s second-tallest church, and construction began in 1572.
- Tell them about Bellman, who has a memorial monument — not a grave — just outside the church.
- Head for the Nils Ferlin statue, which nowadays has no cigarette at all.
Ferlin still had a tiny cigarette a couple of years ago. - Take tram 7 towards Djurgården. There are also old museum trams that are 100 years old, which are called 7N.
- Glance to the right down at Sergels torg and then to the left at Hötorgsskraporna, and talk about the demolition frenzy of the 1960s.
- Tell them about NK — founded in 1902 — and the murder of Anna Lindh in 2003, and then briskly move on to the fact that Kungsträdgården was, until the 1770s, an enclosed garden only for the royals.
Kungsträdgården in 1617. - Briefly summarise Stockholm Syndrome as you approach Norrmalmstorg, but don’t talk for too long, because Hallwylska palatset and Dramaten with the warm Margaretha Krook statue are coming up any second. Yes, of course, you can stop here to look at the utterly delightful and wonderful palace and attend a theatre performance, but not if you are going to see Stockholm in one day.
- Enjoy the magnificent buildings along Strandvägen. They were built around the turn of the twentieth century and are tremendously interesting for architecture nerds.
- Get off in front of Nordiska museet, which you also will not have time to visit, because that takes at least a whole day.
- Then spend two to three hours inside Vasamuseet. Visit the restaurant there if you are not completely bankrupt.
Maybe not the clearest view of Vasa. - Walk to ABBA-museet. It is practical to buy tickets on your mobile already during the walk there. Anyone in the group who does not want to go into the museum can loiter around the neighborhood’s nice restaurants.
Well, this was fun! - Point out Skansen, but do not go there today, because there is no time.
- Point out Gröna Lund on the way down to boat 82 — no, you do not have time to go on a roller coaster today.
- Take boat 82 from Allmänna Gränd to Slussen/Skeppsbron — stand in the bow and enjoy the view! The boat does, however, have two bows and no stern, so you have to keep track of which way the boat is going.
- Go into Gamla stan and pat Evert Taube, who stands as a statue on Järntorget.
- Continue to Stortorget and tell them about the cannonball in the wall, Nobelprismuseet, and Stockholms blodbad. Point out the red house with the white stones and remember that Kristian The Tyrant is only called “Christian 2.” in Danish.
One stone per dead person … or? - Go to Kungliga Slottet and try to catch the changing of the guard. Maybe at 4 pm?
- Have a beer and a pizza on the corner of Stora Nygatan and Stora Gråmunkegränd: Da Peppe.
- Walk towards Riksdagshuset and try to explain Sweden’s political system. I rattled off the party leaders from 1976 because I do not know the current ones.
- Stroll along Drottninggatan and close the circle by mentioning Sergels torg again.
- Go to Centralen, buy a loaf of bread the size of a baby at Fabrique, and go home!
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