Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm has been a lovely city to explore, there is heaps going on all the time here, particularly to do with the 'arts' scene if that' s your thing. We ended up stumbling across a World Cup Cross Country Palace Ski event one night by chance when making our way to the 'Old Town' Gamla Stan. The ski track was set up around the Royal Palace, with trucks bringing in loads of snow all day. We checked out the Royal Treasury and the Armoury before moving on to Gamla Stan, but returned later in the day to the Palace when the races were kicking off to see a bit of the action.
Gamla Stan was a cool little place to visit, it literally is the original city centre of Stockholm and backs on to the Royal Palace. It is a series of quaint cobbled streets, random little shops, and original, and slightly skewed, architecture.
Our favourite tourist spot for Stockholm would have to be The Vasa Museum (thanks for the tip Kevin!). It is a huge old ship (about 50 metres tall) that was built in the 1600's for the King at the time to be used in war. It was the first ship to be built with two levels of cannons and was therefore experimental for the Dutch designer. However, long story short, it was too top heavy, and sunk in the harbour, half an hour in to it's maiden voyage in 30 metres of water. It has since been salvaged and can be viewed at a museum - it's well worth a visit if you are ever in Stockholm, it looks like a huge pirate ship, like something straight out of Pirates of the Carribbean!
We spent an afternoon in Skansen also, a big family park area on an island near the Vasa. It is full of examples of traditional Swedish housing, a typical old village and has a zoo too containing Scandinavian animals such as wolves, reindeers, wolverines, foxes, bears and crazy great grey owls.
Had a cool time in Sweden, off tomorrow to Helsinki, Finland!