Our Rick Steves' European Tour – June 2019
Stockholm City Hall
The City Hall is a functioning meeting place for the City Council and site of the annual Nobel Prize banquet. Our Rick Steves' guidebook claims that eight million red bricks form the structure, and nineteen million chips of gilt mosaic decorate the building's interior.
The tall, wood-beamed ceiling in the City Council Chamber is reminiscent of Viking longhouses.
Gold mosaics decorate the 144-foot long Golden Hall, location of the Nobel Prize ball that follows the banquet. Most impressive of all is the floor-to-ceiling mosaic of Queen of Lake Mälaren at one end of the hall. An image of Stockholm rests in her lap.
Brick City Hall on Lake Mälaren
Bus Travel Begins!
Following our visit to the City Hall, we left Stockholm, heading south toward Kalmar. Of course we stopped for a fika – Sweden's coffee break! Scandinavian pastry became a group favorite!
Lunch was by the picturesque Göta Canal, and after lunch we raced back to the bus in a drenching downpour – most memorable because it was the only heavy rainstorm of the tour!
Upon reaching Kalmar, Ylva took us on an orientation walk through the town.
