Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
becomes Drottninggatan). This pedestrian street leads back into Stockholm's
modern, vibrant new town.
From here it's also a 10-minute walk to Kungsträdgården, the starting
point of my Modern City self-guided walk (described next). On the way there,
you'll walk past the Royal Opera House and Gustav Adolfs Torg, with its
imposing statue of Gustavus Adolphus. He was the king who established the
Swedish empire. Considered by many to be the father of modern warfare for
his innovative tactics, he was a Protestant hero of the Thirty Years' War.
(See “Stockholm” map,
here
.)
On this walk, we'll use the park called Kungsträdgården as a springboard to
explore the modern center of Stockholm—a commercial zone designed to put
the focus not on old kings and mementos of superpower days, but on shop-
ping.
• Find the statue of King Karl XII at the harbor end of the park.
Kungsträdgården:
Centuries ago, this “King's Garden” was the private
kitchen garden of the king, where he grew his cabbage salad. Today, this
downtown people-watching center, worth ▲, is considered Stockholm's liv-
ing room, symbolizing the Swedes' freedom-loving spirit. While the English
info board (near the harbor, 20 yards to the statue king's immediate right) de-
scribes the garden as a private royal domain, the nearby giant clump of elm
trees reminds locals that it's the people who rule now. In the 1970s, demon-
strators chained themselves to these trees to stop the building of an under-
ground train station here. They prevailed, and today, locals enjoy the peaceful,
breezy ambience of a teahouse instead. Watch the life-size game of chess and
enjoy a summer concert at the bandstand. There's always something going on.
Kungsträdgården—surrounded by the harborfront and tour boats, the Roy-
al Opera House, and, on the far side, a welcoming Volvo showroom (showing
off the latest in Swedish car design), and the NK department store—is
the
place to feel Stockholm's pulse (but always ask first:
“Kan jag kanna på din
puls?”
)
.
