Virtual Geocaching
Stockholm - 28th June
Today we went to three of the islands in the Stockholm City group to complete some virtual geocaches. A virtual geocache does not have a box or container to find, but instead has an activity you have to perform, take a photo as evidence you visited the place and carried out the activity and then post it on the Geocaching website. It’s not my favourite sort of geocache as you can look quite silly at times, but at least you keep your hands clean by avoiding caches hidden in bushes at ground level where unsavoury characters might like to urinate.
You can’t geocache on an empty stomach so first stop was the Hotorgshallen food court in central Stockholm. There are two levels of delis and lunch places to sit or take away. Most of the dining on the top level is not Swedish, so we went down stairs and ordered two smorrebrods. Standard fare, one shrimp, caviar, boiled egg and mayo and the other was salmon, poached egg and horse mustard sauce, I think the translation should have been horseradish. Both open sandwiches were served on Danish brown bread, so the waitress called them Danish sandwiches, there goes the authentic Swedish lunch. Lesson learned today, for an extra NZ$1.50 each we could sit inside and eat in a civilised manner with free water, as opposed to sitting outside on a dirty step in the 29 degree heat and getting dirty hands and nothing to drink.
The first virtual cache was on Stadsholmen Island by the Palace. The activity was to hold up a coin of your choice on a designated spot with the Parliament buildings on Helgeandsholmen Island in the background. Easy task for us because for some unknown reason we have been sharing the task of carrying around a NZ $2 coin. Except of course that isn’t parliament house in the background but the fancy gate between the two islands, parliament buildings is in the other photo.
The second virtual cache was at the Royal Palace, one of the largest in Europe with over 600 rooms; imagine the heating bill in winter.
Simple task to log the cache, take a photo of yourself by one of the cannons.
The cannon had a shiny Swedish flag painted on the end which needed my fingerprints so I touched it and was reprimanded by the guard; he had a gun with a bayonet so I obeyed.
The third virtual cache was at Stortorget, ‘the big square’ founded around the 12th century and the oldest square in Stockholm. The task was to take a photo of yourself with the cannonballs lodged in the wall above you. Another easy task, and no the balls weren’t fired into the building, the owner had them built into the wall as a remembrance symbol 250 years after the 16th century siege against the Union King which enabled Sweden to become a free country. The photo below is the Nobel Prize Museum in the Swedish Academy building, which is also in the same Stortorget square.
The fourth virtual cache was at the Marten Trotzigs Alley, which is the narrowest alley in Stockholm and the only stairwell alley left in the old town.
The alley is named after a wealthy German merchant who bought the buildings around it and owned the pub and the shop, money doesn’t buy you everything he was later murdered on a business trip.
The task was to take a photo of yourself holding a piece of paper with your geocaching name either on the top or bottom step. It was a very difficult job when the foot traffic is constant and then two girls wanted to do their amateur photo shoot on the stairs.
The fifth virtual cache was in another square and the task was to take a photo of your geocaching name on a piece of paper with author, Evert Taube’s statue, and one with another famous Swede somewhere else in the city. The cache owner provided the coordinates of the other statues so we chose the closest which just happen to be Evert again but this time with his other profession of musician.
We completed some traditional caches on Riddarholmen Island and the above photos are some of the church and views. That was enough caching for one day, the heat, crowds and walking wore me out, so we caught the train home.
Today’s ABBA tribute is ‘King Kong Song’ (1974) for the small streets of Gamla Stan on Stadsholmen island.
The old town is made up of small cobbled streets, medieval squares and old buildings that are either tourist souvenir shops or cafes. With the cruise boats in town and all the other tourists there is no room to move; people are pushing to get to stock or the cash register, mulling in doorways, and causing queues and utter chaos.
Then there is the nation of people who love the sound of their own voice and speak at many decibels above everyone else, to somebody on the other end of their earpods or buds, whatever those things are in their ears that make them oblivious to the racket they make.
Now we can make the jungle out of any old place
We can make gorillas out of people, yeah
Well, who can tell a monkey from a monkey