A few reasons for arriving 3 days ahead of the tour commencing tomorrow night. Two days in a city is not enough and five days is barely enough! Also, gives me time to recover from that inevitable attack of asthma that a long distance flight brings on...improving in time for the start of the tour with drinks tonight! And there are always special places that a tour doesn't get to...
Drottingholm Court Theatre was the highlight of my second day in Sweden....it's been on my bucket list for years. It's attached to Drottingholm Palace which is the summer home of the King and Queens of Sweden and is a World Heritage site - a relaxing 45 minute boat trip from Stockholm. You can wander through many rooms in the palace and the spacious gardens.
Art nouveau buildings and heaters in palace! Drottingholm had it share of heaters - usual and one of the most ornate that I've seen (final photo in this sequence).
The Court Theatre is the second on the site and opened in 1766. It's the oldest operating opera theatre to use the original machinery. The stage is large for a theatre that only seats 400 people - 200 when it opened due to the skirt's on women's dresses! The interiors are in original condition and very fragile. Sadly no performances are scheduled while I'm here - a reason to return! It's made entirely of wood and the facade is plastered to give the impression of far more expensive sandstone.
Even some very average heaters in the Court Theatre!
A pleasant return boat trip gave me an excellent view of Stockholm City Hall which was opened in 1923 although it looks much older! It's the site of the annual Nobel Dinner.
