Reunion 2023 – Stockholm, Itinerary

Itinerary

Wednesday June 28

Welcome Reception
We met at the hotel Hilton Stockholm Slussen for a get together in the evening. A buffet with hot and cold dishes were served.

Thursday June 29

Ferry to Djurgården
We left the hotel in the morning for a short walk to the ferry that took us to a place called Djurgården, an island in the center of Stockholm with open areas, museums, restaurants and an amusement park.

Vasa Museum
Once at Djurgården we headed for the famous Vasa Museum. It is built around an old warship that sank on it’s maiden voyage in 1628, just after having left the dock. They had built it too high and it became unstable and tipped over and sank.

In the 1960’s they lifted it up from the bottom of the sea and moved it to the museum. It is an impressive sight, 69 meter long and 25 meter tall excluding the masts.

Lunch at Djurgårdsbron

After the ship Vasa, we took 5 minute walk to the restaurant Djurgårdsbron for lunch outside by the water.

ABBA The Museum
Also at Djurgården is the ABBA museum that tells the story of the Swedish pop group ABBA. After the lunch we spent some time looking at and reading about their history.

Free time
When we were tired of singing, the rest of the day was free time. Some of us took a 30 minute walk to the Old Town while others took the same ferry back as we arrived on back to the hotel.

Evening were free for dinner plans and other things we wanted to do in smaller groups.

Friday June 30

Archipelago tour
The entire day was spent on a boat going island hopping in the archipelago of Stockholm. Onboard the boat we had lunch, Swedish fika (a coffee break with pastry) in the afternoon and then we finished with dinner onboard.

During the day we passed under bridges, through narrow passages between islands and over open water. We also stopped at some of the islands. It was a very nice trip with plenty of time to see the beauty of the archipelago as well as spending time together.

Saturday July 1

Uppsala
After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we all left by bus to the old university town of Uppsala.

Our tour guide for the day was Hans Odöö who told us several amazing anecdotes from the history of Uppsala. We also visited the home of Carl von Linnaeus, the famous botanist.

Old Upsala
The next stop was at Old Upsala (Gamla Upsala), a place filled with history from the Viking age.

Castle of Uppsala
We had lunch at the Castle of Uppsala (Uppsala Slott) that dates back to the 16th century. After that the guided tour continued.

Soirée at Ekhamn
Just south of Uppsala, outside the small town of Knivsta, is the mansion Ekhamn built in 1626. It is owned by Annie and Mikael with family. The mansion is nowadays rented out for weddings, birthday parties and family reunions.

The soirée was at EKhamn with dinner, drinks and dancing under the bright summer skies on the veranda. There were some live music performed by the singer Jan Johansen, as well as Spotify with songs that brought back memories.

Staying overnight at Ekhamn
Most of the alumni stayed overnight at Ekhamn until Monday, while other stayed at Hotel Kristina in the nearby town Sigtuna.

Sunday July 2

Picnic
On Sunday morning we all took 20 minute Promenade Obligatoire over to Annie and Mikael’s house and further on to another house called Ragnhildsvik, where a brunch in the form of a picnic were served.

Skokloster Castle
After the brunch, the bus picked us up and we went to Skokloster Castle where we got a guided tour of the 17th century castle. Is was built as the largest private palace in Sweden and has been privately owned until 1967 when it was sold to the Swedish government.

After the tour, we had some Swedish fika at the café in the castle.

Sigtuna
The bus then took us to one of Sweden’s oldest towns – Sigtuna. We walked through the narrow streets and learned how Sigtuna became an important place in the history of Sweden.

Farewell dinner
Back at Ekhamn for the farewell dinner. We barbecued in the garden and played musical quiz until late.

Monday July 3

End of reunion
After the breakfast a bus took us to Arlanda and Stockholm. Some of us continued up to Kiruna and Abisko in the very north of Sweden, but that is a different story.