The Royal Palace

Two lovely sister missionaries, Syster Slack and Syster Lane, invited us to join them to visit the Kungliga Slottet, the Royal Palace, in Gamla Stan (the Old Town in Stockholm).  The King and Queen of Sweden don't live here, but they do work here and in fact, were there (but in another wing) on the day we visited.  Nice to see that royalty actually work!  At least we commoners are happy to know that!  And we were happy to help with the upkeep of the place by paying for our visit!  Smart idea.

The palace is used for state visits and dinners and important events.  It's one room bigger than Buckingham Palace in London, England, and even has a Hall of Mirrors like in the Palace of Versailles in France.  It's a lovely old building with its baroque and rococo interior.

Syster Slack and Syster Lane invited us to tag along to the palace.  So fun!

Can you imagine how hot that wig would be?  We also saw some mannequins of clothing for men with lots of lace and tight, shiny fabric.  Weird.  Can't show you because my picture didn't turn out.  The camera on my phone is super-sensitive and super-slow so I have to click the picture and then wait.  And I always forget to wait so many pictures are blurry.  Should have brought my camera but flash wasn't allowed and I of course don't know how to set it for low light.

Ceilings and doors had ornate 3-D carvings.

This is a working palace.  You can see the rugs to the right of Syster Slack and Elder Torrie are folded back so the public can't step on them.  When we're gone, the rug is pulled back and is in use.  This room had the busts of the current king and queen, but of course my pictures of them didn't turn out.

Gorgeous chandelier.  Can you imagine keeping it clean?  We used to have a very small chandelier in our livingroom and even using special spray to clean it, it was still a lot of work and so didn't get done often enough.  It went into the trash long ago.

One of several ornate throne-type chairs

Lots of gold leafing and gold paint.  This is plaster with gold leafing.

LeRon was a good sport to traipse after 3 women while we oohed and ahed over everything!

Love the red! And nice to know that these chairs actually get used.

I can't remember what these books were.  The systers translated for me but I can't remember anymore.  It's my senior brain.  They're important books anyway.

The architect designed this long banquet hall to be like the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.  It's beautiful, as are these lovely ladies!  

Karl XI's Gallery (aka Hall of Mirrors) is magnificent.  We even liked it better than the one in the Palace of Versailles.  There's a mirror on one side and a painting on the other and then it switches and is a painting and then a mirror, if you get what I mean. 

Back in the streets of Gamla Stan.  More tourists out than we expected.

We ran into two more sister missionaries (Syster Gilbert and Syster Pippert) enjoying a P-day in Gamla Stan.  Elder Torrie treated them to a warm waffle with chocolate and strawberries.  Yummy.  P-days (Preparation day) for junior missionaries are on Mondays.  It's a day to clean house, shop for groceries, and/or see the cultural sites.

Syster Slack and Syster Lane sharing a yummy waffle.

Elder Torrie and I shared a crepe with chocolate and strawberries.  The crepe was a bit dry and hard to cut.  Another time we will share a waffle.

Our temples may not be palaces or castles and they may not have rococo decorations, but they are Houses of the Lord and we love them.  They are simple, yet elegant.  The Spirit of the Lord is here.  There is such a feeling of peace and love in our temples.  Nothing but what is good and uplifting takes place in our temples.  So happy we got to visit the Stockholm Temple.