August 18, 2013 

We spent 5 full days in Stockholm Sweden.  Stockholm is very clean, quite prosperous and extraordinarily beautiful.  It is built on 16 islands so there is water everywhere you look and boats of all kinds.  It is a flat city so we walked every place. All Swedes are taught English from the first grade on so language was not a problem. We arrived during the Stockholm Culture Festival and the Stockholm Youth Festival, called “We are Stockholm”.  These festivals offered a wide variety of musical entertainment free for adults and teens in the city parks and streets for 5 days. Rita and I got kicked out of a concert for 13 to 19 year olds.  We failed to notice the age limit sign in Swedish.  But we did get to see the Pointer Sisters who performed for the adult festival.  They are 65 and 67 years old and still put on a rocking show, they have a granddaughter that performs with them to make it three. It was really strange being at a concert where everyone rocked to the music, but did not really sing along because we guessed the Swedes did not really know the words to the hits from the 70’s and 80’s.  Rita and I were not big fans of the Pointer Sisters, but we had forgotten how many hit songs they really had.  Do you know “Jump”, I Want A Lover With A “Slow Hand”, “I’m So Excited” and “Neutron Dance’?  NOT!!!  WE DID!!! and almost word for word!! Definitely for the older crowd.  By the way, the concert started at midnight and it was packed!  Our visit to Stockholm was laid back.  It was not about seeing sights as much as it was about experiencing the Swedish culture and people.  So, we did not visit churches, fountains, museums and significant monuments and buildings. Instead we observed the Swedes from park benches, outdoor cafes and restaurants, walked through their shopping centers, and enjoyed the marvelous Swedish modern and contemporary designs for everything from furniture, home furnishings, and architecture to fabrics. It was quite nice to hang back and smell the roses casually for a few days.  

Norm and Rita 

Stockholm, Sweden  – Art, Islands, Old and New Architecture, We are Stockholm, and the Stockholm Culture Festival!

Not sure what this was?

Grand Hotel allowed for some great viewing of the harbor.

Harbor view

Another view from our room.

We walked across this to get to another island.

This is another island.

This island had the amusement park on it.

Beautiful old architecture here.

Typical city street.

Did a lot of boat watching, too.

Part of the Stockholm Culture Festival!

Of course, Rita had to try it!! Felt like Lily Tomlin for a minute!!

Look what Rita found as we were walking the old town!! Best quote ever!

First concert on our first day. We have no idea who these girls are, but they all wore big black hats that reminded us of coneheads!

Ahh.. and YES, the Pointer Sisters. Boy did they Rock! They are just amazing and at their age, can’t believe they still do these tours.