Coach Walker in Sweden: Semester... Kind of? pt 2 Stockholm

Instead of returning home from Nykoping with the DM team. I decided since i was so close to Stockholm that i would hop on the train and go sightseeing for a couple of days. Stockholm is a relatively old city made up of hundreds of small islands connected together. It is a beautiful city, each Island had its own unique look and vibe. I got there Sunday evening. Found my Hotel and after checking in i walked around downtown looking for a good spot for Dinner. I found a place not too far. A Belgian brewpub that was showing the Euro2012 Soccer Championship. I stopped in there and had a couple different Belgium Beers and a very tasty hamburger. It was a nice night. I met a couple guys who were from the Bay Area and were in Stockholm for a convention. We hung out and watched Spain dominate for their 2nd straight European Champinoship.

The next day I bought a 24 hour hop on hop off bus tour pass and went and checked out the city. I forgot to take my camera so i was using my iPhone for pictures and it went dead and i didn't know the pin # to turn it back on so i only got a handful of photos. I first went to see the Wasa Museum. Everyone that i talked to said that it was a must see and they were right. A very cool place. It is a museum built around this 380 year old ship that had sunk in the Harbor of Stockholm in 1628. It was supposed to be the flag ship of the Swedish Navy and was the biggest and baddest war ship in all of northern Europe at the time. But on its maiden voyage from the Slussen in Stockholm it sank after traveling like 100o meters from shore. The ship sat at the bottom of the sea for 333 years before it was found and brought up in the 1960's. Because it was sitting in a lot of mud and because the salt content is so low that far inland that the ship was almost perfectly persevered over that time. It is 95% completely original.

Next I went to the Royal Palace. I din't take the full tour but it was pretty awesome to see the size and grandeur. Also to see the different royal crowns and jewels was pretty cool. The Royal Palace is on an Island called old town. Which is the historic district of Stockholm. All the streets are very small lined with all kinds of small shops, resturaunts, cafes and tourist traps. I walked around and found a good place to eat lunch then walked past a Glass Shop (Ice Cream Shop that was making their waffle cones in the store window. So i stopped and got a scoop and found a nice cafe to hang out at and people watch.

The next day I went to the Museam of Modern Art. It was cool it had some nice paintings from a lot of the famous Artists, Picasso, Dali, etc. I then hopped on the subway and made my way out to a suburb of Stockholm called Tyreso. Tyreso is the home of one of the best Football teams in Sweden. I had met their Def Cor. at the DM tournament and i asked if I could come by and check out their practice and watch them prepeare for the first round of the playoffs for the Super Series. I am very glad that i went. It was good to see the level of competition that we will be facing next year. to be able to gauge what we need to do from now until next season to be ready to compete against the best of Sweden. the good news is is that i don't think we are too far away. If our guys dedicate themselves in the off-season i think we can compete against the best teams.