We flew into the Stockholm Arlanda airport via Frankfurt, Germany, on Lufthansa airline and used Taxi Stockholm to transfer to the Sheraton. Everything I read ahead of time was very accurate. Multiple taxi companies line up at the airport taxi area. I read that there are some reputable companies and some that will rip people off. We asked the Taxi Stockholm driver if he had a “fixed” fare to the city center. He said, “Yes, 575 Krona.” He switched his meter to the fixed fare and off we went.
The Swedish Krona (SEK) is the currency of Stockholm, but many shops take credit card only. – Paper currency is 20, 50, 100 and 500. Anything under 20 Krona is in coins 1, 5, and 10 At the time of our trip, 100SEK was approximately $10, so a 10K coin was worth about one dollar. We saw only a few shops that had signs in the window saying they accept dollars and euros.
We stayed at the Sheraton Stockholm – Conveniently located within walking distance to many tourist sites and the hop-on-hop-off bus stop.
Since our room was not quite ready, we purchased hop-on-hop-off combo bus & boat tickets to kill a little time and get the lay of the land by taking the bus first.
Then lunch at a restaurant close to the hotel: The Laughing Duck
They put a lime in my Ginger Ale and a lemon in hubby’s Coca Cola. No free refills anywhere in Stockholm like we expect in many US restaurants. I had read online that the water is safe to drink. We had ice in our glasses and no ill effects later.
Stockholm includes many islands. This one is the smallest island, and it only contains one building. We walked past it on our way to Gamla Stan.
Island of Gamla Stan- The city’s “Old Town,” has cobblestone streets, quaint restaurants, cafés, shops, and the Royal Palace.
For Dinner that first evening we went to C&C which promised to serve local game food.
C&C did not disappoint. Hubby had moose meatloaf and I had reindeer steak. Both were delicious.
The little red berries are lingonberries – tart and tasty. The photo above was taken after I had already eaten all of mine!
We popped into this little café on day 2 during a sudden rain shower to enjoy a coffee and pastry and a waffle with strawberries. Yum!
On day two, we ate dinner at Den Gyldene Freden. This is the oldest continuously serving restaurant in the world (since 1772). 
Who could go to Sweden without trying authentic Swedish meatballs at least once? They were served with cucumbers and lingonberries -Delicious!
Nobel Museum – Has information about all the Nobel Prize winners. It also has some displays highlighting some of the winners.
Exterior of City Hall from several angles:
The Blue Room in City Hall: This is the room where the Nobel banquet is held every year. No, it is not blue! The original plan called for the bricks to be painted blue, but the architect loved the look of the hand chiseled brickwork, and decided to leave it like it is.
The room where city council meetings are held:
Below is the hall where weddings are held. Any resident of Stockholm can be married here for free. Outsiders can pay a small fee. They host 60 weddings in this hall every Saturday. The short ceremony is less than a minute and the long ceremony is 3 minutes long!
Royal Palace – 
We entered those doors above, and inside there are stairs to the right and to the left. The left goes up to the ticket office and receiving room.
Today the Royal Apartments were closed to visitors due to a “State Visit,” so we didn’t purchase tickets. We found out the next day that Barak Obama was in town for a conference. News media said he was staying at the Grand Hotel, but perhaps his was the state visit to which they were referring.
The stairs to the right lead to the Royal Chapel. This was free to visit. 
11:45 AM changing of the guard. Upon terrific advice from my sister and brother-in-law who visited the day before, we arrived in the outdoor courtyard about 11:15 and scoped out a spot close to the guard station in the shade. Around 11:25, the soldiers brought out posts and ropes to erect a border to designate a specific viewing area, and we claimed the corner diagonal from the palace. It is important to find a front-row spot for good photos. Soon the crowds lined up 7-8 people deep. 
A very important detail before the changing of the guard ceremony. The horses left little “presents” on the cobblestones. That’s a mighty large pooper scooper!
The band marched in and then the soldiers marched in. I understand that it is usually a mounted parade, but there had just been a rain shower and the skies were threatening another, so I am assuming that is why the soldiers marched in on foot instead. 
Since there was no mounted show, the band came to the front and performed a short concert of popular tunes including “Uptown Funk.”
Riddarholmen Church on the Palace Grounds
On day 2 we used the hop-on-hop-off boat to get to some of the sites we wanted to see.
It dropped off near an amusement park – not enough time or energy for that! We also didn’t have time for the ABBA museum which was nearby, too.
We definitely made time for the Vasa Museum which displays a 17th century warship, the Vasa, that had been in the water for 333 years before it was recovered. Skeletal remains of 11 crew/passengers were discovered and are on display. Also, facial reconstruction was done, and models of those individuals are also on display.
The Vasa museum had gender-neutral bathrooms. Several people, including me, were confused by this. I’m guessing at one time there were separate areas and signage for men and women, but now there is a woman/man sign beside both entrances and men and women stood outside looking confused and looking in both sides trying to decide which way to go. On both sides, there were fully-enclosed stalls with locking doors. Each stall had a toilet. After getting over the confusion and discomfort of seeing men in the restroom area with women, I came to the conclusion that everyone had privacy to “do their business,” and at the very least, this eliminates the gender discrimination of long lines at the ladies’ room. It was an equal opportunity facility.
Skansen – Open Air Museum with over 150 dwellings from all parts of Sweden that were dismantled and reassembled in one area to become a living history museum. People in period dress explain the areas they are in. Below, the Linderog pig is the only native pig breed left in Sweden.
A machine shop:
This interpreter is standing in an “Allotment home,” settled by the nation’s poor during wartime in the 1920’s-40’s. These tiny homes existed before the “tiny home” craze of today, and they came with a small plot of land where the tenants could have a vegetable garden. 
A much larger cottage:
And so much more. The following are some additional random shots at Skansen:
I could have spent several more days in Stockholm and would love to have taken an archipelago boat tour. Fortunately, this was our embarkation city for an Oceania cruise, and we were able to see a lot of the archipelago when sailing out of port toward Tallinn, Estonia.