Thursday, July 19, 2018

Riddarholmen, Stockholm, Sweden



Someone, fishducky perhaps (?), sent this pictures to me last year. I posted it to my blog as a draft and never revisited it.  I thought it was so beautiful and I'm glad I found it again. 

That paragraph pretty much describes my lack of blogging initiative during the past year. Life provides us with one thing after another, some good, some not so good. A lot was accomplished here during the year. The home renovations went, for the most part, very well. As home renovations always are, they were noisy and took time. Somehow, all of that, combined with two falls, one where I hit my head, one kidney infection, one cold from hell, and one bad case of bronchitis, may explain my lack of motivation. 

And, as always, going on in the background of my life, my Type 1 diabetes, which makes even the slightest little cold just so much worse. 

But something very good has happened with my diabetes: I now have a continuous glucose monitoring system. It's helping me feel better and I will devote a future post to what it is and what it's doing for me. Feeling better is the main thing though. 

So now I'm ready to post to my blog again. I'm not sure where this will take me. I have my new camera and I want to learn it and use it. I would love to drive around again, like I used to do, and just take pictures, write a few things and post here. That was so much fun.

Oh, about the picture: Riddarholmen translates to Knights' Islet. It's part of Gamla Stan (Old Town, Stockholm) and houses many private palaces dating back to the 17th century, the old Parliament Building, the old National Archive, as well as a statue of Birger Jarl, who is considered to be the founder of Stockholm.

Some of the old palaces are now used by Swedish Government Agencies and courts, including the Supreme Court.

The church, Riddarholms kyrkan, dates back to the Middle Ages, and is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm. Until 1950, it was used as a burial place for Swedish monarchs and nobility.  

Earlier history, according to Wikipedia, and according to the Erik Chronicles from around 1325, the islet's was known as Kid Skerry or Kidaskaer in Swedish, indicating it may have been a place where goats were raised. King Magnus Ladulas (yes, I do remember him from school) 1240-1290, built a Greyfriers monastery there and the islet's name was changed to Grey Monks Islet. The monastery was closed after the Protestant Reformation and the islet became Riddarholmen, Knights' Islet. 







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