Free Tour Stockholm - City

28 July 2017

I joined the last guided tour provided by Free Tour Stockholm. My first was their guided tour in Sodermalm and the second was in Gamla Stan. I got the same guide for the first two. The third and last tour was a different guide. He is not a local Swede but he does know a lot about the city. Yes, the last guided tour is in the heart of Stockholm - the city itself. 

We met in front of T-Centralen train station. The walk ended in Kungstradgarden and you can see our group in the last photo. It was a large group!

Here, I found out that there are 4 H&M stores in the same location which are sort of opposite to one another but they sell different stuff in each store. I remembered one is for clothes and the other is for home stuff. Plus, the Headquarters is located here too. If you are not aware yet, H&M is a Swedish brand. I did not know till I came to Sweden. I always thought it was a Hong Kong brand. 

Found ourselves in front of Haymarket building. It is called Hötorget in Swedish. Pronounced as her-tor-yet. During the daytime, you can find a fruit and vegetable market in the main square, and a flea market on Sundays. Opposite the Haymarket building is Stockholm Concert Hall. 

This is the expensive street of Stockholm. I have only been here once and that is with the guided tour. I don't think I will find myself walking on this street anytime soon.

We gathered in front of the building where the 1973 Normalmstorg robbery took place that started the phrase - Stockholm Syndrome. 

Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. These feelings, resulting from a bond formed between captor and captives during intimate time spent together, are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims. Generally speaking, Stockholm syndrome consists of "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other." 

It was formally named in 1973 when four hostages were taken during a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. The hostages defended their captors after being released and would not agree to testify in court against them. Stockholm syndrome is ostensibly paradoxical because the sympathetic sentiments captives feel towards their captors are the opposite of the fear and disdain an onlooker may feel towards the captors. Source from Wikipedia.