Rock of Gibraltar

#RockOfGibraltar
Its a massive limestone monolith 
that rises over 400 meters (1400 feet) above the Mediterranean Sea
 It is still a British territory that has an unique history as you will see and read

 

The Neanderthals
A skull was found in 1848 at the Forbes Quarry almost a decade before the famous discovery
at the German Neander Valley location
With that, scientists believe the cave complex here on Gibraltar was one of the very last places
Neanderthals lived on Earth before going extinct

More Tunnels Than Roads
They were built for the wars and carved out during two major historical events
The Great Siege in the late 1700s and the large expansion during the Second World War, which at its peak sheltered up to 30,000 soldiers underground within the caves

Greek Mythology
The Rock was considered one of the two Pillars of Hercules, with the other being
a mountain in nearby Morocco.
Sailors truly believed it marked the absolute edge of the known world to them and they would just
disappear into an abyss if crossing past this "gate"

Barbary Macaques 
They are the only free-roaming wild monkey population located in Europe

UK Connections
A) The English Legend; a local superstition says if they ever leave or die out, the British rule
 over Gibraltar would end
B) Winston Churchill Rescue Mission; during the Second World War the Prime Minister was so worried about the dwindling monkey population, that he ordered new macaques to be flown in from Morocco to boost the population
C) Military Health; they were officially cared for by the British Army, with one officer that was assigned to oversee their diets and to treat any sick or injured at the Royal Naval Hospital

St Michaels 
It was once thought to be a bottomless pit or an underground tunnel to Africa, with its largest chamber called the Cathedral Cave
It now hosts music, ballet and drama events thanks to its amazing acoustics plus of course
 the very unique setting

Early History
A) Gates to Hell; the ancient Greeks believed the deep and dark openings were the entrance
to the underworld
B) Military Use; workers prepared the site to be used as an emergency hospital during the Second World War, but it was not needed
C) Discovery; engineers accidentally found a lower cave in 1942 while doing some military blasting.
This hidden chamber had been completely sealed off from the outside world
for over 20,000 years

Gibraltar International Airport
It has a public road (Winston Churchill Avenue) that intersects directly with the runway

Fun Facts
A) World War Origins; built in 1939 by the military, the airfield was constructed on a narrow isthmus from the Bay of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean Sea
B) The Intersection; traffic lights and railway-style barriers would stop cars and pedestrians every time a plane was landing or taking off
C) Kingsway Tunnel; an underground passage opened in 2023 to divert regular traffic beneath the runway. But people and cyclists still cross the active tarmac, making it the only airport runway you can legally stroll across

Pilot Skills
Because the airport is flanked by the massive 426 meter-high (1400 feet) Rock of Gibraltar, it creates intense crosswinds and tricky landing conditions. Add in the fact that its a short 1829 meter (6000 feet)  runway surrounded by water, the aviator needs to be on top of his/her game when landing here

John & Yoko
They initially tried to get married in Paris but faced a strict legal roadblock.
As most European countries required several weeks of residency, before any vows can take place

British Overseas Territory
A rep from the Beatles record company Apple discovered that if a person is a citizen from England, you could marry on very short notice here
So get yourself a chartered plane, have a brief ten minute ceremony and all of this gives you the end result; a newlywed couple 

Lunenburg NS Canada & its American Prohibition History

#LunenburgNSCanada_AmericanProhibitionHistory

Lunenburg Inn
Once known as the Hillside Hotel, this town and boardinghouse (located in my Province of Nova Scotia) became the epicenter of the lucrative rum running trade to the United States during its Prohibition era
As rumor has it, some of the high profile guests included Joseph P. Kennedy, who was for sure connected to the liquor trade during the 1920s to 1936
But please keep reading and you can make up your own decisions if he was ever a guest, as i send out the facts during my investigation of this time in Lunenburg

Rail Connection
The hotel opened in 1924 by Sophia Hamm, a smart business move as the Inn sat directly adjacent to the train station in Lunenburg
This made it ideal for all the travelers, traders and figures connected to this black market 

Smuggling Industry
By 1925 half the areas fishing fleet had repurposed their vessels into sleek, fast sailing ships to carry the illegal booze to the awaiting Mob controlled boats off the coast of New Jersey and New York

For a more detailed explanation on how this all worked, go to my previous writing on this subject #LasVegasHowardHughes_NovaScotia_TheMob 

Today; Rum Runners Trail
The railway line is long gone that was used to transport some of the booze from Halifax to here,
but you can hike or bike the 120km (65 miles) and then let your imagination run wild of those times

Joe Kennedy
When i was in Lunenburg to research this subject, i sought out some of the "old guard: of the area to ask if it was true
But who knows if time has clouded their memories or like a fishing tale that the story
 gets embellished jajaja, there was no clarity to be found

Bootlegging Myth
There is no evidence according to biographers and historians of his connection to the
 illegal  trade of alcohol 
 Personally he drank very little and famously offered his sons cash rewards to avoid partaking until they reached the age of 21
The Mob boasting of working with Kennedy, this has come down to post facto story telling or confusion with other liquor merchants with the same name

Post Prohibition Success
With a legitimate business move, just before the ban was lifted he used his connections to secure exclusive US import rights for major brands like Dewar Scotch and Gordons Gin
Then he headed Somerset Importers which positioned himself with massive stockpiles of product and then was legally ready to sell the moment the 21st Amendment was ratified
The payoff was a decade later when he sold his stake for millions, this was what laid the financial foundation for the Kennedy family fortune for the next generation

American & Canadian Prohibition

The biggest difference between the two countries was how the laws were enacted and enforced
The United States implemented a very strict and nationwide constitutional ban on the manufacturing, sale and transport of alcohol under the 18th Amendment
In Canada it was decentralized and managed by each Province, this had many legal loopholes
 that was abused
It allowed breweries and distilleries to continue manufacturing alcohol for export, so the
US market became an economic windfall for the bootleggers

History
The ban lasted in America for thirteen years (1920 - 1933) while in Canada it was basically a wartime sacrifice when most of the Provinces went dry (1916 -1917)
 Then the citizens grew tired of it quickly and repealed the bans in the 1920s, just as the
US Prohibition era was reaching its peak 

Fun Facts
The Province of Quebec rejected a full prohibition ban from the beginning, yes restricting hard liquor but allowing beer and wine
On the other end of the spectrum, Prince Edward Island stayed dry from 1901 to 1948 😐

Ship Building
The area was famous in its construction on the Bluenose Schooner (on the Canadian 10 cent coin)
that dominated International racing during the 1920s to 1930s
But its less law abiding sister ships were making history of a different kind, as the local boatyards made ultra fast vessels for the illegal trade
Even sometimes mounting high powered airplane engines to outrun the
 US Coast Guard Cutters

The Famous Im Alone Schooner

Mob Ship
New York gangster Jamie Clark showed up in Lunenburg with $18,000 in cash and bought the ship Then he setup a fake Canadian shell corporation called the
 Eastern Seaboard Steamship Agencies Ltd,
this was to register the vessel under the British Union Jack to evade the American authorities 

Captain Jack Randell
He was a highly decorated First World War naval hero from the next Province over of Newfoundland
Known for his swaggering style, often wearing silk dress shirts, dinner jackets and even top hats
while out at sea
 He certainly fit the bill for this dangerous lifestyle

The Vessel
 It was legendary, a 125 foot ship that was painted black for a stealth look and was equipped with powerful twin diesel engines
It also had a high tech radio to intercept US Coast Guard messages and even an antique wax seal press to forge official documents to make it look like they were
 transporting regular cargo 

March 1929
US Coast Guard cutter Wolcott spotted the ship off the coast of Louisiana
Captain Randell refused to pull over and even brandished a revolver at the American officers
This resulted in a two day pursuit into International waters
A second US cutter the Dexter joined the chase and then intentionally gunned down the Im Alone by shelling the hull until it sank

Imprisonment
The Captain and his seven crew members were brought to New Orleans where they were jailed and formally charged with violating the Volstead Act (Prohibition) 
A few problems emerged though, the city was widely considered "wet" and strongly opposed the ban so considered Randell as a captive hero
Then because they were arrested 320 kms (200 miles) off the American coast, this was well outside the US legal jurisdiction and so the charges were dropped almost immediately

The Aftermath
Canada sued the United States for its International law violations, but in a plot twisting moment an American codebreaker proved that the ship was actually owned by the US Mob
This drastically reduced the fines that the Americans had to pay to the Captain and also the widow of the deceased crewman 
Finally an apology was issued between the two countries and Randell returned immediately to his
life at sea, until his failing health forced him into retirement in 1941 and unfortunately 
  died three years later

In Song
Because of the epic two day high seas chase, Canadian folk musician Wade Hemsworth wrote a popular ballad about this saga 
The Sinking of the Im Alone 

MacIsaac House of Lunenburg
This a classic American Four Square design  but do not let the "normal" layout fool you
Typically the doors and windows were frequently altered or hidden to hide their
 liquid gold from authorities.
Local folklore says the identical front and rear doors were built to confuse the devil, but it sure came in handy when the liquor inspectors showed up looking for the escape routes plus the concealed alcohol

Why it Ended
A) The Great Depression; following the stock market crash the US government desperately needed the tax revenues and also to create the jobs that the legalized alcohol industry would provide
B) Rise in Crime; banning alcohol did not stop the consumption and instead created a violent underground economy ruled by mobsters and bootleggers
C) Enforcement Nightmare; the Feds lacked the funding and personal required to police the thousands of kilometers (miles) of borders and the countless illegal speakeasies

21st Amendment
With the repealing of the 18th Amendment, it became the first and only in American history to be completely overturned
After the federal ban it returned alcohol regulation directly to each state, which some chose to remain dry for decades (Kansas 1948, Oklahoma 1959 and Mississippi was the last holdout 1966)
and with numerous "alcohol free" counties that still exist today 

Famous Characters
With any "grey period" of history you come across some truly interesting stories

Hugh Corkum
His story started uneventfully as school dropout, onto a highly successful adult rum runner who dodged machine gun fire and the American authorities on the high seas, then decades later went completely straight and served at the Chief of Police for the Town of Lunenburg
You can read his autobiography; On Both Sides of the Law

Captain Edwin Backman
He was a master mariner from a local family here who would sail salt cod down to Bermuda, then return with rum for the Eastern Seaboard of the USA which earned him a massive fortune

John "Machine Gun" Kelly
Was a Canadian customs and excise enforcement officer who patrolled the Nova Scotia waterways.
He got his nickname by mounting a machine gun onto his boat deck and famously opened fire
on a fleet of small vessels unloading barrels of rum off nearby LaHave Bank,
resulting in the death of one smuggler

Colors Matter
As we move to the end of this story, time for "i did not know that" 😀

 Why a lot of small boats are painted red
Historically wooden hulls suffered from biofouling caused by barnacles, algae,
 and wood boring shipworms
The early shell-coating paints used cooper oxide as a biocide to repel these organisms, thus the chemical compound naturally dyed the paint into a reddish brown color
Also bright red creates a stark contrast against the water, allowing mariners to quickly gauge the boats load line and its stability

Lunenburg with its Famous Son the Bluenose11

As we leave from the black and white era of the1920s / 1930s, what better way to sail off but in
full color of this UNESCO  World Heritage Site
Not because of its rum running history, but its the best surviving example of a planned British
colonial settlement in North America

Full Circle 
After the original Bluenose sank off the coast of Haiti in 1946, the Oland Brewery Company of Halifax (who made lots of money during the Prohibition Era) built the newest version in 1963
 Then sold it to the Nova Scotian government (for a token $1.00) which is now our sailing ambassador sharing our maritime history and culture around the world

Japanese Friendship Gardens & Balboa Park

#JapaneseFriendshipGardens_BalboaPark

Located in the southeastern portion of Balboa Park, the original "Teahouse" was built during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition
The modern gardens opened in 1991 and is a 12 acre living work of art to honor the sister
city of Yokohama 
The formal name is "San-Kei-En" which translates to Three Scene Garden and represents the
classic landscapes of water, pastoral and mountain

Koi 
One of the large ponds i found here of these highly prized species
To help support the non-profit museum here, visitors can actually "adopt" 
 one of individual residents of this fish family

Interesting Facts
A) Intelligence; they can distinguish their caretakers face and voice from other
strangers nearby
B) Feeding; with training they can swim up and eat out of your hand
C) Lifespans; can frequently outlive their owners (30 to 50 on average up to an unbelievable 200 years) and then are passed down through the next generations in Japan
D) Sunburn; Koi have sensitive skin, so require deep water or lily pads for shade
E) Winters; they drop their metabolism to a very low level during the freezing temperature season, then they can safely rest at the bottom of the frozen pond

Pathways
They are intentionally crooked as in Japanese folklore the evil spirits can only travel in straight lines, thus with winding paths you can leave them behind you

 "Miejakure"
This is a technique used on the trails to block the views intentionally of the waterfalls, structures and bridges, then are suddenly revealed as you approach them to encourage a slow and thoughtful exploration in your mind
 This creates the anticipation of what is next to see to stimulate your senses

Shishi-Odoshi Fountain
Look for the bamboo water pipes on the path, it is designed to make a rhythmic clapping sound against the rocks to safely scare away any wildlife

Exhibit Hall
It showcases frequently changing selections of traditional plus contemporary
 Japanese art

The Beginnings of the Park

Dr Harry Wegeforth was an orthopedic surgeon who by chance was attending the 1915
Panama-California Exposition and heard a lions roar
 (the fair was here to promote San Diego as the first US port of call for the merchant ships
 that would be travelling north, with the opening of the Panama Canal)

So after hearing from the King of Beasts, it became an inspiration which inturn made him form the Zoological Society of San Diego in 1916 along with some other local doctors and a naturalist
He overcame public skepticism plus funding shortages through sheer persistence, wearing many hats from acting as a manager, animal trader and a planner

Medical Contributions
He also applied his knowledge in his field to build the first animal hospital at the zoo,
 and also a research facility to help take care of our "fur babies"

Early Years
I am greeted as i enter by some Spanish Colonial buildings that were constructed
during the 1915 Exposition
The original name was City Park before they honored the explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa
with his namesake

Today
The area now is over 1200 acres located in the heart of San Diego and is one of the oldest
public recreational spaces in the United States

Second World War
The park was used as a hospital with beds put inside the Art Museum and the Lily Pond
that was used as a rehab pool

Kate Sessions
She is known as "The Mother of the Park" with her planting of a 100 trees annually in exchange
for a nursey space
 Where she introduced jacarandas, bird of paradise flowers and also eucalyptus trees that are grown for the resident Koalas
In total, there are twenty five distinct gardens for everyone to enjoy

The First Residents
 Theey were from the Exposition when the fair closed down, so basically abandoned and now houses over 12,000 animals spread over 100 acres

Trend Setter
Why i like this particular zoo (as i am not a fan of the traditional setup) it was among the first to feature open-air and bar-less enclosures
So now you can see everything from the polar bears that are doing a deep underwater plunge (through viewing windows) or the century old tortoises that have seen generations of park
 visitors staring at them

The Bird Stars
During the 1915 Exposition there were thousands of pigeons introduced here to mimic the
 European public squares, so they became the main attraction
 For the visiting world dignitaries, they became part of the show and were required to feed them 

Today there over three hundred bird species at the park (with no feeding that is allowed)
and are here for you to just enjoy these magnificent creatures from multiple viewing platforms

Ken Allen
Named after the zookeeper Ken Willingham and security officer Ben Allen who rescued him as
an infant, after his mother tried to smother him 😢

Escapes
It started in the 1980s with him slipping out of his supposedly escape proof exhibit multiple times, but instead of causing panic he would calmy walk along the zoo pathways
From his freedom, he would just look at other animals and interact peacefully with astonished tourists
But the one pivot, he did not like a fellow orangutan named Otis and would toss some
rocks at him jajajjaja

 How it Happened
He learned to unscrew the bolts, screws etc with his fingers, all things he learned at a young age
 Then the zoo would spend thousands of dollars on professional rock climbers and engineers to inspect his exhibit, install electric wires and other measures to stop the escapes
 Ken Allen always found new structural weaknesses to slip past, thus the legend of Hairy Houdini
grew and it even created his own world wide fan club

Appreciation
Instead of the zoo viewing him as a nuisance;
 it celebrated his high level of problem solving skillset and with an added bonus of his exploits,
it changed how humans understood the great ape intelligence 

Skyfari Aerial Tram
It opened in 1969 and it will carry you 13 meters (40 feet) above the park going east to west, plus has eighty gondola cars with great angles for all you photographers

KeyTip;
The ride is included in your standard zoo entry fee, they are stroller friendly
and the west station (near the polar bears) generally has the shorter lineups than the
main entrance station

G16 Model Train
Been in service since 1948, which is at 1/5 scale of a real streamliner locomotive
With the prices that cover ages 1-99, i would say that would include everyone 😂

Model Railroad Museum
Located in the basement of the Casa de Balboa building, it is the largest indoor model railroad museum in North America covering nearly half the size of a football field

Fun Facts
A) World Fair Roots; starting in 1935 railway companies would use model exhibits to encourage
 train travel during the Great Depression
B) Drive-In Movies; look for the actually screening of Gone with the Wind on the
working interactive features
C) Burning Building; search for the tiny building that is permanently on fire, complete with
the responding firefighters
D) Hidden Surprises; have a keen eye to see a man walking his dinosaur and a shark swimming
 in a backyard pool
E) To Simulate; every tiny tie and rail on the tracks was spiked by hand to mimic the real
railway construction

 Rocket Chemical Company
The original location was near Balboa Park and as i leave the area i needed to finish this writing with what the heck is he talking about and how this is a connection

Well as i have always said;
 When You Think Different......You Find Different

WD-40
It stands for Water Displacement which took 40 tries to get the formula correct with the removal of the moisture and preventing rust, hence the name
It was first used in the commercial field within the aerospace industry, but after workers would "smuggle" a few cans for home use
So the founder realized he was onto something here and put the solvent into spray cans, launching it onto retail shelves in San Diego (1958)
Trade Secret
In a smart move the company never patented the formula, thus to protect its ingredients

Okay my work is done here and as you gather, no connection to the park but a great
I Did Not Know That Segment  😎

Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal Waterway

#FortLauderdaleIntraCoastalWaterway

Here i am entering a section of this famous man-made waterway nicknamed the "Venice of America" 
 This portion is by far the most scenic and extravagant part of the 4,500 km (2,800 mile) route in my humble opinion, hence the blog
One example why, in Italy there are only 42kms (26 miles) of canals and here it has over 480kms
(300 miles) of navigable inland channels to explore

School is in Session 😂
This is a common mistake and why you are reading my travel blog(s) to learn, or so i hope
Most spell it as "Intercoastal" Waterway
"Inter" is used when travelling between different countries
"Intra" when motoring within the inland waters of a single country

Water Garages
Most neighborhoods are designed so residents can park their boats at
 their backyard docks

Hells Kitchen
I have had sailing friends who have done the Florida Fort Lauderdale Boat Show (to purchase)
then navigate it up to New York, via the Hudson River as a journey

Fun Fact
Legend has it that the New York neighborhood earned its name Hell in 1881
 First from a reporter to describe the crime ridden area, then when a local policeman told
 his rookie partner
"Hell is a mild climate, This is Hells Kitchen"

History
The waterway was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1900s, first to protect the American cargo and military ships from the open ocean storms
But also from the German U Boats that were patrolling along the Atlantic coast

First World War
Only four U-Boats crossed the Atlantic to raid coastal shipping,
 but they sank over two hundred US vessels 

Second World War & Canada
The U-Boats were engaged in an unrestricted warfare along the entire East Coast of North America
In the 1942 they entered the inland waterway of the St Lawrence River
 where than sank twenty one ships
My City of Halifax would anchor submarine nets to either side of Georges Island to protect its
harbor from attack 
( for more of this story #GeorgesIslandHalifaxCanada)

Gulf of Mexico
Over fifty six  American merchant ships were sent to the bottom in this body of water, plus another
 thirty nine off the coast of Texas and Louisiana

So you can see the importance of making this waterway route during these
 turbulent times

Canal Transportation
With many stops along the route, the local Water Taxi is also a great way to tour the area at
 a very reasonable cost

Bonus
Unlike standard public transit, they allow you to purchase and enjoy alcoholic beverages onboard,
 while you see how the "Other Half Lives" 😎

Water Traffic Jam
The city has over 50,000 registered boats plus large vessels and also is home to 2,000 mega-yachts,
so easy to see why we are "backed up" 
There is an App called the Marine Traffic Live Ship Map to track movements, especially around the causeway spans which are needed to operate for the "normal" automobile flow

 The Bridges
They stay closed during peak times of 7.30 - 8.30am and 4.30 - 5.30pm
  With the remaining prime hours, only opens on the top of the clock
  Exceptions are made for law enforcement, vessels in distress or tugboats with tows 

Millionaire Row
Passing many of the huge mansions as i leave, with the estimated value of between $15 to $100 million just for the property and not including the mega yachts parked nearby

Peanut Island
It is a laid back 1 to 3 hour sail for most 70kms (40 miles)
For me, who is watching time jajajajja so longer

 Early History
The island was completely man-made from the dirt dredged during the construction for the port of nearby Palm Beach, with the plan to use it as a shipping terminal for peanut oil
It is only accessible by water and so no cars are allowed on the island, which is refreshing

JFK Secret Bunker
Because he wintered in nearby Palm Beach, the government built a subterranean blast shelter here in 1961 in case of a nuclear attack.
Unfortunately its been closed since 2017 due to safety concerns, with plans to
 restore the facility 

Today
The area underwent a huge $13 million renovation in 2005 to transform it into the public park,
 which decades later is for all to enjoy

Pizza
Hey traveling and writing gets you hungry, so ordered a pie to be delivered on / from the water,
what better way to close out this latest chapter of this adventure

Royal National Park Stockholm

#RoyalNationalParkStockholm
It is the worlds first national urban park that was established in 1995 and the locals
call it Ekoparken (Eco-Park)

Four Legged Lawnmowers
During the summer months the city deploys two active herds of sheep to graze on the grounds
as being natural landscapers, who for sure are eco-friendly 😃

Other Wildlife
Its possible to see wild deer, hares, foxes and even moose just a short distance from the downtown area
Add in over 800 types of flowering plants, 100s of bird species and you have yourself
 a biophilia paradise

 

 Hagaparken 
King Gustav was fascinated by the diverse global architectural styles when he traveled.
So as you walk through the Haga Park section you will see unexpected structures that he
witnessed, then had built

Nordiska Museet
The Nordic Museum is of a staggering scale that has 1.5 million physical objects and
 6 million photographs all documenting their lifestyle over the past 500 years

Quirky Traditions
A) Gavie Goat; a large straw replica (13 meters or 42 feet tall) is built for good luck on the upcoming harvest and it is also tied to the Norse myth of the God of Thor, whose chariot was pulled by goats

B) Wife Carrying; this competition has the men race through an obstacle course carrying their spouse, with the winning prize being the weight of their wife given in beer

C) The 13 Yule Lads; instead of a single Santa Claus, there are thirteen troll like brothers who visit children over the same amount of nights as the number of helpers leading up to Christmas

Alcohol Currency
Centuries ago on the southern island portion of the park, if a citizen wanted to lease land from the
 King the rent was 60 barrels of barley
This was because during these times clean drinking water was scarce, so a safer weak beer was a
daily staple for all the social classes in this area

Royal National Park
Its eight times the size of Central Park Manhattan
 The $7.39 million it spent to purchase and to create it is about the same as what
 the United States paid for Alaska

NYC Moving Dirt
Its completely man-made; every lake, valley and forest was shaped by human hands.
 Also the original soil was too sterile to support any planned greenery, so the city had to haul in over 18,000 cubic yards of fertile topsoil from New Jersey just to plant its first 20,000 trees

Curved Walkways
The park purposely designed it with winding paths to force the city dwellers to slow down
 and enjoy the nature
The Central Park Mall (not a shopping center, but a wide and scenic pedestrian promenade) has the only intentionally straight route here, it was built this way for the wealthy New Yorkers to stroll on and most importantly for them was to be seen

Green Lung
The park is strictly protected under the Swedish Environmental Code which by law, no new buildings
 or developments are allowed

Snickargladje
Or Carpenters Joy as its known, these homes feature detailed wood carvings, ornate verandas
 and gingerbread trims
It was all built this way in the 1860s as a status symbol for the wealthy city dwellers 

Royal Contracts
Many of these grand private villas sit on land leased directly from the Royal Administration to  
their family members, close friends and the wealthy elite

Generational Wealth
These homes are still inhabited by the exact same prominent Swedish families who originally built
them many generations ago 

Rules
Because the area was designated a National City Park, the estate owners are bound by the strict laws which means no new developments or modern alterations
This keeps the structures precisely looking the way they did over 100 years ago 

Some Fun Facts of the Four Palaces Located Here

Ulriksdal; it had a "magic table" that could be lowered completely to the basement kitchen,
then raised again so the Royals could eat without any servants present
This gave them total privacy for their secret conversations

Rosendal; look for the nine tons of solid porphyry stone carved into a monumental urn, it took the
local craftsmen several years to finish this project

Gustav Pavilion; the King used this summer palace for his art and theater projects.
Nearby spot the solid Copper Tents, they were built to
 house the royal guards

 

Haga Palace
The structure was modeled after the classic Italian villas that the royal family admired during their travels and today it serves today as the official private residence of the Crown Princess Victoria. 

The Skanska 
This is the legendary open-air museum that was founded in 1891 and is the
 worlds oldest

Real Buildings
Rather than putting up replicas, the founder Artur Hazelius purchased around 150 genuine historic houses, farmsteads and workshops from all over the country
They were dismantled, shipped to Stockholm and reassembled on-site

Living History
Look for the interpreters dressed in period correct costumes, then listen to him/her explain and watch the glass-blowers, silversmiths, bakers and tanners work their skills

1912 Olympic Site

Historic Firsts
A) The Electronic Era; the first games to use automatic timing clocks and photo finish
camera system for the track events
B) Five Continents; athletes from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania all competed in the same Olympic Games
C) Art as a Sport; medals were awarded in architecture, literature, music, painting
and sculpture
D) Gold Medals; it was the last to be 100%, as the next games were primarily made up of silver and plated with a thin layer of gold

Legendary Jim Thorpe
His dominance showed when he won both the pentathlon and decathlon, prompting King Gustav to
call him the "greatest athlete in the world"
He was stripped of his medals later, as he had played professional baseball (his pay was room and board) but his Olympic medals were later fully restored
Unfortunately it was after he had passed, so awarded posthumously 

Five Decade Marathon
Japanese runner Shiso Kanakuri lost consciousness from the heat during the race and was cared for by a local farming family. 
After getting better, he was embarrassed by not being able to accomplish his goal,
so quietly he returned to Japan without notifying any Olympic officials

Ultimately Achieved
Then in 1967 a Swedish television station tracked him down and invited him back to finish the course
When he crossed the line, the final time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes
and 20.3 seconds