Royal Stables and Jamie's Italian with work :D

Two days ago I was invited with work to do some things in Stockholm. First off was a private guided tour of the Royal Stables, which proved very interesting (and the information is potentially something I could use in my writing later). Secondly we went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant in the fancy part of Stockholm, where the food was so delicious I was so full I felt like dying when we left.

At the Royal Stables we started off in the - you guessed it - the stables. The stables have been around since the 16th century apparantly, but the buildings we have today were built in the 19th century. Before the introduction of cars the stables used to have over 200 horses, today there are 16. We were also told that Sweden is one of four states in Europe who still have their Royal Stables, the others have been disbanded in favour of cars. Kind of sad imo. The horses are only used during ceremonies. For everyday transport they have cars like everyone else. One of the horses liked to nibble at people, which he showed immediately by nibbling at the coat of a colleague and when she moved away tried to reach far enough to nibble at the guide. 

 Mr. Nibbles in the left picture.

One portion of the Stables is a garage today, and while we're not showed the modern cars (because they look like any car you see on the street), we were shown the only two old cars left. One from the 50s and one from the 60s. 

Then we moved on to the horse carriages. I immediately recognised the centrepiece of the room :P And we were told stories of all of them. We were also shown an old carriage that are not used today because it has never had any brakes installed. The only brakes for that carriage were the poor horses. It was fairly obvious that it wasn't being used even before we knew the reason - the carriages used today had rubber on their wheels, while the ones who aren't still had the original iron. 

After an amazing fika with delicious muffins we started moving towards the restaurant. But not before we realised that princess Estelle and crown princess Victoria were at the Stables riding. I felt really cool to see them IRL tbh. Since we were 50 minutes early to the restaurant we decided to go to a bar nearby and have a beer before going to the restaurant. When dinner started at 6pm we had no idea what to expect. It started off with a selection of antipasti, which really felt like tapas Italian style. Proscuitto, mortadella, salami, roasted vegetables, buffalo mozzarella, root vegetable salad with yoghurt and mint, and little crackers with cheese and chili marmalade. All of it absolutely amazing. We were then presented with three main courses: carbonara, a vegan pasta dish with tomato sauce and vegan cheese, and a truffle risotto with gorgonzola. The carbonara and the risotto were absolutely amazing. I wasn't a fan of the vegan dish though others liked it, and I forgot to take a picture of the risotto. Then there were a bunch of desserts to try: brownie with caramellised popcorn, cheesecake, triamisu, and another thing which name I've forgotten. All positively delicious. Loved the cheesecake as always, but could've eaten a lot more of the brownie too if it wasn't so thick and I was so full. My plate during the desserts gave me a flashback to Sweets Paradise in Tokyo :P

 And that was the whole evening. We decided to walk to our respective metro stations as well as the central station to ease the pressure of the food. I was home around 10.30pm and immediately sat myself down in front of the computer and played ESO until 4.30am. Oops ^^;