Today was Bill Potter’s birthday and our tour director, Sonia, called for everyone on the bus to sing “Happy Birthday,” which turned out to be more of a monotone rather than the typical multiple-tonal version performed by non-musicians.

Our day started with a tour of City Hall, where the annual Nobel Prize banquet is held in a large space called the Blue Hall. The room is the location of the 2nd largest organ in Stockholm, and although the pipes are not visible, I did take a photo of the console.

I was most impressed by the Golden Room, best known as the location of the ball after the annual Nobel Banquet in the City Hall’s Blue Hall. So much gold!

Our second stop was at the Vasa Museum which exhibits an enormous Viking ship from 1628, which apparently sank soon after sailing. It was formerly decorated with numerous colorful figures which now have been reconstructed and shown separately.

Lunch was on our own in the Old Town — I loved all the colorful buildings!

We then drove to Uppsala, about an hour away, which is known for its university and cathedral. At a small museum, we saw the Silver Bible (Codex Argenteus), a handwritten Gospel book from the 6th century, plus a manuscript fragment of Mozart’s Magic Flute.

I really enjoyed our visit to Uppsala Cathedral, which was consecrated in 1435. If I recall correctly, the Compline Choir from Seattle came here to sing when my husband Carl joined them on tour many years ago. The relics of Saint Erik and Saint Birgitta, patron saints of Scandinavia, are kept in the Cathedral.

Bill Potter and I ended our day by taking the metro back to Uppenbarelsekyrkan to hear a free organ recital by Björn Gäfvert, organist at the Ordförande Drottningholms Barockensemble and Immanuelskyrkan Stockholm. My opinion about the Gerhard Grenzing organ as being a sensitively voiced, colorful instrument was only reinforced by the concert of the music of Louis Marchand, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Christian Bach, J. S. Bach, and Claude Balbastre (although we were late getting to the concert and missed the opening Marchand piece.)

One of the most exciting parts of the concert was when the organist yelled in a loud voice, “CANNON!” and approximated the sound of a cannon, thunder and lightning by pulling all the reeds and (we think) throwing his elbows on the keyboard in a moment of loud cacophony. It was GREAT!