Royal Celebrations, Half Marathons and More This Weekend!

DN Stockholm Half Marathon, photo by Bengt Aronsson

Another busy weekend in Stockholm! To start off with... The annual DN Stockholm Half Marathon will be held on Saturday, September 14th. Over 17,000 runners from all over the world will be running a course set in the streets of the city. The race starts at 3:30pm at Gustav Adolfs Torg and will take runners on 21.1 kilometers through the western parts of Stockholm, including Södermalm where the Rival Hotel is located. In fact, the course runs along the street St Paulsgatan which is adjacent to the hotel. Nice with a little life in the neighbourhood... but this can mean some traffic troubles: no parking and hard for taxis to get to the door. Stick with walking, ferries and subways and you will be fine! This advice goes for the rest of the city as many streets will be closed off. The finish line is the same as the starting point... Gustav Adolfs Torg.

Race course from www.stockholmhalvmarathon.se 

If that wasn't enough... King Carl XVI Gustaf is celebrating 40 years on the Swedish throne this year and this weekend (September 13th to 15th) is the official jubilee celebrations. On Friday an exhibition on the king's 40 years on the throne will open in the Hall of State in the Royal Palace, located in Gamla Stan. The exhibition will run until February 2nd next year, so plenty of opportunities to visit the exhibit if you are coming to Stockholm later this year. Two official events will be held on Saturday evening. First a celebratory dinner, hosted by the government, will be held at the Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet), located on the island of Djurgården, followed by a concert in the Concert Hall (Konserthuset) in the downtown area. What this means for visitors is that the traffic snarls caused by the half marathon in the afternoon will be followed by some minor ones in the evening. But it is not all doom and gloom for visitors... on Sunday the king and City of Stockholm invites the general public to the Royal Palace to celebrate with dance. The festivities start at 3pm and run until 11pm. Music and dancing from around the world (big band, salsa, tango, jazz, folk and more) is the theme with many performances. No entrance fee! There will be a toast for the king at 3pm from the balcony at Lejonsbacken. Click here for a schedule (there is a Google translate option). Otherwise, if you are staying at the Rival Hotel, come talk to me or the Reception for further information.

www.kungahuset.se

And finally... a political demonstration and march planned on Saturday, starting at 1:30pm. They will gather in the park Humlegården and then march to Observatorielunden. Counter demonstrations are planned as well, so it would be best to avoid that area of the city (Norrmalm) during Saturday afternoon.