We got to spend 2 days in Stockholm. Since we had just spent 2 days in Stockholm in June, it was a bit of deja vu. But our friends had never been in Stockholm so we acted as tour guides to the places we liked and thought were interesting. Stockholm is built on islands and there is lots of water in the city. It was a beautiful day with white clouds contrasting with blue skies. On days like this Stockholm is one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
Our first stop was the Vasa museum. The Vasa was a newly constructed war ship that sank on its maiden voyage in August of 1628. The ship builders had told the King that his desire to add a second gun deck to the ship would render the ship unstable. He said to proceed which they did. And of course, they were right. The ship was not stable in the water and it listed enough to take on water and sank in the harbor less than a mile from where it started. In the late 1950s the ship’s location was found and a massive effort to raise it to the surface was started. In 1961 the ship came out of the water and over ensuing years was preserved and moved to its current home in a museum. Preservation and work on the ship continue. It is difficult to take pictures in the museum because of the dim lighting and the sheer size of the subject. In the picture on the left, you get a sense of the size of the ship and the shape it is in. Because the ship was intended to be a statement of Sweden’s power in the world, it was adorned with brightly painted carvings. The picture on the rights are restorations of what some of those carvings would have looked like.
If you are ever in Stockholm, this is a must see.
Our friends were ABBA fans so we took the short walk from the Vasa to the newly opened ABBA museum. For an ABBA fan it is a great museum. Even for a non-Abba fan, it is an interesting trip back to the 1970s and 1980s.
Caroline (blue cat), Mary (gold cat). Suzanne (Blue cat). Katy (blue cat)
Near the end of the museum, you can sing along with some holographically projected images of the group. Here is a short excerpt of Caroline backing up ABBA (Once again that is. While in Sweden in June Caroline sang with ABBA as well). She loves “Dancing Queen!"
After ABBA, we took the water taxi from Grunalund (an amusement park) to Gamla Stan (Old Town). There are some beautiful views of the city as you cross the water.
Gamla Stan dates from medieval times. There are narrow streets, cobblestones, and shops of all kinds. At the top of the hill is the Royal Palace, Storkyrka (large church) and a Nobel Prize museum. We found a very nice restaurant and had a late lunch. After a stroll around the narrow streets, we headed back to the ship.
Gamla Stan