May 5, 2018
Quick 3hr direct flight from Dubrovnik to Stockholm. We passed over thousands of islands on the approach to the airport here. Seems we are to experience spring all over again. As in Innsbruck a few weeks ago, the trees are blooming and the daffodils are up. Our host has placed many vases of tulips in our extremely large flat. We have very high ceilings and windows with lots of terrific details. We have a French double window that opens to the street below for some views.
The city seems to be of a singular mostly 6-7 story high buildings. We walked some to get provisions and found a bit of the waterfront that we will explore more. We’ve been told to see at least a few of the sites here, the museum, the blooming cherry trees (10 or so!) and visit the island of Skansen and the gardens, and the Vasa Museum, a salvaged ship from the 17th century.
May 6, 2018
We wandered out of this beautiful flat, in an 1886 building!! And were surprised to look to our left, at the next intersection and see horses!! Then it turned out to be a lot of horses. Seems every Sunday, and more frequently in the high season, there’s a changing of the guard at the old palace in the old city. We are about a mile from there, and it turns out, near the horse barns and the Calvary corps. There was a lead group that actually had a mounted band. The drummer had 2 large drums on either side of him and he guides the horse with his feet. The horn players play with one hand and hold the reins with the other.
Behind the band is a larger group of mounted soldiers, men and women, with bright and shiny helmets, and bright blue uniform and beautifully shined riding boots. The each had a scabbard mounted on the left side of the saddle, and the carried the sword upright on their right shoulder. They too held the reins with only their left hand.
We followed the “parade” to the old palace. Unfortunately I was unable to catch up and get ahead of the band to get some good photos. We waited for the ceremonies to end at the palace and I got a few shots as they mounted band departed. It was a fun and unexpected treat to “be there at the right time”.
We then got some lunch – a fabulous “fish” plate for two – herring, shrimp, salmon, and cheese and garlic bread. What a treat!!!
We found a place to buy our 72 hour metro card and took the ferry across a small portion of the harbor to see a nice part of the waterfront. We had hoped to see the Vasa Museum but arrived, after dawdling and looking at boats!, too late to enjoy the museum. We’ll have to come back tomorrow. We wandered farther and caught 2 buses to take the long and scenic trip back to the flat. We stopped for some munchies for dinner – more herring!!! This to go with the left over smoked salmon and other fish things from last night.
May 7, 2018
Today was another slow starting day. We at not good at being tourists – we prefer to have breakfast and start the day around noon. Only that leaves you with not much time to see the sites, and when you have only a couple of days, you don’t see much. I’m beginning to think we need to make our minimum stay 4 nights and not 3. We missed seeing something today as it was after 4, and it closed at 5. And we don’t have tomorrow to come back to try again as we are off at 10:20 for a train to Copenhagen. Looking forward to the scenery!
As we left our lovely building today we again saw the Calvary horses headed across the boulevard we are on. During the week the changing of the guard, during the high season which started 2 weeks ago, is every day at 12:15. On Sunday’s it’s a 13:15. It was fun to see the band abit closer up than yesterday and the smartly dressed riders and the horses clopping down the pavement.
We wanted to get to the Vasa Museum, so wandered to a nearby bus station to get out to the island where there are a number of sites as well as the amusement park that we saw yesterday.
The story of the ship, Vasa, is amazing. Commissioned as a war ship by King Gustav II Adolph in his fight against Poland, Vasa was the first of four ships to be launched, when completed, in 1627. Some of the fit out and the delivery of the 64 cannon was behind schedule so her maiden voyage didn’t occur until 1628. Unfortunately, even though the design was by a noted Dutch ship builder, and was approved by the King, it was inherently unstable. It was very tall for her length and was the first war ship built with 2 gun decks. The King made that a requirement that had to be met. The Vasa’s width was not modified from that of other ships, yet her height exceeded past designs. Her capacity for ballast was similarly not adjusted to match her height and above the water line weight – those 64 cannons!!
She was launched with great fanfare on August 10, 1628. Crew and officers alike were permitted to bring family on board for such occasions as a ship’s maiden voyage so the ship had a great number of people on board and there were even more spectators on the shores of Stockholm to witness the sailing of this great ship. She left the dock and raised several of her 10 sails. As she continued the breeze picked up. Another puff of wind sent her over on her port side and unfortunately that put the lower gun ports under water. Her ballast was not adequate to right her and the water poured in. Many crew and family on the lower decks were trapped as Vasa quickly filled with water. Within 1300 meters of the site where she was built, Vasa sank in 30m+ off the island of Djurgården.
The museum goes into great detail of the salvage of the ship. She was brought up to the service 333 years after her sinking. Her salvage and the efforts to find her and preserve her is extraordinary. Much of the ship has been recovered as it was well preserved given the brackish waters and the poor conditions of the water that inhibited the deterioration of the wood. This is a must see place if you are ever in Stockholm!!! https://www.vasamuseet.se/en
We spent a great deal of time at the Vasa Museet. It was terrific. We finished around 3 and started to look for a place for lunch. We found one a short walk from the museum area and had a great little meal in the sunshine. We then tried to go to Skansen. This is a large open air museum from the late 1800s where a large number of small houses from rural Sweden were taken apart and moved to be on exhibit as the industrial revolution was cranking up and fewer and fewer people knew of the ways of rural living and farming. It is the first open air museum and the model for many developed later. There are reenactments and the visitor is given a sense of life from centuries past. I wish we had gotten there earlier but the ticket offices had closed by 4:15. We would probably have needed 2-3 hours to get a full visit in. Once again we are not good at being tourists and getting up and out early in the day. And here it would be easy, as the sun rises and its daylight around 4am……
Stockholm has been wonderful and we could easily have spent another day if not two here. But tomorrow we have a 6hr train ride to Copenhagen. We’ll have 4 nights there, and maybe we’ll be able to see all the sites that we want to see. I remember my last visit there, when I was 16!!! But I still think Thom should see the waterfront, the mermaid, the castle, and the other sites offered there.
May 8, 2018 · Eslöv, Sweden ·
Our train has been sitting for half an hour so I guess we’ll be delayed into Copenhagen. Have a chance tho to find out about transit options. I think we’ll do single ride tickets today and Saturday, to get back to the train station by bus #9a. Then well get the 72hr hr card for unlimited transit everywhere as wel as entry to many museums and tours. I think the canal boat tour sounds good!
Well seems the electrical system is down on the whole line. Lots of trains are at a standstill so even when, if, we do start rolling, it’s going to be a while as we wait for the other trains to proceed along their routes and stops