Rick and Marie's Travels

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Scandinavia—Stockholm—September 16th

Stockholm, September 16th

Today we walked 6.8 miles over the course of the day. We visited the Pink Church, walked through Old Town again to the Djurgarden Island ferry where the Vasa Museum is located. After that we walked back to our hotel with a stop for lunch at a mall where we enjoyed a salmon and quinoa and lettuce salad. We surprised ourselves by walking back from the Vasa Museum without having to ask directions or looking at the map. Ya, we got the lay of the land of Stockholm within two days. Strange how that works.

Anyway, we hoped to also visit City Hall, but knew we couldn't make the last guided tour, so we'll do that Tuesday and visit the Royal Armory or take a cruise throughout the harbor as well or maybe wait until Wednesday. We have plenty of time to divide up our excursions so we'll see how it goes.

The highlight today was the Vasa Museum. I took a gajillion pictures (but didn't include all of them) and some information because this museum was even better than the Titanic Experience in Belfast and that was pretty impressive. The Vasa Museum is a must see if you ever visit Stockholm. It is unique among historical recoveries, because it was raised intact, and over 17 years, 98% of the vessel was preserved. It also provides an astonishing view into early 17th century life. The restoration and research are ongoing

Make some time to watch these two videos about the Vasa. The first is a documentary about the raising and preservation of the ship and this link is the first of four episodes documenting the interior and every square centimeter of the ship. Fred Hocker, the American curator of the museum and Director of Research, the foremost authority on the Vasa narrates the four videos. As a boy growing up in New Jersey he learned about the Vasa and was obsessed with it, and Hocker is the man in charge today.

Everywhere you go in Stockholm there seems
to be a church spire. This one is opposite the
Central Station.

Couldn't resist taking this picture. Is that a clown car?

Cool door in Old Town on our way to the Pink Church.

There's another one. St. Gertrude's, the German
Church, spire in Old Town.

Turn of the century telephone booth...

...repurposed with a defibrillator.

The Pink Church, technically named Storkrykan, is
also a must see. Here are some pics to show why.
Click on the link here and read about this amazing
cathedral. (The link includes info about the next
pictures as well.)

This is the Royal Pew.

The Silver Altar.

St. George slays the dragon.

Placard about the Sun Dog Painting.

Sun Dog Painting.

Sun Dog Painting with frame.

Gamla Stan Island, looking back at Old Town from stern of ferry to
Djurgarden Island on our way to visit the Vasa Museum.

Grona Lund is Stockholm's Tivoli.

Just a cool castle taken from the ferry.

Crane adjacent to amusement park decorated as
a giraffe.

Three-master moored near Vasa Museum.

Waiting in line to purchase museum tickets. We were
being extra cautious in line because of the crowd.

First view of the Vasa. The museum is enormous,
so we took off our masks.

The rest of the pictures you'll see capture the Vasa, a battleship
that sank on it's inaugural launch.

The Vasa looks better with Marie
standing in front of it. ;-)

We attended this screening first to get oriented prior
to walking through the museum as our city walking
tour guide recommended.

All screenings are captioned in English so we didn't
fret about being there for the Chinese language screening.

Here's the summary of the Vasa. Read more here.

Vasa model.

Upper cannon deck, a life-size replica.

Coat of Arms

A skeleton of a sailor pinned under one of cannons was
recovered and preserved.

His jacket preserved after 333 years under water.

Actual shoes and boots of sailors recovered.

Officers' plates and bowls.

This is a cutaway of how the Vasa's four story

decks were arranged.

Lion carving on the ship's prow.

Painted replicas of lion.

Lion with King's coat-of-arms
held in paws.

There are several bearded wildmen carrying clubs
decorating the ship, expressing primordial power,
the Nordic version of Hercules.

This 17th century Orwellian justification could have been
written yesterday.

One last look at the Vasa.

We walked back from the museum, taking the
longer way back along the harbor promenade.

This is the most exclusive and expensive area of Stockholm and
you can see why.

This sandwich board in front of a cafe along the
harbor cracked us up.

Raoul Wallenberg, read about his heroism and
tragic end here if you can't make out the plaque
below.

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed a smoked
salmon quinoa and lettuce salad that fortified
us for the next two miles to our hotel.

•. •. •

Tuesday we'll take a guided tour of City Hall and visit the Royal Armory, which our city guide told us is misnamed. She said it includes some arms and suits of armor, but primarily the armory provides the history of Sweden's monarchy with everyday artifacts from each royal family ranging from the 1600's to the present.

Monday, September 16, 2024

Scandinavia—Stockholm—September 14th-15th

Stockholm, September 14th to 15th

Saturday we caught a train from the Copenhagen central station to Malmo, Sweden where we boarded the train to Stockholm. Three and a half hours later we had a city map, tickets to Oslo (we're always planning ahead), and caught a cab to our hotel.

Breakfast at Malmo train station.

Love the design of these lamps at the Malmo station.

Train to Stockholm.

The Generator is a hostel, unlike how most Americans would think about hostels. This place is really modern with a kitchen that prepares real food in real time and offers private rooms with bathrooms. Our room is large and comfortable and not far from Old Town Stockholm, City Hall, and the ferries to the other islands to major sites like the Vasa Museum. At breakfast this morning we noticed a variety of guests—families, back packers, professionals, and people our age (and older). But what is really fun about this place is displayed at the end of this entry.

Today, we took the two hour Stockholm: Old Town Historical Walking Tour. The best part was that there were only three of us on it so it was relaxing. Kiki (our guide) was laid back and informative. I'm not going to try and recreate her anecdotes and historical commentary. As usual, I'll add a few captions, but mostly, the pictures will provide a sense of what 16th century Stockholm looked like. The old town is one of the best in-tact medieval towns, because Stockholms wasn't bombed during WWII.

At breakfast. This is the juice and coffee station. The kitchen is around
the corner where guests pick up their hot or cold meal prepared fresh
by cooks in real time. It's a brilliant system. You pick up your meal
when the restaurant-style buzzer buzzer goes off. Hand the cook the
buzzer and they hand you your order.

Parliament from Vasabron Bridge.

We cross this bridge to Gamla Stan (1252), island where Stockholm's
old town was established.

The Church of St. Nicholas, better

known as the Pink Church. We're

going inside tomorrow, Monday.

Stortoget Square, read all at the link. This is the well for the
old town. Today it's connected to city system and is potable.

Stortoget Square, read all about it here.

The cannon ball is explained in the

same website on Wikipedia.

Note the emblem above the door.

This is a close up of it. It's a phoenix and ensured one of the world's
first fire brigades would arrive at this home. It was a kind of
insurance policy.

Imagine moving into this four story home.

A pulley system at the rooftop, as in Amsterdam,
made moving in possible.

This Viking rune being used as a foundation support was discovered

by archeologist in th 1960's.

The rune wasn't painted when the builders placed it at the corner.

Turns out, the rune was about this guy, the inventor of bluetooth. ;-)

More Old Town lanes.

This is the narrowest lane in the Old Town.
The narrowest section at the far end is 36"
wide, and legend says if you place your
hands on the walls and make a wish it will
be granted.

Evert Taube (1890–1976) is Sweden's much-loved balladeer.

Den Glyden Freden is one of the oldest

restaurants in continuous use.

This is the smallest sculpture in Europe and if you rub the boy's head,
you are assured to return. (click on the link to read about
"Iron Boy Watching the Moon")