Another fine day! Saturday, 7/6/24

 

It was our last day in Stockholm, and we had no particular agenda. After breakfast on the Mälardrottningen, we walked off the gangway, turned left, saw the tall tower in the distance and said, "let's go!"   'Twas a pretty morning, a bit windy (below), but all in all, a good day to be Out and About.

Neat-looking tower over there!

No, not there.

Yes, there!

Past this building ...

Around the waterfront to Stockholm's City Hall.

Guarded by lions (and flowers)

Hi Jimmy!  (I see a bride or two)

Tit for Tat, so to speak (above and below)

Wonderful ornamentation on/near this City Hall.  Since its inauguration in 1923, the building has had several functions, both political and ceremonial. One of it's functions is the Nobel Prize banquet which takes place each year, on December 10th.

And, it being Saturday, it was the day for weddings.  Brides in frilly white dresses were everywhere, as well as a groom, the family, a few dogs, and, of course, the photographers.  Quite interesting to watch (some of them).  The grounds of City Hall are perfect for photo ops.  Jimmy and I checked for tours and found out we could hike to the top of the tower at 1:45, so we paid a few bucks, saw we had an hour+ to kill, left the building to walk further.

We had a lovely walk along this canal, sharing it with other walkers, runners and cyclists, watching the yellow kayaks glide through the water; careful not to get lost.

You know, my paternal grandpa was born and grew up in a small Swedish town (not sure where), so it's a treat for me to see this country, land of my forebears, and this attractive city.

We wondered about the three crowns.

Wiki tells us they are one of two official coat of arms of Sweden.

By gum, we did it!  Look at the view!

There's the Mälardrottningen at the red checkmark!

The climb to the top of the tower is mainly stairs and sloped passageways, altogether 365 steps!  We were a little winded when we got to the top, but not too bad.  "The architect of City Hall is rumored to have walked several of the streets in Stockholm to find the perfect gradient for the sloping passageways that lead to the top."

We were here! 💗

That's Jimmy, heading down, down, down.

After this effort, we walked to Gamla Stan (Old Town), looking for a restaurant.  Sure it was early, but we were hungry!  Lucky us to find Barrels and The. Best. Burgers. Ever!  Really and truly.  With fries, also mucho delish.  I can think about these burgers next month and probably drool.

Stikki Nikki!

(Nope, didn't get any!)

Still walking, we stumbled upon Stortorget Square and had our ice cream cone from a kiosk to the left of the pic.  While sitting and enjoying them, we saw band members streaming into the square, chairs were setup, and shortly after, the band started playing.  Behind the band is the Nobel Prize Museum.  Well, Saturday late afternoon, music in the square, how absolutely lovely.  This is a great city.

In the middle of the square was the Swedish well.  It dried out in 1856 due to land elevation, but runs on city water now and is safe to drink.  We didn't fill our water bottle, but plenty of others did.  We strolled back to our hotel yacht, looked at those suitcases, and groaned.

That was our final day in Sweden and it was just exactly right.  Our three-week trip across the pond was finished. On Sunday morning, with suitcases packed, we hired a taxi to take us to the train station - Jimmy put his foot down on dragging those danged things over cobblestones again! - where we boarded the Arlanda Express for a zippy ride to Stockholm's airport.  No glitches, no worries.  We flew 8+ hours to Toronto in daylight, a couple of hours layover, and another 5+ hours in daylight to Sacramento, finally pulling in our driveway at 1am Monday.  By then we'd been up 30 hours and were bleary-eyed.

It was worth it. 💕

A trip to the Vasamuseet, 7/5/24

 

We knew when we'd decided to extend our trip to include Stockholm that we wanted to see and spend time with Vasa; we were inside for hours. I'll just use the word amazing once, but I could use it and others just like it over and over. The pic below I lifted from the web.

Three things you should know about Vasa before I tell you anything else:  First, its size.  When Jimmy and I walked into the cavernous expanse where she's "parked," our jaws dropped.  Both of us.  We probably said something like, "Holy Catfish, look at the size of this thing!"  Secondly, its ornamentation.  Vasa has 700 wooden sculptures!  Lastly, she was built between 1626 and 1628 (four hundred years ago!), and she sank after sailing roughly 1,400 yds into her maiden voyage!  She didn't go anywhere but down to the bottom of Stockholm harbor.

Hi Jimmy! (at our entrance) This museum was built around the 64-gun warship, which is the only almost-fully-intact 17th-century ship that has ever been salvaged.  The museum's design allows visitors to get close to the ship, including going up next to it and looking into (but not on) its decks. Exhibits provide context about the ship's construction, sinking, and the people who were on it, including their bones!

From the brochure:  The port quarter galleries of the Vasa have over 70 highly ornate wooden sculptures of varying themes and size, all of which were originally painted in bright, vivid colors.

Above and below:  The transom (back) of Vasa.

The entire ornamentation was once painted in vivid colors.

Looking down on the long boat and the bottom of the ship.

There were so many displays to check out.  Above I'm pointing to a fully-outfitted "miniature" Vasa.  The entire museum was not brightly lit, even dark/ish, with bright spotlights showcasing different areas of the ship and exhibits.  Not good for cameras!

Several people who died in the ship's sinking were "brought to life," including:  Adam, Gustav, Johan, etc., each skeletal remains was given an alphabetical name.  Above is Johan.  So much detail!  

Gunports above and below.

I bet the Vasa was a beauty; too bad the design was poor.  I took many photos, but I think you have to see this treasure in person to appreciate, so I'll limit my pics.  Google Vasa if you want to learn more.

Goofing around as usual.

Much has been written about Vasa's salvage. "On Monday, 24 April 1961, thousands of people crowded the shores around Kastellholmsviken, much as they had lined the shore almost 333 years earlier. Radio, television and newspaper reporters filled special media boats at the center of the action, and Swedish Television broadcast live to all of Europe." Vasa rose from the deep.  You can read about it here.  The entire story is fascinating.

* * * * *

Stockholm is really a lovely city.

Uh-huh!  And light jacket temps! 💖

Easy walk to the triumphal arch, above, that leads into the royal palace grounds, and that's where we headed.

The Royal Palace is the official residence of his majesty the king, and the setting for most royal duties.  We didn't go in, but tours were available.

Handsome dude!

We strode all over Old Town, seeing as much of it as our feet would allow, and loved it.  So much to see and do.  The buildings are big, solid, and grand.  Some of Old Town dates from the 13th century, but most buildings are from the 1600s and 1700s. It's a labyrinth of charming cobbled streets, alleyways, faded mustard- and rust-colored townhouses, and meeting squares.

Another unforgettable tower, seemingly always in view.  Called Storkyrkan, it's the Church of Saint Nicholas, oldest church in Stockholm, right in the center of Gamla Stan, and dating from the 13th Century.  

And then we'd hone in on the black tower of Riddarholmen Church, and knew we were close to our shipboard home-for-now, where we could take off our shoes and kick back. 

One of the church's dragons.

What a day!  Over 14,000 steps, which seems to be par for us these days.  We're happy with our Stockholm addition.  We have one more day to play ....

Sweden? OK! 7/4/24

 

Maybe we don't have common sense and don't know when to quit, or perhaps we can pin it on wanderlust.  To us, it simply makes good sense:  Since we were already nine time zones from home, why not add another destination?  And so we did (without it adding significantly to the overall cost of the trip).  We flew from Kirkenes, Norway (top o' the world!) to Oslo (terrible airport), and then another one-hour flight to Stockholm, Sweden.  Still nine time zones away.

We hopped on the Arlanda Express train from the airport to Stockholm's central station, which was a pretty neat ride, with its top speed of 187km/h, almost 120 mph!  Woohoo.  I knew our hotel was centrally located and not far, so we dragged those danged suitcases over cobblestones again (at least some of the way) and eventually found our digs.

Hi Jimmy (red x)!  In front of the huge Riddarholmen Church (taken the next day).  But our hotel is directly behind this church.  We were impressed with the city; Stockholm is clean and beautiful.

When Stockholm was firmly in the works, I mentioned it to our Swedish friend, Annika.  She told us of a yacht in the heart of the city, now a hotel: Mälarrottningen.  Long story short, we booked a room here for three nights, enough time, we thought, to explore the city.  Built in 1924, it was later purchased by Woolworth millionaire Frank W. Hutton, who gave the ship to his daughter Barbara as a present on her 18th birthday. (nice present!) "A movie star, Barbara lived an extravagant life among princes and movie stars and in the '40s she was married to Cary Grant."  So we called it Barbara Hutton's boat.  (Weronika's photo.)

Tiny cabin with bunk beds!  But it was doable and everything we needed, including a window.  Guess who slept on top?

What would Barbara Hutton say?  Get a room, you people!  This yacht is so big it has 61 cabins!

Small, serviceable, and the shower was great.

So, this is our third boat of the summer trip.  First we were on the Magnifique III for the boat/bike tour,  and we just finished up our Nordkapp cruise, and now we're "camping" on a moored boat right slap in the middle of Stockholm's Old Town.  Its only movement is when another boat's wake hits and then it'll gently rock a bit.  Neat-o!

We took this pic the next day, also, but I wanted to show you where we are, red checkmark.  We're parked on Lake Mälaren next to Riddarholmen, (that block of big buildings), which is actually a small islet that forms part of Gamla Stan, (Old Town).  See the giant black steeple of the church?  Using that as a guide, we always knew where we were.  Perfect location for us!