Day 1 Stockholm

September 7, 2019 · by Dano · in Sweden

So, first impressions of Stockholm, big city, lots of people rushing from point A to point B, lots of restaurants and pubs (thank ya Jesus!) and a few sites of historical importance. Once again, we chose to ride the Hop-On Hop-Off bus for the full route to try and get our bearings on what we want to see for the rest of today and tomorrow.

Gate to the Royal Hunting Grounds

The Post Office

Parliament House

Villa Lusthusporten

Not cold today, around 66⁰ for a high, some clouds and occasionally a brief, light rain. Nothing to put a damper on our sightseeing, more of an annoyance. Anyway, good weather for keeping us awake and looks to be a nice day.

But, wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. What about Stockholm? Why is this place special? Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, has been home to “Swedes” since 1252 when Birger Jarl (“Jarl” is Swedish for “Earl”) ruled the land. It wasn’t until almost 200 years later that Stockholm became the de facto capital of Sweden. (Today, the Metropolitan area is home to 2.4M people of which, 970K live in the city proper.)

Not much has changed since then, couple of devastating fires, over-crowding, plague, couple of more fires, couple of wars, but the place looks good. Built and rebuilt several times, the city has a wonderful mix of Renaissance and Baroque styles with a touch of 20^th century modern thrown in. Tree lined boulevards are common throughout the city with plenty of open space for the locals (and visitors) to enjoy. Fun fact: Stockholm is built on 14 of the larger islands in the 30,000-island archipelago.

Stockholm owes a great deal of their history, and development, to the fact that they have welcomed sailors and ships to their shores for centuries. Stockholm’s growth can be traced back to playing a significant role in world trade, but they also had a bit of fight to them.

In the 1600’s Sweden had numerous (well over 100) ships-of-the-line that weighed in with more than 60 guns. The most famous of these was the “Wasa” (or Vasa depending on the brochure you read), a beautiful 64-gun ship with a crew of 435 souls. We’ll see this magnificent ship later today in the “Vasa Museum”.

OK, now back to our hop-on hop-off tour. We cruised the city, noting those spots we want to hit after lunch and those we’ll see tomorrow. High on the list is the Royal Palace and the “Changing of the Guard”; “Gamla Stan” or Old Town Stockholm; and the “Vasa” museum. That should do it for today, tomorrow we’ll pick up where we leave off and continue our site seeing.

OK, already the plan changed. As we were walking to lunch, Ta Da, the guards begin their changing ceremony. We were standing back a few feet but noticed that the guards looked young. As we got closer, they looked very young, some looked to be in their young teens and the older ones appeared to be just starting to shave (that was the girls). Pretty tough for guards to look foreboding when you know they’d rather be playing with cars and trucks or Barbies. Gives a whole new meaning to changing the guard.

Good enough show, after all it was free, so on to lunch. There are literally hundreds of restaurants to chose from in Old Town so why not Italian! Hey, read the tour books. They all say Scandinavian food is not very good. That’s why you don’t see Scandinavian restaurants around your neighborhood. But you do see Italian!

Great lunch!!! Mom-Bear had risotto (not surprised) and I had probably the best chicken / mushroom and spinach alfredo I’ve ever had! Absolutely fabulous and only 1,083Kr. ($108.30USD) including a nice bottle of Chianti. Did we say that Scandinavia was expensive???

Lunch is over so a little strolling around Gamla Stan before heading over to the Vasa museum. Like most European old towns, Gamla Stan is mostly cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways, and of course, a large cathedral right in the middle. Lots of small shops selling everything a tourist would want, Swedish flags; tee shirts with Swedish flag designs; tee shirts with “I’m a Viking” or “Take a liking to a Viking”; or moose memorabilia. The Swedes think they have a lot of moose, but we know good ole Warm Springs is the moose capital of the world!

Gamla Stan

Plodding on, we finally reach the Vasa museum. Google said it was a 21-minute walk from Gamla Stan but it took us about 50 minutes. I’m sure the pasta and wine had nothing to do with the extra time. Damn Google! Break out the wallet and let Visa do the talking! $30.00USD later, we’re in! Did we say that Scandinavia is expensive??

Ok so here’s the deal. The year is 1628, August 11 at approximately 4pm, the Vasa (Wasa) was leaving Stockholm on its maiden voyage. Less than 2 nautical miles out, an 8mph gust of wind caught the sails, heeled the boat over, water flooded into the gun ports and down she went! Sunk to the bottom of the harbor taking 53 souls with her. Lots of finger pointing, placing blame on the captain and crew (who were jailed for incompetence but later released), but finally it just went down (no pun intended) as a mistake.

Now fast forward to 1961, the age of peace and love in the US, the age of making money in Sweden. The Wasa was seen as part of their history that needed to be resurrected and restored, for posterity. Not to mention people will pay to see this ship! So, although not a testament to their shipbuilding prowess, got to hand it to these Swedes, they know how to make money! Hell, we paid $30 and thought it was a good deal! And it was. If you’re in Stockholm, this is one of the museums you need to see. The ship is amazing! 135′ long, 45′ from top of the stern to the waterline, 64 cannon, some of the most detailed carvings ever made on a sailing ship, and 435 souls! King Gustav knew what he wanted, an impressive warship! Check out the pictures below…