Sweeden July 2008

Last updated: June 21, 2009 @ 21.00 PM BST

Starting comments; On this page, I've tried increasing the resolution of the pictures from 800x600 to 1024x768. What this means, is that first maximize the browser, and the pictures should be bigger. You (depending on your resolution) shouldn't have to scroll to see the normal pictures. You will still have to scroll to the right for a few panaromic pictures.

Summer holidays. This year, we decided to go to Stockholm. "Why?" you ask? And, with that, I answer a resounding "Why not!" Stockholm has always been one of those "we should go there someday places", so this year, we decided that this would be the year. As well, since Seth is now 5, he'll be old enough to hopefully remember the trip for a while, so we won't have to go back (although, if it wasn't so expensive, I'd go back, as it was that nice).

The nice thing about the internet is that you can search through hundreds of hotels in an evening. Since we'd never been to Stockholm, we ordered our tickets on ye'ol'budget airline and then went to the normal web sites looking for hotel deals. Already living in one of the most expensive parts of the world, we'd thought that we would be able to book a relativly cheap bargin hotel. That was not to be. After looking around for a while, we found a 4* with breakfast for £100/day. It was in the middle of it all (quite litterally as we found out a couple days later) so, comparitively, it was a good place to be.

We had a vague idea where the hotel was, but when we finally found the hotel, we were greeted by this statue. We quickly named her the "Na-na girl".

Monkey see - Monkey do! I guess in all honesty, we put Seth into posing infront of the statue. There were a handful of the artist's works around town, all of various themes.

Before we went, I didn't really do my homework on Stockholm. After being there a bit, you learn that the city is made up of over a dozen islands, which allows for a large number of marinas. I think there was one boat for every 4 people, or something like that (but don't quote me, as I'm doing this webpage 8 months after we visited). In the background was one of their museums (you'll see more of that later).

This picture is from the island, looking back at the mainland, with the museum behind me, and feroucious attack swans infront.

Here is a map of the island that we're about to explore. On it, is the above museum, a pretty decent amusement park, really good (push) bike paths, and a large museum holding "The Vasa".
The other problem that we had with Sweeden, was the names of the places - like, on the map we have "Ladugardsgarde" which means "park". Ok, I'm just making that up as well, but you know what I mean. Fortunately, the Sweedish were very nice people, and they took Seth in as his own, being with his blonde hair and all.

The next two pictures are of the entrance to their museum. Shame about the trees, or else I'd just need one picture. Cut them down in the name of tourism!

As you enter the building, you are greeted by this enourmous statue. This is a statue of King Gustav I Vasa (remember that name - has been used once above and it'll be used later). The statue was made out of oak by Carl Milles and painted purple and hilt by his wife Olga. It is claimed that part of the sculpture's forehead comes from an oak planted by Gustav Vasa himself. The motto Warer Svenske - "Be ye Swedish!" is inscribed at the base of the statue. I like that expression.

And, if that picture didn't impress you, here's one from the first floor looking down.

From ground level, here's looking down one of the wings.

And from the first floor, looking the opposite way down the other wing.

This is an old chest - unfortunately it's a little blury, but even with that you can tell how intriciate the work is.

The next two pictures, are looking out the window from the museum. Sadly the first one is over exposed - and not close enough together, so I can't quite stitch them together. I'm sure you get the idea.
The left picture overlooks the entrance to "The Vasa", and a little green open space.
On the second picture, the building on the mid-left (last one before the water) was home to a children's musum, featuring work of Astrid Lindgren. Now, most people don't know many Sweedish authours -- Astrid is more famous for writing Pippi Longstocking. Inside, they had a reconstruction of Pippi's house, a small playground town and a gondula informational ride (don't know how to describe the ride) but it was so fun that Seth wanted to go there thrice.

Stockholm Boat Museum

Around the other side of the island is the boat museum. In addition to keeping a raft of old boats, they also repair and maintain works of their history. In the upstairs, they have early motorboats and a sailboat that was one of the first around the world.

This is a replica of the Vasaorden. The original boat was made in 1774 for Gustav III, unfortunately it was destroyed in a fire in 1921. After the fire, a collection was taken up and the replica was completed in 1923 when Gustav V was inaugurated at city hall. The sloop is rarely used, only for royal weddings or visiting dignitaries. Under oar, the boat has 18 rowers, one reserve rower and three officers.
I would like to have stiched these two pictures into one, but the angles were all wrong. Next time I go back, I'll bring back the wide angle.

Bike Trip Around The Island - For one afternoon, we rented push bikes for the afternoon. Fortunately, since it's an island, it was quite flat, but we all know there was only one winner on this venture. The one that had a nice padded seat behind the two other people that we struggling around the paths.
This building is of an old fire house, which, they've turned into a trendy restaurant.

Isn't that amazing? He doesn't even have to get out to rest!!! He's looking more Sweedish by the minute.

Next time we go to Sweeden, we're going to take our super-yaught. See - right in front is an opening! That'll save a lot of time in checkouts and luggage lineups.

Since there's not a lot of large buildings, when you see a cruise ship, it seems to dwarf the landscape. This ship is just coming into the city.

City Walk - We didn't have any plans, so we decided to just wonder around the city "exploring". This looks like a normal street, and like in the UK, if you see a parking spot, no matter what side of the street, grab it before the next person comes along.

We went to one little park (we were aiming for a larger one for Seth to play in) and Seth decided the sliding down the dirt along side of the slide was more fun that the metal slide. I'm sure that everyone with kids can relate. It's not the toy (or sometimes even the box) that they'll play with for hours, but the stick or plastic bit that they find.

We didn't go into this store, but when I read the shop's name, I just had to take a picture. It was a very posh jeweler. Would you like some fish with that?

This is looking down the pedistrianized section, just outside of Frey Willie. The shop behind Kim has a sign saying: Ombyggnads Rea Upp Til 50% - or, for you and me: Upto 50% Off. Which is easier?

Boat Trip - Did I mention that Stockholm is made up of a dozen islands? So, the easiest way to see them is by boat! Here we are going through one of the locks, which holds back a huge lake from spilling into the Baltic Sea.

The big building on the right is the parlament buildings. At the top of the building is a golden crown - ok, you'll probably have to squint a little bit to see it. Or, you could send me $2000 to go back, and I'll make sure I get a better picture. Interesting tidbit (or maybe not) - at home, my background on my mobile phone is of the Parliment buildings in London - you know, Big Ben, the Thames, Parliment etc. When we were in Stockholm, my background automatically changed to this building. How cool is that? My moby was being ye Swedish!

Circling back to the island, you can see the amusement park - shame we didn't have more time, as Seth was really starting to enjoy it. There was a Fun House that he went on about 4 times and the last time even by himself (until "Mr. Grumpy Security Guard" said he wasn't allowed to go by himself). He's just short for a 10 year old ;-) If you ever go to this amusement park, get the day pass - it's expensive, but if you don't get one, you'll just blow through tickets very quickly.
On the far left, you can just see the museum.

Moored behind the museum is this lovely tall tripple masted ship. We were going to take it out for a sail, but, just as we were boarding, noticed that we had forgotten our life jackets. Oh well, next time.

Here is the National War Museum. We also visited that museum.
Q for you MENSA types - look at the shadow from the centre of the building - why is the shadow "L" shaped? And no - the only light source is the sun.

You know when you go to Ikea (the most famous of the Sweedish stores (except Pippi-world)), that you sometimes look at the instructions, and wonder "???" The reason is easy - look at the building on the left - if the leftmost wall is at 90 degrees from the front, the right side is about 60 degrees! Ikea knows that you may be moving into a not-so-square house, and as a result, makes confusing products and even more confusing instructions. Shame those work buildings and tree was in the way, or else you'd get a better shot of the building.

During the boat trip, we noticed that we were being chased by several balloons. One after another after another. At the end of the night, we were followed by about a dozen ballons.
Scroll to the right to see the entire picture.

The balloons continued to chase us, until we ducked into this side street. There, they lost the scent, and went after some other poor soul.

A 5 minute walk from our hotel, was a little shopping complex, green space, outdoor restuarant and these interesting fountains.

Here is Seth infront of the City Palace. The building directly behind Seth, and the one to its right are part of the King's residences.

Wide angle shot, with the city palace in the middle of the picture.
Scroll right to see the entire picture.

More city shot with the museum directly behind me.

As you've probably guessed, the island that hosts the museum is pretty packed. Infront of us is a little grassy area (which the geese and ducks love to eat - say no more) and off to the right just out off the camera is the Pippi Longstocking museum.

Army Band - When we were out and about a couple times, we heard a band. So, we went to the main road, and, saw this Army Marching Band followed by part of the Army. I don't know the reason, if it's a changing of the guard etc. They would just go down the road (and it's a major road) which would obviously cause traffic delays.

As you can see by this picture, they also marched in the rain.

Sweedish Forest - We went on two guided tours: the boat trip from above, and a trip into the Sweedish Forest. You can't just go to Sweeden to see Stockholm, now can you? We were very lucky in our trip, as they had been having a heat spell, and today was the hottest day since ____ - Ok, I don't know since when, but since a long-long time. We had picked the perfect day to get out of the city, as it was starting to get very hot.
The park that we went to, has two distinct forest types. You first have the exposed flat rock where the winter has had taken it's toll like in the next couple pictures, and then you have the more traditional dirt covered forest.

This tree reminds me of one of the possessed trees in "The Wizzard of Oz"

And this part of the forest is quite a bit different than the last couple pictures, and we're only about a 30min walk. Notice Heinrick Larson is helping lead the way. She was so eating out of his hand.

This is a natural forrest. And what that means, is that people are to stick to the paths as to not disturb anything, and at the same time, if a tree falls in the forest (it doesn't make a sound) it is just left there to rot. This allows all the bugs to slowly eat it, and then the birds eat the bugs and the cycle continues.

Behind Kim and Seth is also part of the forest. They're allowing people to farm it (see the teeny little houses they have to live in) and they're going back to basics. Just off camera to the right (following the road) is the Forest Information house. It's been built as an eco-friendly house thingie, and, from the outside, is the same shape as Sweeden. Inside, they have it sectioned into the different areas with displays from each area. Quite a neat idea.

Vasa Museum - The Vasa was built almost 400 years ago, and as you can see in the next couple of pictures, is in really good shape. The one problem (ok, quite a big problem) is that just after it was launched in 1628, it made sail in a light breeze, and then was blown over. It managed to right itself again, but after a little more wind, it listed heavily and then began to take water through the gunports. The ship then capsized, and most of the crew were able to get off the boat before it sank, but about 50 people were drowned when the Vasa sank.
Here is a model of what it would have looked like with all of her sails out. Also notice the painting on the decks and at the back - more of that later.

This looking from the front to the back.

This was one of the most expensive ships every built for the time. No expense was spared, as it was to be one of the most powerful ships in the King's fleet. The number of cannons and sheer armourment was to be unmatched for at least 50 years. As well, the detail on the ship was also extensive. Here is a picture of the back of the ship.

One of the two main reasons the ship sank, is because it was too narrow. For when the breeze blew, it was simply blown over. You can see from this picture how narrow it was from the back. As well, you can also see how detailed the carving and statues were.

The second main reason that the Vasa sank was that it didn't have enough balast. I also read that there was an additional gun floor added after the original plans were made, but no adjustments were made to the width of the ship. This would have made it more top heavy, and we know the results.

Here is a picture from the left side. At the bottom of the boat is a couple people, so this puts it into perspective. You may also notice that the gundeck doors open, but there are no cannons. This is because, when the ship sank, divers went down and retrieved them. Sadly, when they did this, they often extracted them causing damage to the ship. And, why not - it wasn't like it was about to set sail. Even though this was a brand new ship, most of its cannons were reclaimed from other ships. Cannons can last 50+ years, where the average life of a ship is 10, maybe 15.
Scroll to the right to see the entire picture.
And, hope you didn't notice the gap in the seam of this picture. I tried to fix it as best I could. I don't know exactly how much is missing.

As well as being decorated with statues and other carvings, it was also painted. This was quite unheard of, as the main purpose of a warship is to fight and float, not the be pretty. This one section is how they believe the entire ship was painted.

Side view from the front.

Here is Seth at the Vasa museum. Can't say much more about perfection.

World Trade Center - I'd always thought that the only World Trade Center was in NY. How little did I know that Stockholm would also have it's very own WTC as well.

The one thing that the Stockholm WTC had that the one in NY didn't was the bus terminal. Sadly, this is the last time that we'll see this building on this trip. Hope you've enjoyed the pictures.

Brian, Kim and Seth.