Day Sixtynine - Jul 29, 2012
Stockholm, Sweden
Daily Didactic
Today was a really great day. We got started at a perfect summer hour, had a great walk, saw a huge wooden warship, a little art with posies, and had swedish meatballs and herring for dinner. What more could we ask for? We got out the door right at noon and walked around Stockholm harbor toward Djurgarden island. The island hosts a few things (the Tivoli amusement park and an old town Sweden town re-creation for instance), but we are after the Vasa Museum and a sculpture garden. Recommended by our front desk greeter yesterday (who sealed her credibility with our dinner last night), we stopped first at the Vasa museum. It was ridiculously great. The Vasa was a warship that was built in 1628 and sunk less than a mile into it's maiden voyage in the Stockholm harbor due to design changes demanded by the king that left it unseaworthy. Because the harbor is not seawater and (ironically) because it was so polluted there was no salinity and very little sealife to consume the ship. As a result, when it was lifted 330 years later it was in excellent shape. It is now wrapped in a huge building and a really well done museum. We spent a few hours soaking up historical information that was not (strictly) artistic and really enjoyed it. From the Vasa museum we walked on across Djurgarden to Rosendals Tradgard, a sculpture and art garden. It was a beautiful collection of flowers, art, and sheep. After walking the garden for an hour or so, we caught a ferry back to Old Town and walked to our front desk hero's second dinner recommendation. We tried traditional Swedish food, meatballs and herring, and it was excellent. We walked home under threatening skies and got in to our room just before the rain started. An excellent day.
Today's Photos
