Day 20 – Stockholm

 

Day 20 – Stockholm

Well, it was bound to happen on this long a trip with this many ports.  Our day in Stockholm was abbreviated because the ship did not arrive until 11 am.  The ship will spend the night, but tomorrow it leaves at 11:30 am, leaving little time for further exploration.  This in the city with a large population and much to offer in terms of major sights and activities.  Due to the compressed time, we decided to use the ‘hop on-hop off” bus, which included use of a boat system as well.  BIG MISTAKE!  The cruise line combined with the bus company screwed things up royally, causing us to wait for long periods to get the bus and then miss the boat ride as well.  To add insult to injury HAL added a 30% charge to our tickets even though we bought them at the bus.

We were able to ride the bus around the city and to experience two very compelling offerings: the Vasa museum and the Skansen.  We went to the Skansen, which is an open air museum full of buildings, farms, craftsmen, high society mansions, and highly diversified presentations from all over Sweden and representing periods from 1600s to the late 1800s.  People in period dress demonstrated their crafts (printing, carpentry, pottery, glass making, etc.) and were happy to talk with visitors.  This added greatly to the experience.  We spent 3 hours there but could have spent the whole day. 

We then went to the nearby Vasa Museum, which is dedicated to one of the greatest failures in ship building history.  The Vasa was/is a massive square rigged war ship built by the Swedish king as a symbol of his dominance over competitors and Sweden’s prowess as a naval power.  It sank abruptly on its maiden voyage only a few hundred meters from the dock!  The ship was left in the bottom of the channel for 300 years and was resurrected in the 1960s and restored over several decades.  The result is a almost fully restored ship inside a massive building.  The movie and a guided tour gave us much information and a sense for the history.

We rode the bus around the city and then back to the ship as the sun was getting low.  Our overall impressions of the city (that is all we have time for) are that it is a large, busy, crowded city that is prosperous and forward looking.  Except for the harbor (which is extensive and stunning), the small old town, and the island containing the museums (which is lovely, relaxing, and pleasant) there is little to differentiate from other similar sized cities.  It is not as liveable as Helsinki or as picturesque and quant at Tallinn.  It has traffic as bad as our San Francisco despite what appears to be good public transit.  It is not nearly as efficient and effortless as Rotterdam or as people and bicycle friendly as Amsterdam.

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