Day 20 - Tuesday, August 9 - In Stockholm

 We got up and had our final breakfast on the ship in the World Cafe, meeting our friends Greg and Candice. They live in Southern California and we hope to meet up with them when we visit the girls over Christmas. Then down to find our taxi outside the ship. We had reserved one for 9am but waited for about 20 minutes and it didn't come. In the meantime, some other taxi driver had shown up whose customers didn't show up so he took us to the hotel.

We were lucky when we arrived at the hotel as we were told that we could get a room immediately if we would accept twin beds, otherwise we would have to wait until 3pm. We said ok and were surprised when we go to the room that it actually had a double/queen bed!

Our first plan was to figure out where the airport express train was which was a bit challenging but eventually found the correct platform and bought tickets for tomorrow morning. The trains leave about every 20 minutes and take just 20 minutes to get to the airport, stopping at each of the terminals - couldn't be any more convenient. The entrance to the train station is just across the taxi drop-off in front of the hotel, similar to our hotel in Oslo.

Finding the tram platform was similarly confusing but eventually we found it, bought an all-day ticket (for pensioners!) and took it to the Vasa Museum.

The Vasa is a Swedish warship completed in 1628 and at the time it was the largest such ship ever constructed. The king had specified adding a second row of cannons on the sides which made the ship higher. Just shortly after its inaugural launch in 1628, wind hit the sails from the side, it tilted so that water could come through the gun ports and the ship sank in 25 minutes, lying at the bottom until the 1960s when it was raised through a major project. It was actually refloated and towed to the drydock for preservation. It is truly impressive to stand next to this ship - it is huge. And the museum is wonderful with a video and tours in English.

We took the harbor ferry (included with the transportation pass) to the old town where we had lunch along the shore before quite a long walk back to the hotel for a rest. We wanted to take the subway but couldn't find the station.

In the evening we took the tram to a large park where we had a delicious dinner before walking through the park and listening to Swedish folk music. This time we did find the subway station which was quite interesting. After descending a very long escalator, the platform area had exposed rock and along the side, replicas of Roman columns and other artifacts. When we arrived back at the central station, the platform was about 5 levels underground and over 1/4 mile from the main station area.

Final breakfast with Candice and Greg

Carmen with the Vasa

As much of the Vasa as I could get in the photo

Vasa museum from outside - "mast" through roof illustrates how tall it was originally

Interesting mermaid & frog sculpture - don't know significance

Our final dinner


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