Sweden Day & Vasa Museum – We see the royal family – YAY!
We have a nice last day, packing up, saying our goodbyes to our wonderful host Jonas. Thank you angel in tattoo-disguise 🙂
This is not gonna get old. Like, in a never-ever kinda way. Me and Jeffrey head back to Stockholm on the tilting train.
It is Sweden Day and ’tis the season to be jolly – the guys on the next train. They obviously haven’t got the memo about being tame.
Main square. It’s a beautiful day and the beautiful Swedes have come out to play.
Grub. Yum!
So we only have 1 day in Stockholm before we head back to sunny Dubai. I hear the Vasa Museum is definitely worth seeing. We have a very tight schedule and try to buy time by taking the city tour by water boat. We feel clever for thinking of it but rather stupid for not thinking of it earlier on in the holiday – what a nice way to get around! Duh!
Note to self: Always take the tour by boat/bus option on arrival to any new city.
Oh look it’s gorgeous!
En route to the Vasa Museum.
So humans like to play with dolls and seems like ducks like to play with toy ducks too.
I wasn’t quite sure why this museum is so highly recommended by everyone. Now I am!
First of all this ship is MASSIVE! That alone is enough to leave you flabbergasted! Pure good ol’ fashioned OMG type HUGE! And the story is also rather fascinating in a tragic-comical type of way:
Story of the Vasa
The king commissions this masterpiece of a ship to be built.
Ship hits the water.
Ship promptly sinks.
The end
The depth and composition of the water allowed the ship to miraculously remain quite intact and after hanging in the bottom of the ocean from 1680 to the 1960’s she is rescued. The museum displays this fascinating story using all their creative ability and it is a job super well done. Add this to the top of your list of things to do in Stockholm.
Jeffrey – he is a very good sport and we are easily thrilled by mostly the same things. But not now. I am presently thrilled with the Vasa and he with his conversation.
All original pieces painstakingly excavated from the ocean.
I guess ‘say cheese’ wasn’t a big thing back then.
This ship is way too big to fit in any photo taken by my little pocket camera – but here is a tiny version of it.
The real one.
I am sure there is a proper nautical term for it but as far as I am concerned this ship has a butt-hole and I am right underneath it. There are about 2 storeys above me and one below.
They don’t make ’em like they used to. And thank GOD for that!
Yep – all real.
So they took all those skeletons and recreated the crew as they thought them to look.
Edvin. Very quiet, dutiful man. Strong as an ox. Has a wife and 6 children and a farm. He works from sunrise to well into the night and still gives his wife foot rubs every evening as they sit in front of the fire. He likes to hand-feed his cat Felix who sleeps curled beside him. He had taken on this job to make some money to build an extension to his farm.
This is Agata. She lost her 2 year old daughter when she fell inside a well and wasn’t discovered until 3 days later. She lost her spirit along with her child. She was smiling as the ship was sinking. It was the first time her roommate saw her smile…
This is Johan. He is actually a doctor. He got into an argument with rebellious son and pushed him, son fell and hit his head on the hearth and died on the spot. He ran away in panic and remorse and is living disguised as the cook abroad the ship. He now goes by the name Philip. His wife doesn’t know where he is.
How do I know their secrets? I don’t – just made it all up 🙂
Go on – your turn! Make up your own life story in the comments for this dude below 🙂 His name is Gudmund and the story needs to incorporate the line ‘He never forgot’.
Zero tolerance. Very similar to the rules aboard the pirate ships we saw in the Pirate Museum in St Augustine, Florida. Seems like the good guys as well as the bad guys play along the same rules when at sea.
Off we go after the museum trying to find our friends Niklas and Ulrika in an open air theatre which is supposed to be just when you exit the museum, to the right.
We don’t find the theatre but we do find this little family 🙂
SERENDIPITY (caps on purpose)
We are hopelessly lost! We cleverly decide it would help us find our way if we have an ice cream. This delays us by a few minutes. Useful to remind you, dear reader, that it is Sweden Day and national celebrations are underway. We get the ice creams and are trying to cross the street but see that the crossing is now blocked. I can see a parade approaching: horses, orchestra, the works.
I get all excited and ask Jeffrey what that is.
He says, ‘Oh, it’s the royal family.’
I say, ‘REALLY???!!!”
He says, ‘Naaah, jus’ kidding (evil laugh to go with it).’
He really was kidding.
But it really WAS the royal family! YAY!
I raise my glass to getting lost, to stopping off for ice cream, to perfect timing and to sweet serendipity! HURRAAAAAAAH!!!
Here they are: King Gustav, Queen Silvia and the princesses.
We finally manage to find the open air theatre and play. It is in Swedish but there are many props, lots of movement and singing, the weather is perfect, the company, Niklas and Ulrika, are a delight to be with and we are drinking wine. Bliss!
Love 🙂
Our last night is really wonderful – our friends Niklas and Ulrika host us and the conversations are centered around my favorite subject – love, destiny, pain, separation, reunion, mis-matched partners unscrambled and reassembled the right way with the right ones. I always say all is fair in love and war despite all my experiences on being the odd one out after my partner is rearranged with someone else. Happiness is very difficult to achieve – if two people have found it with each other all you can do is give them your blessings, step away gracefully and carry on in your own path and find your own bliss. Yes, it really is that easy. Destiny knows things that you don’t, have faith and move on.
Another example here about people veering away only to reunite decades later – been hearing of those quite a bit these days. Super sweet, love these stories. Leaving
Me and the monkey hit the road bright and early. It has been 2 weeks of chilled out fun with my soul brother, bestest friend and guardian angel Jeffrey. I really wish there was a way to adopt him and legally make him my brother… Maybe in our next lifetime 🙂 Thanks monkey – love u always!
En route to airport.
Buh-bye Sweden – if you were a man you would be Jude Law – elegant, sophisticated, sexy and an absolute delight to look at.
