I have a ton of pictures for this posting of Sweden. We absolutely loved Sweden, and definitely want to go back for much longer next time. When we were traveling to Stockholm we traveled through a long string of islands. Jake and I agreed that it reminded us both of sailing through the San Juan Islands of the Northwest. It was absolutely breathtaking. It also helped that weather was over 70F/20C at 8:00am in the morning. We went on a tour of the Vasa Ship, and the Stockholm Royal Palace. The ship was absolutely amazing, as was the story. I have put a little information about the city and the ship thanks to Wikipedia at the end of the posting. After our excursion, Reagan was exhausted so were planning to remain on the ship for the last couple of hours in port. But alas, this was not happen as we left the Eurgo on the bus after our tour. We ended up paying $50.00 to have a taxi bring it back to the port. In hindsight it is funny that we actually had to pay a taxi to bring our baby carrier back, but we could not have lived without it. This was also Reagan’s first experience with gelato (Italian ice cream). Sorry grandparents, but we couldn’t let you be the first to feed her ice cream. She loved the gelato and wanted more once it was all gone. Overall, Stockholm might have been our most memorable place, and we will definitely be visiting again.
Cruising into the city
Ya, we arrived in Stockholm.
We can't wait to go into the city.
The Beautiful City from the ship.
A little walking around the ship before we head off on our adventure.
Waiting to go on our tour.
Reagan is SUPER excited to go see the city.
Sightseeing is hard work for Miss Reagan.
The Vasa Ship
Reagan is taking her morning nap on the go.
Changing of colors at the palace.
The palace was not Reagan's favorite place.
Reagan's first try of gelato.
Making sure Daddy doesn't come get her ice-cream.
She loves it.
I think she might want to have ice-cream for dinner now.
She doesn't like that she had to share with Mommy.
Waiting for the Taxi to come back with the Ergo (baby carrier).
Our ship.
I think this little red boat is SUPER cute.
This is my new house in Sweden, or I wish it was!
This house is for my BFF.
After dinner walking around.
She has some sea legs!
Extra Info:
Vasa (or Wasa)[1] was a Swedish warship that was built from 1626 to 1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing less than anautical mile (ca 2 km) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronzecannons were salvaged in the 17th century. She was located again in the late 1950s, in a busy shipping lane just outside theStockholm harbor. She was salvaged with a largely intact hull on 24 April 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum calledWasavarvet ("The Wasa Wharf") until 1987, and was then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has since 1961 attracted more than 28 million visitors.[2]
She was built top-heavy and had insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, she was allowed to set sail and foundered a few minutes later when she first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze. The impulsive move to set sail resulted from a combination of factors. Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, who was abroad on the date of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years' War. At the same time, the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship's structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the privy council to find someone responsible for the disaster, but no sentences were handed out.
During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around the hull of theVasa by marine archaeologists. Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship itself have provided historians with invaluable insight into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden. No expense was spared in decorating and equipping the Vasa, one of the largest and most heavily armed warships of her time, adorned with hundreds of sculptures, all of them painted in vivid colors. She was intended to express the expansionist aspirations of Sweden and the glory of king Gustavus Adolphus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_Ship
Stockholm (Swedish pronunciation: the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia.[4][5] It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag(parliament), and the official residence of the Swedish monarch as well as the prime minister. Since 1980, the monarch has resided at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm and uses the Royal Palace of Stockholm as his workplace and official residence. As of 2010, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden's population. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality (2010), 1.25 million in the urban area (2005), and around 2.1 million in the 6,519 km2 (2,517.00 sq mi) metropolitan area (2010).
Founded circa 1250, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-.[6] In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia.[7] Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks.[8] It is sometimes referred to asVenice of the North.[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm
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