Wednesday, July 7
Stockholm
On Wednesday, we arrived into Nynashamn, which is the port city of Stockholm. We were signed up for a tour called the Stockholm Sampler - a 6 hour tour covering all the major sites of Stockholm. The ship was anchored at sea, so we took a tender boat to shore.
Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. The city is made up of 14 islands connected by some 50 bridges on Lake Mälaren, which flows into the Baltic Sea and passes an archipelago with some 24,000 islands and islets. The Stockholm archipelago is one of the world's most spectacular, stretching 80 kilometers east of the city.
The islands offer a wide variety of nature, from the lush green of the inner archipelago to the bare cliffs of the more distant outposts. Some islands have restaurants, youth hostels and country stores, while others are entirely deserted islands.
The city's a very lively, cosmopolitan place with both modern Scandinavian architecture including lots of brass and steel, along with fairy tale towers, a captivating Old Town (Gamla Stan) and lots of green space. Over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces, giving Stockholm perhaps the freshest air of any European capital. There is apparently not longer than 300 meters to a park wherever you are in Stockholm.
Stockholm is not the oldest town in Sweden, but after its establishment in the 1250s it rapidly became a national center, with its strategic location between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city is in almost every respect the most important city in Sweden, even though more peripheral regions feel they survive quite well without the political centralism exerted by the capital.
The city contains buildings from all ages since the 15th century. Like the rest of Sweden it was untouched by the World Wars, but particularly between 1955 and 1975, hundreds of old buildings in Norrmalm were demolished in a large-scale modernization process, encouraged by similar projects in other European cities. Since then, little has changed in the architecture of central Stockholm.
Sweden's beautiful capital has a picturesque setting that makes the city unique. The difference between seasons is quite large, the summers green with mild nights, and the winters dark, cold, rainy, sometimes snowy, and with millions of Christmas candles in the windows.
Our first stop was the Vasa museum. The Vasa Museum features the Vasa, an original warship built between 1626 and 1628. It sailed for 15 minutes before sinking in its maiden voyage. It was meant to go to Poland to collect taxes. It was very top heavy and the wind blew it over. There were 450 people on board and 50 died. Vasa was built by a Dutchman. The ship was raised and the museum was built around it. The ship spent 333 years under water before it was excavated. It was retrieved from the water in 1961. The ship is almost wholly preserved and is the only one of its kind and quality in the world.
We received from interesting facts from the tour guide on our way to the next stop:
• Sweden was part of the 30 year war, which was basically 30 years of Catholics and Protestants fighting each other. It appears that the Protestants won as Sweden is a Protestant/Lutheran country.
• Stockholm has a population of just under 1 million. There are about 9 million in Sweden.
• The Swedes are outdoors people - usually vacation in July in cottages swimming, fishing, hiking, etc. There is a Swedish saying that goes “there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. There are moose living in Sweden. The moose is the symbol of the country. The moose shed their antlers every year and the antlers become smaller as the moose gets older. Reindeer live in the north and both male and female have antlers.
• Finland was for along time part of Sweden and then was lost to Russia. The 6 June 1523 is when the first king, Vasa, was elected to power. 6 June is therefore National Day. The king freed the country from Danish rule and also changed the official religion from Catholic to Protestant/Lutheran.
• Stockholm founded in 1252. The name “Stockholm” easily splits into two distinct parts - Stock-holm, "Log-islet", but as no serious explanation to the name has been produced, various myths and legends have attempted to fill in the gap. According to a 17th century myth, the population at the Viking settlement Birka decided to found a new settlement, and to determine its location had a log bound with gold drifting in Lake Mälaren. It landed on present day Riddarholmen where today the Tower of Birger Jarl stands, a building, as a consequence, still often erroneously mentioned as the oldest building in StockholmBuilt on 14 islands.
• The second largest city is Gothamburg. There are two auto manufacturers there - Saab and Volvo.
• The city has strong German and Dutch influences.
• It was noted that the author of the Millenium trilogy is Swedish.
• Only 2 percent of the women in Sweden are housewives.
• There are 600 noble families in Sweden.
We also passed by a number of notable sites:
• We passed the Cathedral, Royal Palace, Parliament, and Opera House. The Stockholm Cathedral is the oldest church in Gamla Stan. Originating as a 13th century Gothic structure, the exterior was remodelled in Baroque style around 1740. The church is the seat of the Church of Sweden bishop of Stockholm. It contains two pieces of famous artwork: the 15th century wooden statue of Saint George and a copy of the oldest known image of Stockholm, Vädersolstavlan ("The Sun Dog Painting"), a 1636 copy of a lost original from 1535.
We also passed by the Nobel Institute. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He amassed a fortune with his various inventions, but had no wife or children. He established the Nobel Institute with his fortune. He figures that it was better to give it away to those who can do something for mankind. At a brief just down the road from the Nobel Institute, our tour guide pointed out an imposing brick building in the city center. This is the Stockholm City Hall, which is where the Nobel Prize Banquet takes place every year.
The bus dropped us in front of the Opera House in the midst of the city center. We had a couple of hours to look around, so we decided to venture on foot to Gamla Stan. Gamla Stan, situated on the island of Stadsholmen, is Stockholm's old medieval town that emerged in the 13th century. It is the beautifully preserved historical heart of Stockholm. The picturesque old town is a major attraction in itself with narrow streets and houses dating back to medieval times. Gamla Stan is home to the present Royal Palace. A ceremonial changing of the guard takes place at noon on weekdays. The Royal Palace was built between 1697 and 1754 and is one of the largest inhabited royal castles in the world.
On our way back to the ship, we also passed a couple of interesting sites:
We passed by the Ericsson Globe. The Globe is located just south of Södermalm. The giant white sphere that is "the Globe" has been one of the most eye-catching features of the Stockholm skyline since its inauguration in 1989. The 16,000-seat arena claims the title as the world’s largest spherical building. It is frequently used for ice hockey games but is also used for other sporting events, as well as concerts and galas. The globe is 90 meters high.
We also passed by the Skogskyrkogården cemetery, in the southern suburbs, is one of the very few UNESCO World Heritage sites from the 20th century. The Skogskyrkogården, the Woodland Cemetery, is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the southern suburbs and is famous for its architecture. The two architects Gunnar Asplund (who later also would design the Stockholm Public Library) and Sigurd Lewerentz were 30 years old when they won the architecture competition in 1915. All chapels and other main buildings are designed by Asplund, with the exception of the Chapel of Resurrection, designed by Lewerentz, the landscape architect. The site also features works of art by famous Swedish artists such as Sven Erixson, Carl Milles and Otto Sköld. With some 100,000 graves spanning 102 hectares, Skogskyrkogården is the second largest cemetery in Sweden. The film star Greta Garbo is one of several notables buried there. In addition to the large Christian Protestant section, there are also Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim sections.
At the end of our excursion, we came back to the ship and got about an hour in at the pool. We fed the kids and then had dinner again with our friends the McDonalds. We did dinner at Pacific Heights which turned out to be a truly underutilized restaurant. Afterwards, we went to Dazzles lounge, where they had a big screen TV set up to show the Spain/Germany world cup match.
