The Breakaway was docked in Nynashamn, Sweden not Stockholm, Sweden. This added commute time to get to our shore excursions so the time in port was extended to accommodate. Actually, this was a good thing because you got to ride through more of the countryside this way. So the picture below is the Breakaway docked in Nynashamn, Sweden.
Then we were off on a bus ride to Sigtuna, Sweden. This would take us through some country, then around the outside of Stockholm, then through some more country to Sigtuna.
This is actually a hotel!!
Sigtuna is considered the original settlement in Sweden. The people came and settled on an island and that didn't work. So they got in a boat and traveled till the boat landed and they made a settlement, Sigtuna. This was about 980 AD on the threshold of a new age as the Viking period became the medieval period. Sigtuna was the first Christian town in Sweden. It boasts three medieval church ruins.
We arrived in Sigtuna to this beautiful set of lilac bushes. These were prolific in all the countries we visited. Just the time of year for them to bloom and they were doing just that everywhere.
Our first stop on our walking tour was St. Olaf's medieval church ruins. There is a lovely cemetery around it.
This is St. Mary's Church. It was built by Dominican Friars. It is in the same cemetery as St. Olaf's.
I do not know what this building is. It does have 1757 over the door. Not sure if that is a year or an address. I do know that during the 10th and 11th centuries Sweden's first coins were minted in Sigtuna.
More views of St. Olaf's medieval ruins.
We strolled down the street to another park-like area. Here we found a rune stone. Claude got a close up that, hopefully, you can see more of the carvings.
Also in this setting were the ruins for St. Lawrence medieval church.
And our tour guide showed us an old coin from Sweden.
We crossed the street and entered the town square from the back side of the Town Hall. This is the front of the Town Hall. The second picture is looking across the Town Square at the Town Hall.
From the point where I took the picture of the Town Square, we were standing on Stora Gatan. This is believe to be the oldest main street in Sweden. It is lined with shops and eateries. It was Sunday so it was very quiet and lots of the businesses were closed.
The first picture is looking east on Stora Gatan and the second picture is looking west on Stora Gatan. The third picture is looking south and is the road we took to get to the park by Lake Malaren.
One view of Lake Malaren. There are poles hanging from wires over this portion of the lake shore. We were told these are for people to train to paddle canoes between.
Claude (the Dragon Man from our China trip) is standing by the Dragon Tree.
Sandi is standing in a viking boat.
As we drove out of Sigtuna, we drove past St. Peters medieval church ruins. This was the last of the three church ruins. Sigtuna was a quiet, well kept community.
The bus pointed itself toward Stockholm. Here are some pictures from that drive.
The biggie, and the thing on everyone's bucket list, was the war ship Vasa. We got to the museum and all our tour got out of the bus and it left for where tour buses park while their riders are sightseeing. When it came time to go in, I turned on my ear buds and got absolutely no sound. Up to this point they had worked perfectly. These are wonderful gadgets. They set the tourists and the tour guide to the same frequency. Each person has a little thing you hand around your neck that allows you to change the channel, turn the volume up and down, and turn the gadget of and on. I tried everything but could not hear our tour guide. This is such a great device for me because I am one of those people that roams away to get a good picture while the tour guide talks. I could now only hear him if I stood by him while he talked into his microphone. This just doesn't work for me. I alerted Claude and we continued with the tour. Claude would get all the details. Between what Claude told me and the Internet I am able to share these facts.
The Vasa (Wasa) was commissioned by King Gustav Adolphus, the king of Sweden. She was built between 1626 and 1628. She was richly decorated but top heavy to a fault. On August 10, 1628 she started her maiden voyage full of dignitaries. She sailed 1,400 yards and foundered. The tour guide said they raised a few of her sails to get her away from the harbor. A sudden wind took those sails full and that is what cause the Vasa to founder. Her lower windows for the cannon were not closed. She took on water and sank. Ugh!! Many people died that day. The majority of the sailing crew were on an island where they were going to leave the dignitaries and take on the sailors. Another interesting thing is the Vasa was looked over and studied for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Fortunately, the spot where the wreckage sank was a place where two kinds of water meet, something like salt and fresh. The mixing of those waters kept the wood from decaying. The final lift to bring the Vasa out of the water was April 8, 1961. She would be housed and restored and is now open to the public to visit.
So, here is the Vasa. The pictures start on the bow of the ship on the starboard side and continue down the starboard side around the aft and the up the port side to the bow. There are three pictures that have color in them. Two of these are a scale model of the ship as it originally looked. The third is a picture projected on the wall of the aft of the Vasa. I tried to position the pictures by their counterpart on the restored Vasa.
This mannequin is wearing the clothes a typical sailor would have worn during the 1620's. He would have provided these clothes himself and not changed them a lot during the voyage.
Outside the Vasa Museum is the huge building which is the Sweden History Museum.
We boarded our bus and drove to the Royal Palace.
The Royal Palace of Sweden. You can walk right up to it.
As we got off the bus and gathered for our walking tour, the changing of the guards began. We couldn't stay but we did see this much of the action.
Now we enjoyed a walking tour of Gamla Stan which is the name of the island we were on. We would walk from the Royal Palace through the area with older homes. In among these homes was the tiniest statue in Sweden, Jarpojke. The belief is that, if you offer a gift and rub his head, you will have good luck and fortune. Sound familiar. Our guide did this symbolically for all of us. In reality, a local church comes daily and takes the money to use for helping others.
And we're walking, we're walking, we're walking...
This is a statue of St. George slaying the Dragon. To the side is another statue of a young woman waiting. If the dragon is not slayed, she will be its dinner.
I just love this picture down this cobblestone road between the buildings.
The tour guide told us that this symbol on a house alerted the fire department to help their first if there was a fire. If you didn't have this, you were low man on the list for the fire department to help. Although, if you lived next door to someone who had this above their front door, you would benefit for that nearness.
We walked past the building where the Nobel prize is selected every year.
And we're walking a bit more...
Storkyrkan Cathedral.
The view by the castle and another pay toilet.
Our bus took us to one final photo op for Stockholm. The hill offers a panoramic view of Stockholm. The pictures are in order beginning at the left end of the view and going to the right end.
Time to end this excursion and get back to the Breakaway. Stockholm is the birthplace of the music group ABBA. We toyed with using our shore excursion to go to the ABBA museum. In the end we determined, even though we are huge ABBA fans, our children are ABBA fans and our grandchildren enjoy ABBA, we would forego the ABBA Museum in favor of learning something about Sweden. Don't regret that decision one bit. We saw a lot and learned a lot. Good day.
As we drove back to Nynashamn to our home away from home, I snapped this picture. Living in Kentucky we are layers of limestone with a little dirt on top. While this rock is clearly not limestone, it still gave me a feel of home.
Back on the Breakaway, I took this picture from our balcony. Please note the red color. I learned it is called falu red or falun red. The pigment for the deep red color comes from copper mines in Sweden. Originally it was used on smaller mansions to imitate brick. In the early 19th century people used lighter color paint as the authorities began to oppose the use of paint. Falu red saw a resurgence in popularity in the Swedish countryside during the 19th century, when poorer farmers and crofters began to paint their houses. Today, falu red is widely used in the countryside.
Our ship started its departure from Nynashamn. We positioned ourselves on the balcony to watch. There is an archipelago to cruise past when leaving Stockholm. We were, however, in Nynashamn. But we still passed some lovely islands as we left Sweden.
Can you see the moon over Sweden?
This night we found a duck!
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