This was our first visit to Stockholm and we visited the outstanding Vasa Museum.
The next day was again sailing on the Baltic and we experienced the spectacular RCI’s ice show on Explorer.
From RCI Port Information:
“Ship clearance expected at 7:30 am and all onboard is set for 4:30 pm
Explorer of the Seas will dock at the Stadsgarden Cruise Terminal, located at approximately 3 km from town. Tourist information is available at the terminal, taxis and public transportation is also available. Hop-on Hop-off is also available for sale onboard and at the pier. Most stores open after 9:00 am
Shuttle Service:
As an alternative option, a shuttle service is provided by local operator. Tickets can be purchased from Shore Excursions & Guest Services or on interactive TV onboard, or on the pier ashore.
Unused tickets are non-refundable.
Shuttle Price: US$18 per person – Return
Duration: 15-25 minutes approximately – Runs every 30 minutes
Operational Hours: First shuttle: 8:30 am & the last shuttle: 4:00 pm
Drop Off: Stromgatan by the Royal Opera House”
Our first cruise on Royal Caribbean took us to Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Stockholm, Skagen, Stavanger and back to Southampton.
Day 10 Tuesday 2nd July: Stockholm, Sweden
The band on the quayside struck up a rousing tune at 7 am which was a rather strange way to start our day. After that one tune they stopped and moved back under the shelter to get out of the pouring rain.
Our breakfast was in the buffet of the Sapphire restaurant. We were asked t share a table as usual and we were placed on a large table. It was good to be able to relax at a table after the last couple of days as no one joined us on the table.
Looking out from our balcony the day did not look great as the sky was overcast and it was raining.
To the Vasa Museum
Our plan was to catch the boat to cross over to the Vasa museum. Once off the ship we turned left away from the hop on hop off buses and followed the signs to the ferry boats.
At the top of the pier a guy in shorts were sheltering under an umbrella and was selling tickets for the boats. The poor guy was so cold that he was shivering as he sold us our tickets. He explained that the boat at the pier would not be following the regular route but would go straight across to the museums opposite.
As we boarded we can see our friends on the hop on hop off boat on the other side of the pier that would be taking them on their tour. When our boat was full we set off across to the museums. The windows were steamed up and the canvas covered parts of the ferry offered little or no protection for passengers unlucky enough to be sat at the stern.
We passed Grona Lund that looked rather sad in the damp weather. Our ferry rocked a lot as we crossed over the harbour as it passed through the wake of other boats.
The Vasa Museum
The Vasa museum was only a short walk from the pier. From all the coaches and queues outside the museum a promise to be very busy.
The only word that could describe our first view of the Vasa was ‘WOW’.
The ship is enormous and dominates the large museum building. I had not expected the ship to be so big or to be so well preserved. The bow towered over us and was the focus of a legion of photographers.
The rest rooms of the museum were communal and before we started our visit we went inside. This provided us with yet another example of cultural differences on display. We were in a small queue waiting for one of the cubicles to be free. Suddenly a group of visitors from China burst in and began to try the doors. As they found them all locked, their frustration clearly grew and instead of pushing the remaining doors they were banging on them with their fists. The green/read indicators were not easy to see. After they stopped the banging a number of us explained the significance of the red markers by the handles…
We walked down the steps so that we were on the same level as the ship’s keel. In this area there was a rowing boat that had also been recovered.
As we walked around the Vasa on all the levels we learnt about its construction, perhaps why it had capsised and equal interest it’s re-discovery and how it was raised up from the seabed.
The guns from the ship had been rescued using very rudimentary methods in the years after it sank. The rest of the ship had been slowly covered in silt and forgotten. The water around the ship had been so been polluted that it had not been attacked by the usual sea life.
We were staggered to learn that the ship in front of us was almost 98% original. The paint work that had decorated the ship and it’s hundreds of carved sculptures where all gone of course. In the mouth of the lions at the stern we can see the remains of the original red paint that had some how survived.
The lessons learned (and still being learned) have been passed onto the preservers of other recovered wooden ships.
After going up to the top of the museum’s galleries to view the Vasa we called time and went for a coffee and cakes in the ground floor restaurant. There we listened to the stern advice been given out by a guide not to leave bags or possessions on the back of chairs or tables in the restaurant or they might be stolen.
Leaving the museum
We left the museum as a light drizzle was falling and walked back down to the pier to catch a boat.
The first one to arrive was from another company and our wait in the rain continued. Once on a boat we realised that getting back to the ship would be almost a complete circuit of the route.
