Stockholm, Sweden

Our first stop on the cruise was Stockholm, Sweden. Most of the sites we wanted to see were all fairly close to each other so we decided before to either walk or do a hop on hop off tour. We were able to get tickets for one of the hop on hop off boat tours right by the ship. It was very convenient because the boats also left just down the dock.

After surviving the pushing crowds and a few umbrellas in our faces we got on the boat and headed for our first stop in Old Town. It was still early in the morning so the streets were not very busy yet. We slowly walked down the cobble stone streets and made our way to the Royal Armoury.

The Royal Armoury holds many of the items from Sweden’s Royal Family. There is clothing, coaches, crowns and many of those sorts of things. It was interesting to see some of the history of the country and their Royal Family.

After the Royal Armoury we made our way back to the tour boat for our next stop in the shopping district. We did a lot of walking around the city at this point and a bit of window shopping. The streets were all nice and wide and it was definitely a nice city to walk around in. We never felt overcrowded and it is a clean city with some interesting buildings.

After our walk we made our way on to the boat tour again and headed for the Vasa Museum. The Vasa Museum is a museum dedicated the Swedish Viking ship named Vasa. The ship was over 400 years old and sank just minutes into its maiden voyage. The ship was too top heavy and never stood a chance. The ship was very well preserved due to the calm waters in the harbour as well as being protected by the mud. It is the only surviving type of ship from that time period. We were actually lucky to get to see the ship as we heard earlier in the day the lines were 3 hours long. Thankfully we only had to wait around 30 minutes and could make it back to our ship on time.

Royal Armoury

This pic didn't turn out well but in Scandanavia they have what's called shaker fries. You get a bag and a packet of sauce and you put everything in the bag and shake! You also order on a touch screen instead of at the counter...much faster.

For Wayne

The Vasa