Day One Hundred Forty-Four May 29

I awake at 05:00 to see the sail into Stockholm as arrival time is 07:00. It looks a lot like Northwest Ontario or the Westcoast of British Columbia with the rugged shorelines and abundance of trees. The homes along the way are quite impressive.

Before leaving the ship, I must go for an antigen test one more time. Janice who has had Covid does not need to be checked again on this cruise. I tested negative but I learned that close to two dozen people including crew tested positive and must quarantine. I repeat it is still out there so everyone needs to be careful.

Our dock for the next two days cannot be any further away from the city centre. Across from our stateroom you can see a single row of containers and what looks like a quarry behind. A shuttle bus is provided for those passengers wishing to go into the city centre some four kilometers away. This might not be far but not knowing which direction to go we chose the shuttle bus. The bus dropped us off at the Opera House where you can see a glimpse of the Swedish Parliament Building.

Leaving the shuttle bus, we are on our way to the Vasa Museum. To reach the museum our walk takes us along Boulevard Strandvagen. Two posh hotels can be seen on the left side of the boulevard (Hotel Esplande and Hotel Diplomat) while the harbour is on our right side. It should take forty minutes to walk to the Vasa Museum.

The Vasa was a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. She sank on August 10,1628 roughly 1,300 meters off shore on her maiden voyage with thirty-three people losing their lives.

After sitting on the seabed for three hundred thirty-three years the Swedish warship was salvaged and brought to the surface. The event was shown live on Swedish Television.

The museum is three stories with the Vasa taking up two stories in what looks like a dry dock facility. It rests on a cradle at the present time but its weight risks damaging the hull. A new cradle is in the plans that will distribute the weight more evenly. Many artifacts from the dive site are now on display. Anthropologists are trying to determine the best plan of action to ensure the Vasa will remain intact for future generations. When she was raised from the seabed the ship had a complete wash then a special coating or sealing was added to prevent the ship from decomposing.

It was a wonderful museum to visit, and I recommend it to anyone who makes a visit to Stockholm. This area also is home to the ABBA museum where I would take one for the team should Janice wish to visit. We found the museum but alas Janice thought the thirty-euro entrance fee was too much. Now if it were Elton John then Janice would certainly pay it.

It is now time to make our way to Stockholm's IceBar which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. Once there we are fitted with fleece lined panuchos and gloves before entering the Icebar where the temperature is -5C or 23F for a cocktail. Everyone is allocated a maximum of forty minutes but we lasted only thirty minutes.

It is past 17:00 and it is time to find a place for dinner for our group of seven from ship. We make our way past the Royal Palace (again no real security here just like Copenhagen) before reaching Old Town. We will make our way back here tomorrow.

The shuttle bus was at 07:15 Janice and I quickly ate and made our way back to the drop off bus in order to hold the bus for the five others. Begrudgingly, the driver waited ten extra minutes just in time for the others to make the bus.

The first day ended and new exploits were to come the following morning.