Museum Day!

The Vasa Musset

The masts of the boat don't really stick out of the building like this. But it is a cool design I thought so I took a picture.

Me with the Vasa in the background. The museum was quite dark and it was hard to get a good picture that wasn't blurry. When I'd use a flash the wood would turn out dark as well.

The ship reminded us of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was built in the 1600's and when on it's first voyage, got about 200 meters and then capsized and sank. It wasn't until the 1900's that it was recovered from Stockholm's harbor. Surprisingly enough it was mostly intact, this has something to do with the right mix of fresh and salty water in the harbor being bad for worms or something like that. Parts of the deck and the back mast were missing. This is thought to be related to anchors from other ships ripping them out.

This is an actual cannon that was found with the wreckage of the Vasa.

This is the back end of the Vasa. (there is probably a better name for it than "back end" I just don't know what it would officially be called).

This is a replica of what they think the Vasa looked like. This is the back end once again and you can see all the vibrant colors that it would have had.

Eerie, I know! They have multiple skeletons of people who died in the Vasa accident.

The Nordiska Musset

For the life of me I can't remember who this guy is. Probably one of the first kings of Sweden. I'm sure his name is Gustav or Olav or something like that. I can't remember though! But this statue greets you as you enter the Nordiska Musset. It is a musseum dedicated to depicting life in Sweden from the 1500's through the present day.

Here were some of the present day displays. They had posters of all sorts. Women's Lib, Musical/concerts, political, war...lots of them!

They also had a very unique display of fashion. Most of it contained drawers and drawers of different types of materials used throughout the ages in Sweden. We were on a time schedule so didn't have an opportunity to look through everything.

The displays were quite unique. I especially loved the hair that they gave these manequins!

This is a photo display of the Sami people. They are the native people to northern Scandinavia. Characteristically they have white skin and more slanted eyes (like the orientals). A good modern day reference for the Sami characteristics would be Renee Zellweger.

These are some of the hats that the Sami would wear during various eras and for various occasions. The Sami are the people who Santa Claus originated from.

They had a display of all these cool spoons.

You can see the amazing detail! They may have been of some sort of significance, but I don't know. All of the displays had descriptions in Swedish and we had no Swedish guide with us this day. It was probably better. That way we didn't stop to read a bunch of stuff because we were on a pretty tight time schedule.

I thought this purse was cool. It is a Sami purse from centuries ago. It looks like a hippie purse from the 60's and 70's though!

Junibaken

I wish every little child had the opportunity to go to the Junibaken. It is a museum dedicated to folk stories and storytellers from Sweden. More specifically, it is dedicated to Astrid Lundgren, the woman who gave us the character Pippi Longstockings!

Outside the Junibaken there is a "parking garage" of sorts for baby strollers...I loved it!

All sorts of fun things to do in this museum. All of the displays are meant to be played with. Everything can be touched, jumped on, climbed in or through, you name it, it can be done. Except on the train ride...then it was keep your hands and feet inside the cart at all times!

It was really a magical place! I wish Pete's and Denise's kids had been with us when we went. It would have made the experience so much more special. All kids must have a place like this. My opinion, it's better than Disneyland (but I am not one for rollercoaster rides).

It's a good place to let your imagination take off and explore things. It's like nevernever land!

And as appropriate, there is a room dedicated to the memory and works of Astrid Lundgren.

I know all the toys were probably meant for little kids to play on, but I couldn't resist!

This is me watching the portrayal of "The Story Journey" by Astrid Lundgren on the train ride. It was amazing to see the detail. If you have read the book you must go to Sweden and go on this train. It will amaze you how acurate they have made everything. But then again, the book was made specifically for the museum and this ride. Astrid took 8 of her most famous books and compiled them together to make one story...the Story Journey.

Working my way through the story journey.

Look at the amazing detail!

The dreaded Dragon! No good childhood folk story can do without one!

The only moose I saw in Sweden! So of course I had to take a picture!

And they had the cutest cafe in the museum that had the most yummy deserts on display. We had to try them. And of course me with my sparkling water! Ah..I love that stuff!

This is an old fire boat.

We were on a boat tour of the harbor/bay...whatever they call it. Anyway, they told us that this spot (in the picture above) was the spot that the Vasa sank. You can see it really wasn't far from shore!

Swans are apparently native to Sweden and found in a lot of places. This is the only one I saw. I love how the water is sparkling around it.

This pretty boat here is actually a hostel. Next time I go to Stockholm it might be fun to stay at least one night on this boat, Af Chapman. It was originally built in 1888 in England and carried trade to and from India. You can visit it without staying there if you want...but how many people can say the spent the night on a boat? Ok, anyone who has taken a cruise. But this boat was built before the 1900's. That has to count for something right?

This is the front facade of the Royal Palace in Stockholm. Regal no? They still have a monarchy in Sweden. They have a parliment too so I would assume (not really knowing) that they have about as much power as the monarchy in England does, but without all the publicity!

There was a protest against the war in Iraq while we were there..a peaceful protest.

This is the parliment building that is almost (not quite) adjacent to the royal palace.