Sweden

12th April, Stockholm
We did eventually board our train – rather a disaster all round as neither of us slept a wink. We were very cold and discovered this morning that the window hidden behind the blind had been open all night and snow had been coming in! We were early in Stockholm so after making a few false starts looking for hotel reservations we decided to have breakfast at the station. Ray cashed a travellers’ cheque at a nearby hotel as today is a holiday in Sweden (although not in Norway), and then we went room hunting. We eventually got a room in a very nice flat not far from the city centre. The owner, Mrs Gissler, was very helpful about what to see. We set off, in the snow, for Skansen, which is a park full of old style Scandinavian houses. We really did no do it justice as it was so bitterly cold that we kept on having to step into an inhabited house to thaw out before continuing.

Seventeenth century Swedish house at Skansen, Stockholm.

Nineteenth century Swedish storehouse.

Market stalls.

So much of what we saw reminded us of Scotland, both in some details of the traditional dress and in the type of houses, not unlike the black houses in the Hebrides. In one of the houses two men were playing folk music on violins, and that could also have been Scots. We have 24 hour go-as-you-please passes for bus, ferry and underground for only Z$2 each – incredibly cheap. So we used them to take a bus to the Central Station in order to sit in the main hall and have lunch as it was just too cold outside to have it at Skansen. Heading for our bus we passed Nordiska Museet (Nordic Museum) and Nybroviken where small pleasure boats dock amidst posh hotels.

Nordiska Museet, Stockholm.

Nybroviken, Stockholm.

After this we took an underground train to the old part of Stockholm situated on an island. This was lovely, with narrow streets and ancient buildings. While there we saw the Royal Palace, a most imposing building.

Royal Palace, Stockholm.

We then caught a ferry back to the mainland to see the Wasa museum. The Wasa was a Swedish man-of-war which sank in 1628 on its maiden voyage before even leaving the harbour. Apparently a gust of wind caught its sails and blew it over. It stayed at the bottom of the harbour for over 300 years until someone had the bright idea of salvaging it in the 1960s. The operation was a success and the ship is now nearing the completion of its restoration. It really was a most interesting museum, giving a good idea of sea life in those days. We are now having the proverbial soup for supper and, as usual, it’s snowing!

Carvings on the prow of the Wasa, still being restored when we saw it.

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On to Salzburg

 

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