![\"Stockholm](\"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/09\/DSCF1048.jpg\" "\\"Stockholm")
<\/a>1908 Art Nouveau Royal Dramatic Theater. Along the waterfront there are many beautiful 18th & 19th cen. buildings.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Sunday we toured the amazing Vasa Museum www.vasamuseet.se<\/a>, dedicated to one of the world\u2019s biggest flops.\u00a0 The Vasa was a Royal War Ship, intended to aid in the Thirty Years War, completed in 1628 and sunk 20 minutes after launching.\u00a0 Ships this large (47.70m\u00d711.20m\u00d74.75m) with 2 cannon decks were fairly new.\u00a0 The king, Gustavus Adolphus Vasa, wanted to awe enemies and allies alike so he ordered the dimensions, fittings, and decorations accordingly.\u00a0 One of his innovations was to have the cannon (then made individually from one-use-only molds) more precisely alike so they would take the same size cannonballs.\u00a0 This meant the top deck of cannon were as large as the 2nd<\/sup> deck and heavier than on other ships.\u00a0 This and a few other details (slightly too narrow, loose ballast) left the ship unsteady.\u00a0 The Vasa\u2019s sister ship, the Applet was only 1.5m wider, but that was enough to provide the stability which the Vasa lacked.<\/p>\n Elaborately decorated and originally vibrantly painted, the Vasa would have awed, had it not sunk.<\/p><\/div>\n The Nordic Museum is set in Djurgarden, the former hunting grounds for royalty.<\/p><\/div>\n Next we visited the Nordic Museum.\u00a0 We especially liked learning about the Sami, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia.<\/p>\n We then had a lovely visit with friends James and Lissy and their darling girls, Angelina and Emily. Afterward we enjoyed strolling the island they live on. Stockholm sits entirely on islands.<\/p>\n James & Lissy & Emily<\/p><\/div>\n Monday we saw the Stockholm Cathedral\u00a0 (Sankt Nikolai Kyrka), the German Church (Tyska Kyrkan),\u00a0and the modest fall version of the changing of the guard, but failed to tour the Royal Palace itself, because beginning this week the palace closed on Mondays.\u00a0 Many tourist places in Scandinavia reduce hours and days open or close entirely as the weather cools.\u00a0 Speaking of which, the weather was fairly reasonable for us:\u00a0 cool and often overcast, but rain for the most part was rare and light for our vacation week.<\/p>\n Stockholm Cathedral had the most phenomenal St. George & the Dragon we have yet seen.<\/p><\/div>\n Statue on the Stockholm Royal Palace<\/p><\/div>\n Monday evening we boarded the Silja Symphony, overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki.\u00a0 A 13-story cruise monster, with restaurants, shops, bars, and disco.\u00a0 I had booked the cheapest cabin, which turned out to be below<\/em> the 2 car decks.\u00a0 \u201cSleeping with the bilge rats\u201d was Jon\u2019s phrase.\u00a0 But our waking hours were spent roaming the ship and watching the islands of the Swedish archipelago float by.<\/p>\n Swedish Archipelago, taken from the ferry<\/p><\/div>\n Trapeze act on the promenade deck of the ferry<\/p><\/div>\n In Helsinki we spent our day walking, following a self-guided tour from the web. Having the GPS with us we learned later that we had walked 23 km!\u00a0 The lake in the middle of the city provides\u00a0lots of lovely long views as you go around.<\/p>\n When the sea is not frozen most of the Finnish fleet of ice-breakers is moored at Helsinki\u2019s north port.<\/p>\n Finnish Ice Breakers<\/p><\/div>\n Helsinki Senate Square with Emperor Alexander II in the center, the Cathedral beyond.<\/p><\/div>\n In 1809 Russia took Finland from Sweden. Czar Alexander moved the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki in 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland and bring the capital closer to St. Petersburg.\u00a0 The downtown core, Senate Square, was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg, with the Lutheran Helsinki Cathedral dominating one side. Like most Protestant churches the interior is plain.<\/p>\n Uspenski Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n Topping a rocky hill is the Eastern Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral, with an unusual interior.<\/p>\n Uspenski Cathedral interior<\/p><\/div>\n We made our way around T\u00f6\u00f6l\u00f6nlahti,\u00a0the lake in the center of the city, warmed ourselves in the free Botanical Garden, but were too late to go inside the Winter Garden.<\/p>\n Whimsical doorway in Helsinki's Art Deco Apartment Complex<\/p><\/div>\n We usually enjoy the medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque architecture of Europe\u2019s old cities, but Helsinki also has a neighborhood of apartment buildings constructed in Jugendstil (Art Deco) which we thought lovely (for apartment complexes!).<\/p>\n Jon found a place he'd like to perform: Helsinki's new Finlandia Hall<\/p><\/div>\n In Europe there is everywhere modern mixed with ancient.\u00a0 In Helsinki they are trying to build a reputation as a design center.\u00a0 So while there is plenty of the usual \u2018concrete box\u2019 modern (mostly apartments and office buildings), they are attempting to add new public buildings with some flair. Wednesday we took a train to Turku. Founded in the 13th<\/sup> cen., it\u2019s the oldest city in Finland. Until the Russians moved the capital (taking not only government but university, botanical garden, etc.), it was the most populous. It retains some of its importance as a port (3 million people pass through each year) and is now the 3rd<\/sup>largest urban area in Finland. It also still has a strong connection to Sweden: over 5% of the population still claims Swedish as their mother-tongue. Just 15 years after the capital was moved to Helsinki, a fire destroyed most of Turku.<\/p>\n The tower of the Turku Cathedral shows layers of different construction techniques through the years.<\/p><\/div>\n We found our hotel, the Bridgettine Convent Guest House, as pristine perfect as one could imagine, a pleasant contrast to my Helsinki choice.\u00a0 Then we went over to the Sibelius Museum www.sibeliusmuseum.abo.fi<\/a> \u00a0There we heard Tanel Joamets taneljoamets.edicypages.com\/<\/a>, a phenomenal Estonian pianist, in an all-Debussy concert.\u00a0 As an encore, he asked the audience to name a theme which he would compose to on the spot.\u00a0 Someone called out \u201cconcrete and glass\u201d.\u00a0 He thought a moment. He played.\u00a0 I was awed.\u00a0 I could easily hear the theme.<\/p>\n Sir Jon, my shining knight, in Turku Castle<\/p><\/div>\n Thursday we toured the castle, had lunch at a caf\u00e9 built to house the Daphne (a sailboat made famous by Swedish-Finland author Goran Schildt), and visited the Forum Marinum www.forum-marinum.fi<\/a>, an ultra-complete shipping museum.<\/p>\n Boats outside the Forum Marinum. There were many beautiful sailing ships moored along Turku's Aura River.<\/p><\/div>\n We had dinner one night on a restaurant ship moored across from this building. Jon tried a local specialty: fried herring!<\/p><\/div>\n Turku Botanical Garden<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Friday was perhaps the highlight of our entire trip because we rented bikes.\u00a0 We rode out to the island of Ruissalo where there is marvelous botanical garden.\u00a0 They were selling grapes they had grown in the greenhouses.\u00a0 Remember:\u00a0 this is Finland!!\u00a0 After the botanical garden we rode out to the end of the island and wandered about the rocky shore.<\/p>\n A peaceful respite watching the sea from Ruissalo Island.<\/p><\/div>\n Friday night was another ferry crossing.\u00a0 To our dismay this\u00a0trip was worse than the first, partially because Friday is party night so the ferry was crowded with young people, out to get drunk and\/or laid (kinda fun to watch though!).\u00a0 There were ship-wide announcements at least to midnight and a harsh wake-up alarm at 5:05 a.m. (the ship docks at 6:10 and has a short turn-around).\u00a0 And since the ride was shorter (leaving at 8:15 p.m.), we saw no great scenery.<\/p>\n This picture only hints at the extensive gardens around Drottningholm Palace.<\/p><\/div>\n Saturday, our last full day, started badly with the early alarm, but after a lovely hour walk in the rain with our suitcases, our arrival at Malardrottningholm Yacht Hotel was perfect: they checked our room and despite the early hour, it was ready so we could register and leave our luggage there. They also said we could partake of the buffet breakfast. We even napped a bit before leaving for the century-old steamboat ferry to Drottningholm Palace. After a tour and lunch, we ferried back to the yacht, had dinner on board, and slept well.<\/p>\n Hidden by trees on the grounds of Drottningholm is this Chinese Pavilion. In 1753 it was a surprise birthday gift from King Adolf Fredrik to his Queen Lovisa Ulrika.<\/p><\/div>\n The ceiling of the Stockholm City Hall Council Meeting Room is like an inverted Viking ship.<\/p><\/div>\n Sunday was to be a just-get-to-the-airport day, but we had learned the city hall would be open for tours at 10 a.m.\u00a0 And we were glad we chose to add this.\u00a0\u00a0The building is very elaborate and magnificently decorated.\u00a0 It is the venue for the Nobel Prize banquet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The amazing mosaic in the Golden Hall of Stockholm City Hall, where Nobel guest come to dance.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Itinerary: \u00a0a week-long trip to Scandinavia: Stockholm\u2014Helsinki\u2014Turku\u2014Stockholm Saturday we arrive at Arlanda Airport on the best day of the year:\u00a0 Arlanda is having an open house so buses between the airport and Stockholm city center are free!\u00a0 Easily finding the … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>\n
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\nNonetheless the one truly depressing hotel on this trip was in Helsinki.\u00a0 It sounded like it had \u2018character\u2019 and fit with our nautical theme as it was\u00a0 a sailor\u2019s hotel.\u00a0 Low cost and good location could not make up for peeling ceiling paint and negligible mattresses.\u00a0 Although I can say the employees were as jolly as any other Finns we saw!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>