Stockholm, Sweden 2009

Our port time here was 8 - 5 and wow, I wished we had 2 days here at least. The sail in and out was also beautiful.

Loved this city. They actually mailed us our city cards so we didn’t have to waste time picking those up. We shared a taxi with Mike and Naomi and got to Vasa right before it opened so we had the place almost to ourselves until everyone else caught up. Planned to spend an hour here and spent an hour and a half. AMAZING! It was hard to get photos as the room was dark and just large enough to fit the ship. 

sail in

Vasa ship sunk on maiden voyage in 1628 (Rediscovered 1956 raised in 1961 and housed in museum 1990) post card - not our photo

our photos in the museum

We then walked to Skansen which is an open air museum with a small zoo. A city bus would work too, but we enjoyed the walk. We had a great time here. Yes, you could spend an entire day here, but a couple of hours was worth it as well. We spent way more time in the zoo part as the lemurs enticed us in. I had a blast poking them until I saw the sign that said not to touch them as they may bite. Saw the animals and the buildings and locals dressed in old costumes. Had a nice lunch at the Slow Sami little food court area. We had a paper cone filled with mashed potatoes, smoked reindeer meat that they fried up right there, crème fraiche and cloud berries on top and a wrap with 4 types of wild meat in it with like a cream cheese spread. Followed that with a nice ice cream 

well, that clears up which way to go....

walking to Skansen

entering Skansen

inside Skansen (lemur house)

before poking each one as I walked by

one by one they popped up their heads as I poked them

so much fun I did it again, since a minute later they all went back to sleeping

why yes, I am comfortable

mother meerkat and babies

monkey house

Baboon Hilton

mother & baby moose

Sami culture (Lapland)

locals demonstrate the lifestyle of that period

view of the city from Skansen viewpoint

Bollnastorget (small food court)

Where we had lunch

We had 1 & 4

frying the reindeer meat

walk to ferry past Gronalund

We caught a bit of the changing of the guard and toured the Royal Armory. Then headed off to walk Gamla Stan. Popped into the Nobel museum and went to city hall, but the next tour was too late for us to make it back to the ship. Found the smallest statue in Sweden of the little boy that they knit hats for in the winter. We made it back just in time as it started pouring for sail away. Then it cleared up and the captain opened the front area and we went out with cameras and binoculars for the scenic fjords. We could have watched for hours. But, it was the last formal night and we dressed and headed to dinner.

a protest in the square

walk to Royal Palace

Royal Palace

inside the museum

carriage where you could get your photo op

changing of the guard

start of our city walk

obelisk honors Stockholm's merchant class in a war against Russia

performing Abba in Stortorget Square

Drottninggatan (main boulevard)

Storkyrkan (cathedral)

Iron Boy (tiniest public statue in Stockholm)

phone booth

walk to City Hall

entry to City Hall

bell tower

walk back to Old Town

waiting for bus

sail away through the Stockholm Archipelago

Tomorrow we have our last sea day before Copenhagen.

Stockholm, Sweden 2009 https://photos.app.goo.gl/QKHuHWJR9mrfMSMq5

While putting this post together it made me realize why I loved Madagascar so much. Loved poking the Lemurs. (guess I was lucky I didn't get bitten.....) Though, I didn't poke any Lemurs in Madagascar I did get to let one sit on my shoulder.