DAYS 18-20 Stockholm Sweden

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Today started with a 4 hours train journey to Stockholm and a 3 night stay at the Hotel Lilla Radmannen. After check-in & lunch we headed out for a brief orientation walk around the medieval city that is arguably Scandinavia's most beautiful city. Gamla Stan, (or Old Town), is one of 14 islands that makes up the city & is its vibrant heart due to its historic architecture, narrow cobblestoned streets & home of the Royal Palace. However being expensive & crowded with tourists we had dinner & drinks in the emerging Sodermalm district.

Next day the girls went to the ABBA museum & had a really good time while I visited a number of Stockholm’s underground stations. The subway (Tunnelbana) system of 100 stations is huge for a city of less than 1 mil & each has a unique artwork feature from over 140 different artists.

Day 3 started with a visit to the Vasa Museum, home to the warship, Vasa, which sank almost immediately on her maiden voyage in 1628. The ship was only salvaged in 1961 & is now displayed in its own museum, along with many of the ships relics. The collection is one of the most visited sights in Sweden & is absolutely amazing - huge, highly decorated in gold trim & carvings but was an accident waiting to happen. The ship was both very long & high but very narrow & therefore had a high centre of balance with insufficient ballast so quickly started to list in a slight breeze.

In the evening, we boarded an overnight ferry for a 17 hr crossing to Helsinki, Finland. The long summer daylight enabled us to view the most scenic parts of the Stockholm archipelago before settling down to a fairly comfortable two berth cabin. We woke to a spectacular morning arrival into Helsinki harbour.

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Photos

The House of the Knights
Commissioned in the 17th century by the Swedish nobility, to whom it still belongs, The House of Nobility remains. Known for its exquisite works of architecture.

Riddar Holms kyrkan .
Built around 1300 is the final resting place for most of Sweden's Monarchy .
Was

Entrance Arch to pedestrian walk
Linking Nth Isle to Gamla Stan

Sankt Nikolai kyrka
Oldest church in Gamla stan (1306)
Beautiful bell tower

The oldest buildings in Stortorget Square
The white squares on the red building represents each of the 82 people killed in the terrorist incident several years ago.

Marten Trotzigs Grand
Stockholm’s narrowest street

Vasa
So big it’s very hard to capture.