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Published: June 29th 2017
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Geo: 59.3327, 18.0645
Ive really developed a fondness for Stockholm. In many ways, it reminds me of my Melbourne home, both for pros and cons. Many of the pros seem more appealing to me. Its really green, forest lakes and island throughout the city area. Its got great food, beer, lanes, cafes and restaurants. Its not at all overcrowded. Its a big city, but has less than a sixth of Melbourne's population. It appears to have similar lifestyle. People seem relaxed, friendly and happy. Employment prospects and salaries seem high. Its clean, organized, pretty and safe with rich culture and history.
For our last full day in Stockholm, we continued to make full use of our Stockholm Card. We ended up squeezing 1210 Krona worth of value each out of cards that cost us 650 Krona a piece. So everything experience and activity was done at half price basically. For our last day, museums were the main theme. First up, was the best of them all, the Swedish History Museum. This was particularly fascinating for its focus on ancient and Viking history. To start, we attempted some archery, and played with some Viking weapons, tools and Armour. Then, a guided tour through the
exhibit, and explanations on the former city of Birka, artifacts found, burial traditions, lifestyles and consideration of the old pagan gods. There were weapons, tools, skeletons and fascinating stories of the Viking people, their stories and way of life.
There was also another exhibit detailing the lives of Swedes accross the ages. Several skeletons were on display here found from different burial sites. Each dated to a different era over the ages from 1600AD, all the way back to 9000BC.
After the history museum we headed to the famous Vasa museum. This is basically a museum built around a famous Swedish warship. The grandest warship ever built in Sweden, it was also the first to be built with two gun decks. It was built in 1628, and sunk 30 minutes and one mile into its maiden voyage. For three centuries it sat at the bottom of the bay in Stockholm before it was raised up in 1961. Surrounding the ship itself, there are displays of everything that went down with her; artifacts, cannons, barrels, even skeletons of some of the 40 people who perished as she sank. The ships grandeur was her undoing. The king wanted the biggest most fearsome ship
to ever sail. Two gundecks had never been done before. She was built too tall, narrow and too top heavy. As the ship left the port, all the cannon doors just above the waterline were open, to show off her might. It took but a slight wind to make her rock, taking water into the cannon holes as she tilted. She recovered from one tilt, but not the second. She went over onto her side. 50 metres tall, she quickly sunk. With the depth of the bay only 30 metres, for years she left the masts poking out from the waves. Finally, the king could stand the reminder of this no longer, and had them cut off. 98% of the materials of the ship remains original to this day.
Next door stood the Nordska Museum. Admission was included with the Stockholm Card. We we rent thrilled about it, and fair enough. It was a bore, textiles and fashion are not our thing and we were out in 30 minutes.
The last stop was the Globe Stadium sky view. A multi purpose sports venue, the biggest sports dome in the world, equipped with a skyview rail that climbs the dome for great
views of Stockholm. It was different, and a fun experience. We also got a great view of the new football stadium opening this year.
We rode the metro back to our hotel area, grabbing a delicious pizza for dinner at an affordable local resteraunt..
Now, we are sitting at Arlanda airport awaiting the first of two flights that will take us to our next destination. We checked out at noon today, hiking from the hotel to the central bus terminal. There we booked a transfer to the airport. Its 7 now, and we've been killing time here playing cards since around 2pm. In a few hours from now we will reach the edge of the earth. Its probably the most remote and exotic place ill visit; Longyearbyen in Svalbard. An interesting expedition awaits.
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