Today we headed back to the old city again , this time to catch a ferry across to the Vassa Museum . The ferries run frequently and there are boats going in all directions . We watched a small cruise ship come in and anchor up yesterday , it was still there today . Getting off the ferry we walked up past the Nordic Life Museum , another impressive building .
The spires above it glistening gold in the sunlight .
Seems they have museums for everything here in Stockholm , never imagined this one though !!
Arriving at the Vasa Museum , we walked straight in with our pre purchased tickets , jumping the queues of people waiting patiently outside . There are hundreds of people here already .
The story of the Vasa - it sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 , about 1.3klms from the dock , it overturned and sank to the bottom of the harbour where it stayed till 1961- that's 333 years on the bottom of the harbour . About 30 people died . Up to 2025 approximately 45million visitors have seen it and remains 98% intact . It was grossly overloaded with cannons causing it to be top heavy , and it overturned when a wind stronger than a breeze was blowing , causing water to rush in some of the cannon hatches .
The carvings and finish of the boat were remarkable
There are several levels to view the boat from and lots of different artefacts on show as well
The bronze cannons were recovered in the 17th century , but nothing else . Some of the original sails were recovered , along with clothing , leather gloves , cutlery , cooking equipment etc .
Some of the cannon balls were impressive as well , the spilt one at the end designed to bring down ships rigging , the next 2 to tear the sails , and the all round one to blast holes in the hull .
This boat was to be a showpiece for the navy and lead the fleet , but never got anywhere near that !!
The mast's aren't fully extended in the museum , so this would have been a mighty ship back in the day. But if it hadn't of sank to the bottom of the harbour , we wouldn't be able to see it now .
We also visited another small museum on the way back to the ferry , it was to do with recovery of things in the ocean , showing procedures and methods for recovering things .
We got the ferry back to Gamla Stan and back on the train /bus trip home . Later that evening , we had a visitor in the backyard . This elegant young deer decided to come & say hello .
Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1moU9CmoTx2zuLmSVj6C1BUIfX-yBBrg&usp=sharing
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