The visit continues with a trip to the Vasa Museet:

 http://vasamuseet.se/en/

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

Our son sent this postcard! 

The Vasa was a Swedish warship built in 1626 to 1628. The ship floundered and sank after only 2 nautical miles on its maiden voyage, August 10, 1628. The bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century but she was re-discovered in the 1950's in a busy shipping lane in Stockholm harbor. She next was raised with her hull mostly intact in 1961. She has been viewed since that time, moving to a permanet location in 1987. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Sweden.

Why did she sink? She was top heavy and did not carry enough ballast. She had too shallow of a keel and top heavy with two gun decks. The king himself was abroad when it sank and had been impatient to see the ship launched, inspite of clues at the dock there might be a problem. When the first big wind blew, she was over. No one had had the courage to explain the problems with the ship to the king and it was a total communication disaster. To his credit, while they tried to pin the blame on someone, no one was held responsible, well no sentences were carried out anyway.

They found the remains of 16 people in the hold when they raised her and hundreds of artifacts. These priceless items have given historians much to work with regarding their efforts to know about life at that time, especially on such a well equipped war ship. It was so vastly decorated and equipped with weaponry, that it was to be a huge benefit to the 30 Years War. She was a painted up tart, more like a gem of the sea, not what you might imagine a warship would look like, but she was to express honor to the king, and indicate the intention of Sweden to expand.

 He took these pictures of the detail of the carvings. There were many painted carvings on the ship at launch. Most of the paint has disappeared but using pigments available at the time they did some work re-creating it as it might have appeared on a model.

 More detail.

 Vasa Port  - Wiki Image

 Vasa - Wiki Image

Small scale model of the Vasa, painted as it might have been at the time it sank. - Wiki 

Wandering back in Stockholm this fountain was of interest. 

 Work of art: Morgon Brons 

The statue above stands in a fountain on Brantingtorget. Around the fountain there are several granite characters. 

 Small carving detail.

Also they visited this chapel when at the Palace.

 Entrance to the Royal Chapel Slottskyrkan at the southeast side of the Stockholm Palace.

 Interior of Slottskyrkan 1900. Wiki

 Stockholm Palace

 Stockholm Palace Guard 

 A famous king of Sweden on his steed.

" The love of my people is my award, was the motto of king Karl XIV Johan. He was king of Sweden and Norway from 1818."

   Wiki Picture Above

Artist Bengt Erland Fogelberg

Work of art: Karl XIV Johan Brons, svart granit 
Location: Gamla stan, Slussen 
From year: 1854 

The Stockholm Central Station is an old one with new additions. It was originally built in 1871 and as many as 200,000 commuters a day travel through the station. This is how to get to Stockholm from Nykoping, on the SJ commuter rail service. Waiting for the train back my son and his friend met, Peter Priebe who was with the government, formerly of the Red Cross and AFS. He spoke to them about their adventure in Stockholm. You never know who you will meet when you  have to wait for a train!

Stockholm Central Station as seen from the outside. Wiki Image

 The Waiting Hall at Stockholm C

  Ringen ("the ring"), in the centre of the ground floor, is one of Stockholm Central station's most distinctive inside features. Citizens of Stockholm like to refer to it asSpottkoppen ("the spittoon").

I hope you enjoyed this quick visit to Sweden, Nykoping, and two days in Stockholm! 

Copyright 2011 by SheilaTGTG55

Photos by H. Bernhardt unless otherwise attributed.