This was a birthday present for my 60th. I was given the coordinates and had to figure out where I was going from Google Earth! It was a long weekend with just Cathryn & Michael and it was great. It's a very clean and grand city, well spread out with wide streets and smart buildings. We were able to walk around the city centre and access most things on foot, but we did take a hop on/off bus tour of the city which enabled us to visit the Vasa & Nordic Museums, the Royal Palace, and enjoy the scenery from the top of an open air bus. The first day was a bit gloomy and we had some drizzle, but after that it warmed and cleared. We came across a stunning exhibition of photographs of wild life photographer Steve Bloom. The blown up detail of his stuff is quite stunning, an example shown here. The Vasa wooden hull ship was built and launched in 1628 and promptly capsized due to calculation errors on her maiden voyage. She was discovered in the late 60s but it was not until 1971 that she was raised - must have been immensely heavy with waterlogged wood. She has been restored and there is an amazing amount of the original structure, although it has been coated with a polycarbonate resin for preservation, which gives it a gloss. She was an ornate tribute to King Vasa and is very impressive. The Nordic Museum is a very grand building but I found its contents, while relevant, to be less interesting than the building. It is the one on the left across the water, with Vasa on the right.
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