One Last Gasp in Stockholm

Thursday, June 24, 2010. Our final day in Stockholm and the last part of our cruise vacation was a nice relaxing and enjoyable series of walks and visits to some places that I missed seeing on our last visit to this beautiful city.

After an included breakfast at Berns Hotel, we ventured out for a long walk along the waterfront, ending up on Djurgarden Island, which is the home to many great museums and historic buildings here in Stockholm. The Vasa Museum was our destination, and it was fascinating. A 17th century war ship that sunk on its maiden voyage has been brought up from the bottom of the sea and rebuilt in all its glory. (Picture of the ship above.) It was under water for 333 years and at the museum they have created fabulous films, displays and interactive exhibits around this amazing archeological discovery. The museum was built around the ship and it is breathtaking. Turned out the big ship had too little ballast, gun ports too low on the bow, and was basically designed quite poorly by the builders. It sank like a rock the first time in the water! Ronna, Briar and Natalie had visited the Vasa 10 years ago, but I didn't see it. So this was quite special for me.

We had a simple snack lunch in the park near the Vasa comprised of French hot dogs, chips and ice cream! Shopping and walks finished out the day before we had a very nice French dinner at Bistro Berns, right outside our hotel on a gorgeous park. We were able to complete our al fresco dinner before the crowds of smokers arrived.

What is it about this "green" and healthy country. They smoke like crazy and if you are seated next to a bunch of smokers at these outdoor cafes, it is miserable. Hey, how about smokers on this side, non-smokers on that side. But no... they smoke everywhere. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

We have to be up early to catch a 7:30 a.m. cab to the Stockholm Airport for a flight to Frankfurt, then a change to a 747 and then on to SFO.

Great trip... great weather... we're blessed and thankful for this memorable opportunity!