Djurgården

Djurgården is an island in central Stockholm and is a favorite recreational destination of locals and tourists alike. It is full of lovely gardens, forests and meadows, museums and historical buildings, and even a small amusement park. We started our tour of the island by strolling along the water's edge which was a beautiful path with lots of brightly colored flowers. Then we cut inland where there were lots of really tall trees and large open areas. We found a kid's park and next to it was a small garden maze. We started to go through it but then realized we were being swarmed by mosquitos so we quickly turned back around. We also wandered into a beautiful old cemetery with flowers and medieval looking buildings in the distance and I thought that was really cool. 

Before leaving the island we decided to visit the Vasa Museum which is one of the most visited museums in all of Scandinavia. It houses the only intact 17th-century ship in the world, called Vasa. The Vasa was a 64-gun warship which sank on its maiden voyage. It was a grand ship with ornate carvings and decorations meant to be a symbol of the ambitions the king had for Sweden and himself. After over 10 years of construction when it was finally completed it was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. But unfortunately the Vasa was very unstable and top-heavy and the king was impatient so the Vasa was ordered out to sea regardless of those warning signs. She didn't even get out of the harbor before the sails caught a strong gust of wind and forced the ship onto its port side, allowing water to rush onto the lower gun deck. The ship quickly sank in full view of the crowd as hundreds, if not thousands, of people had turned out to see the great ship set sail on her maiden voyage. Nearby boats rushed to the aid of the people on the sinking ship but still about 30 people went down with the ship. There was much investigation into who was to blame. They questioned the surviving crew and then the shipbuilders, but in the end no one was punished for the fiasco.

It was crazy to learn about how the ship stayed so well preserved during its 333 years that it was on the bottom of Stockholm harbor. Apparently the cold brackish waters up here preserves things much better than warmer, saltier water in other areas. After the ship sunk there had been efforts made to raise the ship but they had been unsuccessful. So after they had recovered as many of the canons as they could the location of the ship had been forgotten about. During that time it endured erosion, several anchors were dropped on it doing a lot of damage, and rubble was also often dumped into the harbor and landed on top of it. It was rediscovered in the 1950s by an archeologist named Anders Franzén. Then it was quite the production on getting the ship back to the surface. Several methods were discussed but in the end they used a method very similar to the one attempted 300 years previously. Over the course of two years divers dug tunnels under the ship for steel cable slings which were used to lift the ship out of the mud. It was very dangerous work but luckily they succeeded without any serious accidents.

The boat itself is hugely impressive to see. The carvings are very detailed and you can tell it would've been beautiful. They also made a model of the ship which is painted the way they believe the original ship had been painted and it was magnificent. They had spent 12 years analyzing the remains in order to discover how everything was painted. They also displayed a bunch of information on how the ship has been preserved and some of the challenges and mistakes have been made in preserving the ship. It was very interesting to read about. 

Since things had been so well preserved thousands of artifacts and the remains of 15 people have been found inside the ship. This has provided scholars a lot of information about everyday life back then, as well as shipbuilding techniques and naval warfare. Now the name Vasa in Sweden has come to be synonymous with sunken vessels that are of great historical significance.

The Vasa museum was our last stop on the island and then we walked back towards Centralen. First we walked through the King's Garden's and then through a small market. Then we grabbed a late lunch back on Drottninggatan street, which is a pedestrian street with lots of shops and restuarants. It's where we went our first day in Sweden when we were laden with all of our luggage and it was raining, so it was nice to go back today and explore a little more.

Matt in front of the statue of the king:

Tomorrow is our last day in Sweden and then we're on to Norway!