Stockholm Cont'd

Since we are leaving this afternoon at 3:00 to catch our ship to Helskinki, Finland, we decided to just take the bus to city center and walk around to see some of the buildings we passed on our bus tour.  Not sure what this one is but it was nice.

"The Riddarholm Church (Swedish: Riddarholmskyrkan) is the burial church of the Swedish monarchs. It is located on the island of Riddarholmen, close to the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. The congregation was dissolved in 1807 and today the church is used only for burial and commemorative purposes. Swedish monarchs from Gustavus Adolphus (d. 1632 AD) to Gustaf V (d. 1950) are entombed here (with exceptions such as Queen Christina who is buried within St. Peter's Basilica in Rome), as well as the earlier monarchs Magnus III (d. 1290) and Charles VIII (d. 1470). It has been discontinued as a royal burial place in favor of the Royal Cemetery.

It is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm, parts of it dating to the late 13th century, when it was built as a greyfriars monastery. After the Protestant Reformation, the monastery was closed and the building transformed into a Protestant church. A spire designed by Willem Boy was added during the reign of John III, but it was destroyed by a strike of lightning on July 28, 1835 after which it was replaced with the present cast iron spire

Coats of arms of knights of the Order of the Seraphim are in the walls of the church. When a knight of the Order dies, his coat of arms is hung in the church and when the funeral takes place the church bells are rung constantly from 12:00 to 13:00".

Coats of Arms

Hammarskjold the Statesman Coat of Arms

Tombs of Kings

Made our way back across the bridge looking for City Hall where the Nobel's are awarded

City Hall

Inner Courtyard

There were several couples here who were all dressed up.  Looked like they were waiting to be or had just been married at City Hall

The tours were guided and the next one was too late for us as we needed to get back to our hotel to catch the cab to the boat.

This seemed to be a convention of Chihuahua's at City Hall.  Perhaps there was a Chihuahua wedding.

So long Stockholm

Stockholm Cont'd

Went to see the palace this morning.  We crossed the bridge onto Gamla Stan again at Gustav Adolf II Square.

King Gustav Adolf II

Oldest garden leading to Palace

No photos allowed inside

Stockholm Cathedral

The Silver Altar is made of ebony and silver

The Pulpit dates back to 1700, and was created in an extravagant style by Burchardt Precht.

The Organ's facade was created in1789 for an earlier organ

St. George and the Dragon is a very well preserved sculptural ensemble, unequaled among its kind and carved out of oak, probably by Berndt Notke of Lubeck, with details made of elk antlers and horsehair. It was consecrated in 1489 as an altar monument for the shrine to St. George.  It was commissioned by Sten Sture the Elder, who had put to flight the forces of King Christian of Denmark, thereby rescuing Stockholm from the Danish invaders.

The legend of St. George and the Dragon tells of a terrible dragon that demanded human offerings from the town of Selene as its price for not laying waste to the town.  The day the King's daughter is to be sacrificed, St. George comes riding by.  On condition that the town's heathen inhabitants convert to Christianity, he slays the dragon.

In St. George, it may be that Sten Sture saw himself as the knight who conquered the Danish "dragon", thereby saving both the princess (Stockholm) from ruin.  For people today, this imposing monument provides inspiration to take up the struggle against evil -- wherever it might appear.

The Candle Globe is an assembly point for prayers and the lighting of candles for the world and the globe it represents.  It has been in the Cathedral since 1972 and is the work of the artist Toroff Engstrom.

Had a little lunch 

and went to the Nobel Museum which was close by.  It contains information on the Nobel Prize Winners and their contributions.   It also has Alfred Nobel's (inventor of dynamite) history and contributions.  It was in his will that physics, chemistry, phisiology or medicine, literature and peace would each year receive a part of the revenues of his fortune.  The Nobel Prize was from the start a world event.  No other prize spanned over so many subjects and nationalities.  More than 800 Laureates have been awarded the Nobel Pirze.  Interesting museum

One more day in Stockholm

Stockholm, Sweden

We depart by air from Bergen to Stockholm.  Forgot we were doing carryon luggage.  Got to security and had to bag all of our liquids and creams.  Got them bagged

Carried them through the line to where you put all your stuff in the bins to go through.  The lady took my shampoo and conditioner.  Bottles to big even though less than half full.  Went through and yep, my hip set off the machine, so had to get the pat down routine.  Then the guy on this side of security ask to check my plastic bags again.  He confiscated my hair gel.  Since Terry and I had decided to I would bring the hair products and she would bring the face products, we now have no hair products at all.  Ha.  Ah well, theres a drug store someplace I 'm sure.

Only an hour flight, so we arrived and this time our taxi driver was there to meet us.  A little better beginning for Stockholm.

The city of Stockholm is made up a seveal islands connected by bridges.

We have a pass that gets us on all modes of transportation and into all museums and sights.  As our hotel is a ways from center city we hopped our first bus and got off in this pretty park area.  Grabbed a quick bite to eat and then walked into the old city on the island of Gamla Stan.  The city of Stockholm was oiginally founded on this island.

Crossing the bridge into the old city

Narrow streets

and alleys

Yeah, the Swedes have decaf coffee.  We also tried

Kanelbulle, the Swedish Cinnamon Bun.  Pretty good.

We had a tour of the city the next morning 

and went on to each of the islands making up the city.  

Afterwards, we decided to go to the Vasa Museum and see the old ship which sank in the harbor on her maiden voyage.  We took the ferry to Djurgarden, another island to find the museum

The Vasa was one of four ships commissioned bt King Gustov Adolf in 1625.

She had 120 ton of ballast on board which was not enough to cope with even a small squall.  Considerably more ballest was needed, but then her gun ports would have been too close to the water line.  The hull should have been designed wider and deeper, but alas soon after she sailed she keeled over in the wind and sank with crew and passengers on board.  The efforts to raise her from the harbor floor began in 1957.  A series of tunnels built under the boat and then using steel cables and pontoons, she was raised from the clay in one piece to a level of 15 metres.  

By 1961 after being made water tight, she was raised to the surface. On May 4, 1961, on her own keel, she was hauled into the Gustov V dry dock, afloat after 333 years.

Along with the ship they found many skeletons of the crew and passengers with most of their bones and some artifacts intact.  They were able to determine who and what some of them were doing at the time of the disaster.  Using forensics and skulls they have been able to creater very life like likenesses of many of the crew and a woman who was aboard.  This guy was particularly real looking.

Gustav

 Beata was 25 years old and one of two women on board.  She was a guest and would have left the ship at its first port

Filip was 30 and was found near the helm.  It is almost certain her was the Steersman

Quite an amazing effort to preserve this history of Stockholm's Ship Vasa

As we exited the museum, it began to rain.  We did catch the trolley pretty close by.  By the time we got back to where we thought our bus stop was, it was raining pretty hard.  Stupid us, we neither brought our umbrellas or raincoats.  By the time we found the correct bus stop we were drenched.  We went back to our hotel to dry out.  More tomorrow.