Because of the size of our ship, we dock in Nynashamn, a small port and town about 45 minutes’ drive from Stockholm.  We booked an organised tour mainly to get hassle free transport, with the benefit of visiting the Vasa Museum, and a guided walk through Gamla Stan.  Stockholm was my favourite Scandinavian city 24 years ago.  As soon as we arrived I remembered why.  It is so clean, green, and elegant.  It helped that the weather was once again perfect for sightseeing.

First photo stop was City Hall, which has great views over the water.  From there we drove through the city, seeing some of the beautiful waterfront buildings as we made our way to Djurgarden.  This island is home to several museums (including the Abba Museum) and amusement parks, as well as some very posh residences, and a large park.  This is where Swedes come to play.

Back in 1992 the Vasa Museum was brand new.  I remember then being fascinated by the story of the Vasa, the size of the ship, and the effort taken to salvage, restore, and display it in the purpose built museum.  The exhibit now has more floors, so you can get closer to the ship and get a good look at the rough, heavy timber.  The Vasa was a 226 foot long royal warship that embarrassingly sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, only a few hundred metres after being launched with much fanfare.  The design was flawed – it was built from very heavy timbers, with additional weight from the excess of embellishments, which were meant to impress/terrify the enemy.  The ship was top heavy and too narrow, and the first gust of wind simply toppled her.  She quickly sank to the bottom of Stockholm’s harbour.

After several failed attempts, they finally worked out a method to raise her from the seabed in the late 1950s.  It took many years to extricate her, clean her up, spray her with special sealant, and house her in the building.  It is a tale of complete failure (think Titanic).   Fortunately nowadays we have highly advanced marine design and there is no danger of Regal Princess suffering the same fate!

We took another scenic drive, admiring some of the gracious art nouveau buildings (many of them hotels) and water views.  Stockholm would certainly be a beautiful city to live in during summer, if you were wealthy enough.

Our guide led us on a walk through Gamla Stan (the old town), which was crowded with other tourists.  We saw the Royal Palace, German Lutheran church, and some of the oldest medieval buildings in Stockholm, including some that are decidedly lopsided now.  We also discovered how expensive it was when we tried to buy lunch.

We had wifi on the bus for most of the day so Ian was happily occupied capturing portals and pokemons.  Back in Nynashamn, we boarded in time for our regular trivia session.  Embarrassingly our score went rapidly backwards today – 11/20.  I think cruise brain is setting in.  Later we headed to the top decks for the early evening sail-away, which was different from other ports.  Firstly, because at Nynashamn they don’t have a fixed wharf.  Instead they have a brand new “Sea Walk”, an ingenious floating dock which concertinas out to meet the ship in the morning, then floats away and folds itself back up when the ship is ready to leave.  This avoids the need for tender boats, which saves us all a lot of time and queuing.

Secondly because they played Abba music videos on the giant movie screen.  There is nothing to compare with watching small Swedish islands slip by from 19 decks up, to the amplified sounds of “Dancing Queen” and “SOS” (the latter perhaps not the best choice for a ship).