Day 4 -- Grand tour of Stockholm, then onto the ferry.
Approaching Stockholm City Hall.
A view from the city hall over the lakes. The city is islands connected by bridges.
Kimberly on the steps of the city hall.
Around back is this gilded sarcophagus of Birger Jarl. Jarl is the Swedish form of the title "Earl".
Through the courtyard...
...and into the main meeting hall.
This building is where they hold the dinner for the Nobel Prize (that's Alfred Nobel)...
...and they turn this room into a banquet hall.
Upstairs they have the Gyllene Salen (Golden Hall)...
...featuring all of these gilded mosaics. Egyptian styling was all the rage when it was built.
Old and new: a lighthouse on the left, and the new performing arts building on the right.
The Riddarholm Church.
The Royal Palace seen from across the canal.
Now arriving at the Royal Palace.
The Church of St. Nicholas, with the Gamla Stan clock tower.
The changing of the guard.
Kimberly with a traffic control lion.
Walking through the old town (Gamla Stan).
Pointing out that, because they are islands, the street has risen about a half meter since
this structure was built.
The Nobel Prize Museum.
One of the main hightlights is the Vasa, a ship that sank on its launch in 1628.
Due to the water brackishness and temperature, it was almost perfectly preserved...
...until it was discovered in the 1950's and raised in 1961.
It is huge and beautifully preserved.
All around are several levels of artifacts and information about it.
The stern with the rear cannon ports.
Kimberly with the lion from the prow.
The rear facade as it exists today...
...with some models showing what it would have been painted like.
A replica showing what it would have looked like with sails unfurled...
...and a painting of same.
One display tries to recreate what the people of the time looked like.
They do have the bones, the clothes, and made some eerie-looking recreations.
Wade outside with one of the anchors.
The Royal Theater where Ingmar Bergman performed.
Walking around through the park.
Seeing all the Swedes out catching some rays.
We came across this Medieval Museum that was under the city center where they had dug up some ruins.
It included the remains of this Viking longboat.
Some of the diggings from the old city.
That night, we board an overnight ferry to head to Helsinki, only this one is not a "ferry", it is a
cruise ship with two decks reserved for busses and trucks.
Here is a shot across the main shopping and food concourse.
It has five restaurants, shopping, a casino, show lounge, kids' club, everything you would expect
on a cruise ship. We sit out on the upper deck...
...as we sail out from Stockholm...
...past hundreds of little islands...
...and across the Baltic Sea. This picture is taken about 9:30 at night, and the sun has yet to go down.
