Visit to Vasa Museum

  Stockholm, Sweden
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

After work I headed for the Vasa Museum.  It is located in Djurgarden.  It is open longer on Wednesdays.  The weather is so different from the previous two gloomy days.  I am writing this as I watch the sun go down.  How lovely!

Mini Vasa 1

The Vasa Museum was only about the Vasa ship and the history behind shipmaking and sailing.  Most people know the history of Vasa already but just in case...  This ship was almost brand new when it sank in Stockholm.  It was built with 3 other ships, but only this one sank.  The museum seems to suggest that no one can pinpoint a particular reason for the sunken ship, but I have my own suspicion.  Why don't they just admit that they messed up?  It just was not ready to be sailed yet. 

Mini Vasa 2

The ship itself is huge.  I overheard one of the tour guides saying that swedes back then are shorter and thus the ship had low ceilings.  Well, they aren't that much taller now so they must have been midgets then.  I wonder how accurate these guides are anyway.  But I am sure that she is right because even the palace that I visited had shorter beds in display.  I am used to beds with at least 7 ft in legth. 

On my way to the museum, I met a Hungarian and a Chinese researchers.  We ended up touring the museum together.  They are both working on a genetics project in Denmark and is attending a conference in Stockholm for three days.  Wow, the man knows a lot about ships and was very informative (maybe a little too much?).  Anyway, I like them and was sad to part with them.  They were very nice, friendly, and easy going, not to mention very considerate.  That is one thing I miss when living in the States.  Most Americans, not all, are not considerate of others. 

After my tour of the museum, I tried to visit Skansen.  Even though it was open, the main attractions close at 5pm every day.  I guess I will come again.  I ended up sitting on a bench enjoying the beautiful waterfront view of the marina.

Me in Djungarden