Vasa Museum

Wednesday March 23rd 2012

This morning after yet another buffet breakfast we set off walking down the hill from the hotel to begin exploring Djurgarden. This area was known as the playground of the Royals. Its a great area for families as there is so much to do in walking distance - Skansen (open air museum about swedish life), Gruna Lund (amusement park), the aquarium, National Museum, Vasa Museum, and Junibacken (Astrid Lindgren Fairytale Museum). 

Our first stop was the Vasa Museum. This is the home of the Vasa ship which is the oldest ship in the world. It is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628 which sank less than one nautical mile into its maiden voyage in August 1628. After centuries under water the ship was found in a busy shipping land in the 1950s. The ship was eventually recovered (from 32 metres down) in 1961 along with many bodies and artefacts including cannons, weapons, tools, coins, and sails.

This museum was amazing. David thinks it is the best we have ever been to. We spent many hours looking at the boat, models, reconstructions, artefacts, films, interactive displays etc.

The boys (and Dad) were also keen to have a go at a computer simulation that required them to construct their own boat, fill it with ballast and supplies and then have it rated for stability, speed and fire power.

I was sure I was going to leave the museum without a voice (some would say that is not a bad thing) as the boys wanted me to read out every written piece of information they came across.

After the museum we tried to go to Gruna Lund but unfortunately it was not yet open for the season. Instead we decided to visit the Aquarium. This was a very interesting place where there were rainforest and tropical fish exhibits which included piranas and fish that have four eyes. There was a lot of focus about the pollution of water ways so David and Connor even got to climb down into a sewer exhibit and see what can happen to waterways when bad choices are made.

Once we had been through the aquarium we went back to the hotel to rest. David and Ryan found a lovely old fashioned little white wooden cafe for dinner. Inside it was furnished with old nostalgic items and they were playing music from the 1920s-1940s. After dinner there was a little time to just unwind before climbing into bed to prepare for the flight to Iceland tomorrow. In the afternoon we discovered a minor technical problem - noticed that we are meant to get picked up for horse riding tomorrow at 1.15pm but don't land in Reykjavik until 3.30pm. Our flights must have changed at some point. Hmmm!!!!