By the time I had got ready it was after 12... so I missed the changing of the guards (at the Royal Palace) I will see it another day.
Again... it was 26 degrees. Oh from the previous whole day in the sun, no sunscreen,
my pathetic skin (as you guys know) I did not get burnt! I love the European sun... they have an Ozone layer! Its the greatest thing EVER!
Anyway back to the story. Walked down to the waterline and asked about boat tours around Stockholm (its very much a harbour town). They were running 2 hour boat cruises around the city at pretty regular intervals... so I decided I would take an afternoon one.
To kill some time I decided to walk to one of the museums (Stockholm has heaps of them). The one I went to was called the Vasa Museum. This is a funny piece of history for you. The Vasa was a warship which was build to be the pride of the Swedish navy. It boasted the most firepower out of any ship of its class in the known world. It was the kings pride and joy and he wanted to make a very bold statement about Sweden with this ship. On its maiden voyage, they went into the harbour, fired some gun solutes then headed out the channel. A light wind caught the boats sails, it tipped and sunk. About 50 people died on board. It was an engineering design fault that caused it. They used round stones as ballasts... which rolled to the side when the boat started tipping, which made it tip more and eventually water was coming in the gun ports, which made it sink. After 333 years it was excavated and preserved. Its the only ship from the 1600s that is on display. If you wanna know more just click here.
It was a very interesting thing to see.
After that I took my boat cruise. It was very pleasant. They had a running commentary as you went, so I learned a lot about the city. I feel so educated about Sweden's history now. I took a squillion photos... don't think I will upload them all because there are just too many.
Very beautiful city though, in summer at least. In winter it is exactly the opposite. Sun from 11am to 3pm and the lakes freeze over. Probably still looks awesome though.
Got back to the hostel and caught up with some of the people I met from the night before. Exchanged details with a German girl who lives in Berlin (Ruth is her name, she is a fictional writer by profession). She offered herself as a tour guide if I decide to go to Berlin, which is what I was planning to do anyways... so sweet :-)
I have also got a map of Europe now, so I will start planning my trips on my wall planner.
Anyway. Off to bed now, going to try and fight off this cold.
Hej då
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