I woke up as our boat was nearing the port of Stockholm, walked over to our balcony window, and drew back the curtains for a look. WHAOOOO! Man, were we close to land! Like 50 feet away! What was our captain thinking, driving this boat so close I could practically see through this guy's window what he was watching on TV!

Made my way to the top deck upstairs, cup of coffee in hand, to see what was going on. Other passengers were on the bow, watching as Norwegian Star threaded its narrow way between the islands that lead to Stockholm.

Between the Baltic Sea and Stockholm are 24,000 beautiful low-lying islands, smoothed by glaciers and covered in trees, known as the Stockholm Archipelago. Traversing them to reach Stockholm was, at times, exquisitely picturesque!

And goooooood morning, Stockholm!

Just up the hill from where we were docked was this grand building, set in a beautiful location overlooking Stockholm's harbour entrance. Danvikshem is now used as a home for the care of the elderly. A few years back a foreign battle ship arrived in Stockholm for a official visit. The captain thought that this was the royal castle and gave the order to give a grand cannon salute just outside. The poor elderly people got quite a shock.

Off in the distance, a church on a hill, striking in its simplicity.

Our tour guide met us, as we began our day of seeing Stockholm.

Our bus stopped at a promontory, overlooking the city, for some great views.

Amusement park, on the water.

Next stop, the Ericsson Globe, formerly the Stockholm Globe Arena, currently the largest hemispherical building in the world, at 361' in diameter. It serves as the national indoor arena of Sweden, primarily used for ice hockey and musical performances.

Skyview is an exterior inclined elevator which transport passengers onto the top of the arena. It has two spherical gondolas, each able to accommodate up to 16 passengers, which travel along parallel tracks on the exterior of the south side of the globe. It provides virtually unobstructed views over Stockholm

As one glassed gondola goes up, the other comes down.

Arriving at the top of the Ericsson Dome. At a height of nearly 400 feet, Skyview offers a nearly unobstructed view of Stockholm and the surrounding area.

Celebrating the moment.

The view of the city.

Nearby apartments.

Our new friends and traveling buddies, Elwood and Chantay, share a laugh with Bill and Jim.

As we descend the other gondola comes up.

Leaving the Globe, we drove through Stockholm to the Nordic Museum to see the resurrected ship, the Vasa. Took some pics along the way.

The Royal Dramatic Theater is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama," founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theater's eight running stages..

Our next stop, the Vasa Museum, which displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.

The ship foundered and sank after sailing about 1,400 yards into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. After most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century, she was ultimately forgotten until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor.

The ship was built at the order of the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629).

It was richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, and upon completion was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world.

It's fatal flaw was the addition of a second row of canons, which made the ship top heavy. The King was impatient to see her in action as the flagship of his reserve squadron, and the ship builders lacked the political courage to discuss the ship's structural problems frankly, or to have the maiden voyage postponed.

This replica show what the ship would have looked like, the pride of the Swedish navy, and the King.

The ship was ornately appointed, as shown in this replica.

Some of the carved figures that adorned the ship have been reconstructed and are on display.

The cold, briny sea water preserved the ship for hundreds of years, and it was treated and assembled as a popular museum in Stockholm.

See our afternoon Tour of Stockholm Old Town. Or return to the Main Menu to see something else.