Three Hour Tour

Day 180
I had to be up early to pack up my things and make my tour for the day. I was a bit nervous about the tour. I would be spending about three hours on a boat. Just sit right back and your hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port about this tiny ship. Ok, so it wasn't really tropic (it was cold), and I don't think that there was any chance of anything going wrong, well, I might lose my breakfast. It was, however, a three hour tour.

Sweden has about 100,000 islands in its archipelago. About 30,000 of these are in the Stockholm archipelago. The last time I was here I had wanted to see it, but because it was winter none of the tours were running. I still wasn't going to be able to see the outer bits, those tours has stopped a few days before, but I was going to get to see the central part.

The tour began with a bit of history. Stockholm became a city in 1252. During the middle ages there was no Swedish capital. Stockholm was picked in the 17^th century because it was in the middle of the Swedish empire. Sweden used to be a much larger country.

We passed a statue on the mainland that was god riding a rainbow. This had been made for the UN building in NYC, but was deemed too religious so it was placed here instead. One of the small islands was used for hanging criminals. Six islands were named after days of the week to help farmers know which one their cows were on on a given day. There was no Sunday because they didn't work then. One set of islands was called the Christmas Tree Islands. This was because the brothers who owned them a few hundred years ago had the last name Christmas Tree Island.

I really enjoyed my three hour tour, especially the part where I didn't get stranded anywhere with someone named MaryAnn or the professor.

After wandering the city a bit more I had to pick up my bags from the hostel. It closed at 6pm. As I was stuck with the heavy bags I went to the train station to type up blog for a bit. Internet in Scandinavia has been really maddening. There are tons of places where I can email or type but nowhere that I can upload pictures or spell check. This means I have a bunch on entries ready to go, but no pictures to put with them.

Eventually I headed to the airport. I had a late flight to Helsinki, Finland. When I landed I was sorta surprised to find out that I was in a different time zone. By the time I got my bag and took the bus to the train station it was almost 2 am. I went ahead and sprung for a very expensive cab. I had no idea where my hostel was from there. Once I had checked in I pretty much collapsed exhausted into bed.

Drowned Rat

Day 178
I got up a bit late and then meandered my way to the old part of Stockholm. I recognized a lot of things. It was kinda nice. I spent some time wandering the oldest part of the city admiring the stores and all the things I knew I wouldn't be buying.

It was around now that it started to rain. At first it was really just a drizzle that didn't bother me at all. I took a picture of the Royal Palace and ran into a marching band. As I headed to Djurgarden island it really started to come down. By the time I got to the Vasa Museum I was cold and drenched. I hoped that if I spent a long time here the rain would stop and I would dry out.

Before I saw anything I went right to the cafeteria. I needed some comfort food. I ended up with some beef thing, it was yummy, but back to the Vasa.

The Vasa was a war ship commissioned in 1628 by the king himself. It was meant to be the biggest, the fastest, meanest, and fanciest ship in the royal fleet. On its maiden voyage, while still in the harbor it tilted a few times and then simply sunk. There was a huge out roar. No one knew what had gone wrong. Was it built incorrectly, was God angry at the king, or was it sabotage from the Poles? Attempts were made to raise the ship, but they only managed to salvage a few cannons. Over time the location of the ship was lost.

In the 1950's Anders Frenzen, a private researcher, decided that he was going to find the ship, and he did. The ship was discovered in 1956. It took a few years of work, but in 1961, 333 years after it had sunk, the Vasa was brought to the surface.

Over the next decade the ship was searched for artifacts and everything was very carefully recorded. When it was emptied the Vasa was doused with wax to strengthen and preserve her. This was the same thing that is currently being done in Portsmouth to the Mary Rose. After 13 years of this the ship was dried out and a museum built up around it. The ship itself is almost completely intact, the biggest difference is that she had been colorfully painted, the water had worn the paint away.

This was some museum too. After a movie about the ship it then had sections on anything and everything you may want to know about it. In the 17^th century it was illegal to be unemployed, but begging was considered a profession. There were hundreds of objects to check out that had been recovered in the ship.

The most interesting part was on the 17 skeletons that had been found in the ship. Through medical analysis and the objects found near to the bodies the individuals lives were pieced together. Some of the peoples faces had even been recreated. The captain most likely went down with the ship.

I was really upset to see that not only was it still raining, it was raining harder. I didn't have my umbrella with me, that would be too smart, nor did I have my rain coat, that would be way too smart of me. I decided to go to the hostel, get dry clothes and then go see a movie. This didn't quite happen. I found the movie theater first and Batman was about to begin, so I just went for it, soaking wet and all. It was fabulous.

After picking up dinner I spent some time in the hostel reading and writing. There wasn't really anything going on and I called it an early night.

Train to Nowhere

Day 177
It was odd when I arrived to Stockholm. Usually on night trains an announcement is made that wakes up everyone about 10 minutes before the final destination. This time there wasn't an announcement and it seemed to take everyone a few minutes to realize that the train had in fact stopped and reached its destination.

I found my hostel with no problems, it just wasn't opened yet. I ended up just sitting at the train station and reading for some time. I also contemplated a name for my pack. Any suggestions?

When I could finally drop my stuff off I ran back to the station. Today was the last day on my Eurail pass and I wanted to be sure to make use of it. My guidebook had mentioned that it took about 2 hours to get to Gothenburg. I didn't even think twice when I hopped on the next train bound there.

Four hours later I was still on that train. It had gotten to the point that nothing would be open when I did get there. I also couldn't travel after midnight. I gave up and just hopped on the next train back. I went straight to the restaurant car because I was hungry. It was there that I found out that I needed a reservation to be on that train. Crap. I had been really careful about this for the last three months because there is always a huge fine associated with it. Luckily the women who worked there didn't do that, I simply had to pay $10 for the reservation. However, the train was full and I would have to stay in the restaurant car. To be honest, I didn't care, I just wanted to be back in Stockholm before the day was a complete waste.

The guy sitting across from me started talking to me and before we got to Stockholm he asked if I would like to meet for drinks later. I didn't know what to do. He was way too young for me, but a night out in Copenhagen with a local seemed like a good idea. I decided to say yes, its just drinks anyway.

Back at the hostel I finally showered and got some laundry done. When I got to the bar a couple minutes early I ordered myself a drink. I waited and waited. After about 30 minutes I left. Apparently I had been stood up. It wasn't a big deal.

I ended up back at the hostel writing in my journal and chatting with a couple of Aussies in the hostel before just calling it a night. I had been a bit of a long day, even if it was all spent on trains.