We both felt kind of silly about passing out so early, so we headed out to the deck to watch the sunrise as we pulled into Stockholm. There were so many cute little houses tucked into the hills of the islands. I have no idea how people get there, but they were nice to look at. As the sun rose, we pulled into Stockholm, back where we started our trip all those days ago. It was bittersweet to be at the end of our journey, but we had one more day to enjoy.
We hoofed it back to the hotel to unload our belongings. Quick pit stop and we were off to enjoy the day. We got the City Pass so we could get inside some of the museums. I don’t recall what order we did everything. First, I think we went to the Wine and Spirits Museum because it opened early. You got to wear these little headphone deals that explained all the exhibits. I can’t describe the museum much more than its name – it was a museum about the history of booze-making in Sweden.
Next, we went over to the palace. We happened to get there in time to watch the changing of the guard. It was cool, although way too over the top. They could have slimmed that down by about 5 minutes, but whatever.
We walked around the inside of the palace – at least the areas they let us common folk go. I don’t remember anything that stood out about the palace. It was big and well furnished. And old. That’s all I got. We went to the basement to see the Crown Jewels. Very fancy. Very pretty, but again, nothing stands out. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of any of these places. That might be why my memory is faded. We rode the big ass elevator at some point too. Maybe on our way to Gamla Stan.
We stopped by the Nobel Museum. Science, yeah! I probably thought it was cool. Shannon probably thought it was boring. We weren’t there very long. We hopped on the ferry over to Skasen.
I got to eat a hot dog in a pita with mashed potatoes. Yeah! It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be.
We wanted to go to the outdoor air museum, much like the one we saw in Copenhagen, but it was Sunday, so it was closed. That actually worked out for the better because we went to the Vasa Museum instead, and the Vasa Museum was awesome.
Vasa was a 17th century royal galley. It wasn’t used to fight, but to transport the King around to watch other people do the fighting. It had intricate ornate wooden carvings, huge sails, and comfortable quarters – all the excess you’d expect from the King’s personal cruise ship. It was also too heavy, and sank in the harbor during its first voyage. Poor planning.
It was raised from the sea in the late 20th century, restored, and placed in this museum. They did an amazing job restoring it because it looked exactly like it (probably) did in the 17th century. It was something like 7 stories tall. They also displayed the daily items they found aboard the ship – shoes, spoons, candles, etc – to show was life was like aboard. Super cool. My description isn’t doing it justice.
The museum closed and we had to go. We grabbed some dinner at a place near Skasen. I believe we had the ham and cheese schnitzel, and I believe it was awesome.
We headed back towards the hotel, bar hopping along the way. I can’t believe our last night is almost over! No crazy or amazing stories from that night. It was pretty low key. We enjoyed a few last beers and reminisced about the trip.
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