SCandinavian Cruises - 2026
Saturday 23 May'26 - Stockholm (Sweden)
Woke up a little early this morning. One reason was the 1hr time change (backwards) and the other being the sun rising at 0439 so decided to logon and watch the Raiders Jersey Flegg play Manly at Seiffert Oval, by streaming Bar TV. Like their NRL compatriots, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!! Oh, well, off to brekky as we are docking at 0800 and are heading off at 0830 on a tour of the Vassa Museum. It was beautiful coming into Stockholm, so many little islands and I found out later on the tour, that Sweden has over 30,000 islands as part of the country. In fact Stockholm itself, is on a small island, with the other ones around it making up what the Swede's call, "Greater Stockholm". It is worth noting that a fair few of the islands are rather small however. We were docked at the furthest berth, so a bus ride to the Vassa Museum gave plenty of opportunity for photos of the harbour.
The Vassa Museum was something I was looking forward to and it did not disappoint. Long story short, it was a very large naval vessel that took years to built, pride of the fleet and was launched in 1628. About 15 minutes later, it sunk on it's maiden voyage. The exact spot was unknown until 1956 and after a major recovery job, was finally raised in 1961. It is the largest complete ship (98% intact) from the 17th century and it is housed fully within the museum, along with a lot of information including models and recovered artefacts. The museum is surrounded by a big parkland and next door is the Nordiska museet (Nordic Museum). Just to highlight the island's thing, both of these are located on a different island to the main part of Stockholm.
After the Vassa, we were bussed into central Stockholm and given the option to return to the ship or have some free time. The point of drop off was where the 1/2 hourly Apex shuttle bus point was (last one at 1630). Given it was just on noon, we decided to look around a little more. As we where right at Kungsträdgården ("King's Garden"), lunch was had in one of the many cafe's surrounding the park. The park was incredibly busy due to a Thai Festival being held there so I actually asked a bloke which one he recommended and he pointed it out to me (see the statue)! After being watered & fed, it was time for a walk around. Many street shots (a 3km shopping plaza from both ends & a sculpture, made up of 100's of LED crystals that lights up in the dark amongst it) but the building with the gold all over it is the Royal Dramatic Theatre (an anecdote to this was when we passed it on the way to the Vassa, one of the American's on the bus asked, "was that the Trump Hotel" - there isn't one!).
After that, we headed for the shuttle because it was a warm (28'c) sunny day but not before the Royal Swedish Palace, then the Royal Swedish Opera House then a final shot of Gröna Lund (Tivoli Gardens of Stockholm) across the water before boarding the shuttle back to the bus. We were "toasted" due to the heat, an hour of recovery, where I watched a mini on Bar TV of the Raiders beating Manly in the NSW Cup (at least we won something this weekend). Dinner in The Normandie Restaurant, then a couple of night caps in The Club during Pub Quiz before zzzzz's.