Stockholm
day 0 - Saturday, July 4, 2015
We arrived at Hotel Wellington, our Stockholm hotel one day before our Scandinavia tour started. We will be staying here for two nights. Just prior to this tour, we did the Rick Steves' Tallinn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg tour.
The airfair to Europe is not inexpensive, therefore, when we book a tour, we try to do back to back tours. I wrote to one of Rick's Information Technology staff that Rick's web site should have a menu showing all tours with starting and ending days. This would enable customers to take a quick look to see which back to back tours might work for them. She took this to a staff meeting and everyone thought this was a great idea. Another idea would be that when you book a tour, the software gives you a list of other tours that end just before your tour or start just after your tour. I think that would be helpful to those wishing to book back to back tours. What do you think Rick?
The airfair to Europe is not inexpensive, therefore, when we book a tour, we try to do back to back tours. I wrote to one of Rick's Information Technology staff that Rick's web site should have a menu showing all tours with starting and ending days. This would enable customers to take a quick look to see which back to back tours might work for them. She took this to a staff meeting and everyone thought this was a great idea. Another idea would be that when you book a tour, the software gives you a list of other tours that end just before your tour or start just after your tour. I think that would be helpful to those wishing to book back to back tours. What do you think Rick?
day 1 - Sunday, July 5, 2015
Today is the day the tour starts. I always look forward to meeting the tour guide and fellow travelers. We met our tour guide Asa, and fellow travelers. Asa gave us an orientation of the tour and we picked our tour buddies. After that we had our first meal together at Restaurang Kvarnen in the Sodermaim district of Stockholm. It was a great start to a wonderful tour!
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day 2 - Monday, July 6, 2015
Today is the first full day of our tour. In the morning, our local guide Hakan Franden gave us a tour of Stockholm's Old City (Gamla Stan). We then had lunch on our own before boarding a harbor ferry that took us to the Vasa Museum on Djurgarden Island. After Asa gave us a tour of the Vasa Museum we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon.
Gamla Stan is the oldest of Stockholm's 14 islands that are connected by 54 bridges. Gamla Stan is Stockholm's historic island core. It was the only island of Stockholm until the 1600's. Below is a picture showing a narrow street in Gamla Stan.
After our tour of Gamla Stan and lunch, we headed to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa warship sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 when a breeze caught her sails and tipped her over. The Vasa had the most fire power of any ship from its era with 72 cannons on two decks. The Vasa was 172 feet tall but less than 16 feet wide. She had 500 carved wooden statues that were once painted in bright colors. She was built by Sweden to dominate the Baltic Sea and challenge Poland, their powerful rival. 333 years after she sank, the Vasa was raised from the harbor in 1961. It is the best preserved ship of its age. There were many highlights on the Scandinavian tour but the Vasa was at the top. Shown below are some pictures of the Vasa.
After the Vasa Museum tour, the remainder of the day was free during which time we explored Stockholm. Some pictures are shown below.
Tomorrow we leave Stockholm and make our way to Kalmar.