The Hixson Holiday Headlines: Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden Friday, September 4, 2026

We had a marvelous sailing into the harbour of Stockholm passing through many of the 4,000 islands that Sweden claims.

The local car ferry passed right behind our ship.

I'm still trying to figure out why this colorful horse was in the welcome center.

Stockholm Port was a distance out from the city. The Port was actually reclaimed land. We hopped on a Hop On Hop Off Bus and really got a good look at the city.

Karlaplan, circular park

The Hawk and Dove Statue, 1990

City Hall, 1923

Host to the yearly Nobel Prize Banquet

Central Train Station

King Gustav ll Adolf Public Square 1796

Royal Opera House

Parliament House of Sweden, Stockholm Palace

Stockholm Palace

King Oscar II Monument and Fountain, exterior of the palace Wall

Clock Tower of Stockholm Cathedral

Maritime House 1667-1670

Historic Art Nouveau 1910

The skyline is full of interesting spires.

Stockholm Sailor's Home, 1891

Stockholm Markets

National Gallery of Art, 1866

Concert Hall 1823-1849

Residential Buildings completed for the Stockholm World's Fair, 1897

King Gustav III, 1808

Grand Hotel of Stockholm, 1872

I really love all the copper roofs and statues that we have spotted in Europe.

Spires of the Nordic Museum

Historic Djurgardbron Bridge

Nordic Museum

Frederick Bloom Gate

Garden at Vasa Museum

We visited the Vasa Museum, home to the only original 17th century ship of its kind. It was simply beyond compare. The entrance fee was 25E,and it was worth every penny of it.

One of the original cannons on the Vasa Ship.

Walking onto the second floor of the museum is very exciting. The ship is right there and the size of it is tremendous. The 3 ships at Jamestown, Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria are very, very small in comparison.

To build a warship the size of the Vasa, it took approximately 1000 oak trees. The felling of trees were therefore very restricted. In 1608 a law was declared, he who fells an oak will be charged 40 marks for the first offense, for the second offense…80 marks and death for the third offense.

WOW!

In the 17th century, the Dutch and the English were the leading practitioners of the art of shipbuilding. Many professional Dutch shipbuilders lived in Stockholm.

This was a funny area to experience.The restrooms were for both men and women. They had two doors marked with the female and male sign.

Some folks would go in and immediately leave. Some would try one door and go to another. It was comical to watch.

Inside each restroom were individual private stalls. Outside the stalls were rows of sinks. Men and women were washing hands beside each other. It worked.... and there were no lines for waiting. We all just needed a new mind set.

The Vasa Museum was built between 1987 and 1990. In 1953 Anders Franzen, a private researcher, started looking at the harbor for the sunken ship. He knew that wooden ships are preserved in the brackish waters of the Baltic. The ship sank on August 10, 1628 in the Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage. The Vasa was raised from the water in 1961. It survived 333 years in 32 feet of brackish water.

A model replica

Recovering the ship required full equipped hard hat divers to wear a 100 kilo suit and dive 40 metres for an hour at a time in 40°F water.

They followed a rope line down and back stopping both ways in stages to avoid decompression sickness. The divers dug a tunnel under the ship with a water nozzle shovel.

This silty mud and clay from tunneling was airlifted out of the channel to a barge and sifted through to find treasures the ship had spilled centuries ago.

The Vasa ship symbolizes the wishes of the king to perform stylishly on the European scene. The sculptures were a tribute to the king but at the same time it admonished the Swedish people to live up to the virtues of their king, Gustavus Adolphus.

After twelve years of paint research, some 30 of the 500 sculptures were paint analyzed. 15 of these are shown above. Dark brown areas were unable to recover any paint.

The back of the ship had detailed eccentric carvings.

In the 17th century Sweden was constantly at war with its neighbors, Denmark, Poland, and Russia. The struggle was for dominance of the Baltic, its estuaries, and trading ports.

The king demanded that another floor of cannons be added to the ship....causing it to be extra top heavy.

No other ships have ever been thought to have two levels of cannons.

On the first floor the ship really looked sturdy. The current braces under the ship are taking a toll on the ship structure so archaeologist are trying to come up with a better method of supporting the ship in a way that will not harm it.

My man

Ten human skeleton remains were on display. They found 17 complete skeletons.

They actually had pictures of one that had been wedged under a cannon who still had boots that were intact on its skeletal feet.

Some had clothing on. One skeleton was DNA tested as a woman. It is thought that 30-50 people died when the ship went down.

From the 3rd and 4th floor of the museum the top of the ship was very visible.

The Vasa Longboat was 12 meters long and was rowed or sailed. It was used primarily for communicating between other ships or the shore. It could also be used for towing or warping the ship.