Days 32 & 33, 16-17 sep. Stockholm & back to Copenhagen

Day 32

Had a pretty good sleep in the oh-so soft bed, the topper pad is so squishy it’s nice but the pillows- my neck was not happy!

We decided to do museums today, so after a pretty basic brekky at the hotel we walked not far down the road to the Viking museum. Think about half of the displays were genuine and the rest replicas in this small museum. It was $25pp - over priced for what it was but still good to go and see. Then we walked a little further along to the famous Vasa museum where the huge Swedish galleon is housed. There were dozens of tour buses there but we mostly kept ahead of the big tour groups. 

The ship sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628 as it was poorly designed and very top heavy.  35 people died, as many were below deck and the heavy cannons blocked any of the opening windows. It lay underwater in clay for over 300 yrs until it was found and raised in 1961. Watching how they raised it back then and kept it completely intact was impressive. They then sprayed it for 17 yrs with specific additives to stop the wood drying out, then carpenters spent 20 yrs restoring her. The Museum has special temperature control and humidity as well.    

After that we headed back out into the howling cold wind again,(hurricane Dorian still giving its effects!) and walked all the way to Gamla Stan- the old town. We decided to visit the royal palace while we were close. 

All our entries today have been about $25 pp- Again lots of tour groups inside, so very popular. I was really hoping to visit the armoury as travel friends had posted a great photo of down there but alas- it’s closed on Mondays☹️. But the opulent palace was worth the visit - again its hard to believe how some families live in such incredible wealth and surroundings!

We were pretty knackered after the morning so found a restaurant in the old town and had a bit of lunch then wandered to the ferry and caught that back over to where we are staying. Lucky all the Swedes know where the Abba museum is for directions! Although they pronounce it “Ar-bar”😊. 

Rested our tired feet (12,500 steps!)after a beer in the bar then were able to get dinner in the hotel restaurant tonight which was good. Everything here is Very expensive as everyone says, but the ‘converter’ offline currency app has been invaluable in working things out cost wise  as the currency denominations are in the hundreds and thousands. Also maps.me has giving pretty decent directions offline with previously downloaded maps. They have made a huge diffence.



 

 
 

Day 33

Woke early today and we mooched around, went down for brekky then into the Museum downstairs when it opened at 10am. It was good as there weren’t a lot of people at that time but it got busier as time went on. Staff told me they have an average of 650-800 people through a day! And in July broke their record at 60,000 in that month😳. 

It is a fantastic interactive museum and well set up with audio info, music booths where you can sing along, movie screens, mixing tables and even a stage if you want to try the holographic sing a long- I declined! But the whole thing was fun and we could have actually done with more than 1 1/2 hrs we were there, but we needed to go back up and do the final little pack. Check out on this side of the world is often a very generous 12 pm but they allowed us until 1 pm when we were due to leave. 

Got Uber to Arlanda airport as it’s over 40 mins away and again would be a train and a bus. So the $75 for a car was a lot easier with our 3 bags. We are now using the big duffle bag we brought along and it’s much better as we buy gifts. We are at 19,21 & 11 kgs now. 

Easily through immigration- were told we couldnt buy the 2 packs of 5 Absolut flavoured vodka miniatures for our girls as, even we are flying internationally, Sweden alone has a peculiar rule that you can’t take alcohol into any EU country?! Boo for the girls☹️We were delayed a couple of times  with take off with SAS, but no hassle.  Landed in an hour in Copenhagen - again! It was raining but we trained then walked to our hotel in the lively Meatpacking district - none of the signs are in English! The Absalon hotel was only a 3 min walk which was good as it was getting dark. First time weve seen lots of drunks around the train station. We have noticed a lot of Scandinavians smoke surprisingly, as well as a few European countries and they can all smoke at outdoor tables at restaurants- way behind our side of the world. Showers and intoto bed!