Vasa: Stockholm's History Super-Star??!!

From the major-city Fairfax newspapers in Australia last week, including the Sydney Morning Herald, they have this travel story headline: "Vasa Museum: Amazing Ship That Sank Almost Immediately".

Here are some of their highlights that does a comparison to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912: "visitors can find a lesser-known ship that also suffered a disastrous fate and, in many ways, was a bigger failure than the Titanic. This ship didn't even make it out of the harbour. The Vasa Museum is dedicated to this disastrous launch and is one of the most popular attractions in the city. The museum was created entirely for this one ship, which was lost for more than 200 years before being rediscovered in a busy shipping lane just outside the city harbour and recovered in 1961. Incredibly, it was largely intact."

We super loved our visit to this museum, especially since the wooden ship is the "real thing", not just a re-creation model. Below are some of my pictures from visiting here, plus two other nearby views. This story has many other details about this ship and this museum, plus info for visiting charming and historic Stockholm. This story also notes: "Built between 1626 and 1628, it is the only ship of the era to survive, making it extremely important in naval history. The huge ship, 62 metres long, is incredibly impressive when seen up close at the museum. Elevated across several stories, the Vasa offers a rare glimpse inside the world of seafaring in the 17th century."

One Australian reader added this additional historic background: "Swedish monarch Gustavus Adolphus wanted the Vasa to be the symbol of Swedish superiority and to have two gun decks. The practical solution was to have 24-pounders on the lower deck and 12-pounders on the upper deck - but GA wanted 24-pounders on both decks. That, together with a shallow keel, raised the centre of gravity above the waterline and made the vessel highly unstable. When I was there in 1990 just after the permanent museum had opened, interactive terminals allowed people to change the parameters to see how stable (or unstable) their designs would be; the shallow keel was the killer - it was nearly impossible to 'design' the Vasa so that it wouldn't keel over."

From those visiting Stockholm, please share your experiences at this museum!! If you are preparing for your first visit to the Swedish capital, feel free to ask any questions. One "down-side" for Stockholm is that there are so many good things to see and do, that you ideally need more time here. We visited Stockholm at the end of an eleven-day cruise that started in Dover/UK and did Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, etc. Since our cruise ended here, we were able to add another day here and stay overnight in the great city. Sure glad we had the extra time in Stockholm.

The Vasa Museum website in English is:

http://www.vasamuseet.se/en

Full story at:

http://www.traveller.com.au/the-vasa-museum-stockholm-the-amazing-ship-that-sank-almost-immediately-grtmwb

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 203,794 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

At the Vasa Museum with this large salvaged ship from the 1600’s. This is their website: http://vasamuseet.se/en/ Taking almost two years (1626-1627) to build Vasa, carpenters, sawyers, smiths, ropelayers, sailmakers, painters, carvers, gun carriage makers and other specialists struggled to complete the navy’s great, new ship. The king, Gustav II Adolf, visited the shipyard to inspect the work. With a hull built of more than a thousand oak trees with 64 cannon, masts over 50 meters high and hundreds of painted and gilded sculptures, this was a spectacular ship. BUT, it was too heavy and sunk sailing out from the harbor.:

Connected to the main harbor in Stockholm, here is a view from the bridge to the Vasa Museum of the many different buildings along this grand Strandvagen boulevard. Completed in time for the 1897 Stockholm World’s Fair, it became known as one of the most prestigious addresses in town.:

Across from the Vasa is the Nordic Museum in Stockholm. This 1907 building looks like a Renaissance castle.:

For those seeking interesting and different locations, this weekend's New York Times Travel Section will have this headline: "52 Places to Go in 2017" with many different ideas for adventures to be considered for the future.

Here is one story option and highlight of special interest to us: "Stockholm, Sweden: Scandinavia need not be a wallet-buster. Free state-owned museums will make visits to Sweden’s capital less expensive in 2017. Over a dozen dropped their hefty entry fees last year, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Swedish History Museum and Skokloster Castle. Add to that a favorable exchange rate for Americans — the krona is about 20 percent weaker against the dollar than it was two years ago — and this beautiful city suddenly looks even more attractive." Yes, we super loved our time here and it is great to see this spectacular city getting the attention and praise it deserves.

Among other great places highlighted are: Botswana, Madagascar, the Great Barrier Reef, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Sedona, Athens, Madrid, the Lofoten Island of Norway and Budapest. Some of these locations we have super enjoyed visiting, but there are lots more wonderful places meriting future attention. It's great doing this exploring and considering other interesting locations for the future. Love reading these various stories about nice options to consider!!

Full story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/travel/places-to-visit.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ftravel&action=click&contentCollection=travel&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 165,786 views for this posting.

More beautiful photos! Thanks again Terry. I caught part of a travel show about Stockholm this morning (Voyager?) as you know its too cold to be out and about in Ohio right now.

Terry - I thought of you and your beautiful pictures when I read that one of the places was the Lofoten Island!

Maybe it's because we live in Arizona, but we found the parks and scenery around the Vasa Museum exceptionally beautiful, perhaps as magnificent as the museum!

More beautiful photos! Thanks again Terry. I caught part of a travel show about Stockholm this morning (Voyager?) as you know its too cold to be out and about in Ohio right now.

Appreciate these great comments and follow-ups. Yes, winter is back, a year later, in Central Ohio. Now have 3-4" of snow where we live on this Saturday morning. Looking pretty and very much line winter.

In a week, we will be doing our first visit to Southeast Asia. This will feature Hong Kong, Bangkok, Vietnam and Cambodia, including a seven-day Mekong River cruise, then Angkor Wat, Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hue/Danang. We will be gone a little over one month for this latest “adventure”. Will do a live/blog on the River Cruising part of Cruise Critic for this trip.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Just finished June 2017 sailing from Portugal to France along the scenic Atlantic Coast, plus great pre- and post-cruise experiences. Many interesting pictures and details on history, food, culture, etc., from my live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

Terry, we are planning on doing a similar tour of Southeast Asia for 2020. I would love to hear how you are coordinating all of the different aspects of your trip.

Terry, we are planning on doing a similar tour of Southeast Asia for 2020. I would love to hear how you are coordinating all of the different aspects of your trip.

Hi, Jean! YES!! Happy to be of help and share more. BUT, in order to help others so prepare, too, I am going to do a posting on the Cruise Critic "River Cruising" board under the title of "Mekong/SE Asia: Final Prepping" at:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=191

Check there a little later today and I will have more details, tips, suggestions, secrets, etc., to consider. Just follow-up there with any added questions, ideas and comments.

THANKS to our Rhode Island "neighbor" for mentioning this future interest! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting, dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 36,511 views for this visual sharing including Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

Vasa have overtaken Skansen as the most visited museum in Sweden. http://www.sverigesmuseer.se/pressmeddelanden/2018/01/svenska-museibesok-i-topp/

Vasa had roughly 1.5 million visitors in 2017 which is an increase by 150'000 visitors from 2016,

http://www.sverigesmuseer.se/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Press_Museibeso%CC%88k_2018-01-11_uppdaterad12jan__.pdf

Vasa have overtaken Skansen as the most visited museum in Sweden. http://www.sverigesmuseer.se/pressmeddelanden/2018/01/svenska-museibesok-i-topp/

Vasa had roughly 1.5 million visitors in 2017 which is an increase by 150'000 visitors from 2016,

http://www.sverigesmuseer.se/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Press_Museibeso%CC%88k_2018-01-11_uppdaterad12jan__.pdf

Appreciate these additional web links and this very helpful follow-up. WOW!! Attracting 1.5 million visitors last year is very impressive. Sure glad we made it a priority to visit this historic connection in Stockholm.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean adventure that started in Barbados, here is the link for that live/blog. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.):

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 54,830 views for these postings.

We spent one week in Stockholm last summer and the VASA is one of our top memories.

Here is a 3d model of a sunken ship at Edesön outside Dalarö in Stockholm's archipelago.

It's named Bodekull and it is about 1/3 of Vasa's length.

It gives you an impression of what Vasa might have looked like before it was salvaged.

https://sketchfab.com/models/9dd0c8b9f37f4ea284569ee313d81ad3

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalar%C3%B6_wreck