Stockholm, Sept. 23, 2018

First on the agenda today was a panoramic tour of Stockholm.  Our first stop was the Stockholm City Hall.   It was an impressive brick building that was built in 1923, yet was made to look a lot older.  It was hard to get a good picture because the building was so huge.    In this building every year on December 10th the Nobel Prize banquet and a celebration ball is held for the honorees.

After our tour we stayed in Stockholm and walked to the VASA Museum.  The Vasa is a Swedish warship that was built between 1626 and 1628.  It sunk on its maiden voyage on August 10, 1628 after only going about 1,400 yards.   After her bronze canons were salvaged, she laid submerged under mud and forgotten until was located again in the 1950’s.   The ship was brought out of the water in 1961 largely intact.  After restoration the vessel was moved to the Vasa museum and is now one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions.

There were three stories to the museum.   I found it interesting to see from models what the colors were like on the ship.  The carving and the art work was very detailed.  It amazed me that they put so much energy into the design of the ship.  Maybe they should have worked harder on making sure she was seaworthy instead.

After the museum we wanted to hail a taxi back to our ship, The Viking Sun, which was leaving port at 2:30.   I had read about taxis that rip you off in the Rick Steve’s tour book.   I wrote down his suggestions on which taxi companies were legit.  Our tour guide also gave us a card for the black Stockholm company, with specific instructions not to pay more than 375 krone.  He  also said the disreputable drivers wait for tourist outside the Vasa museum.

So I was ready.   We walked up to the first cab.  The prices are listed on the back window.  Sure enough, the price was 495 kr for 10 kilometers.   Not good, so I said never mind to the driver.    We walked back to Gamla Stan, the old town.   By this time it is getting to be around 1:15.  I knew my traveling comrade was getting concerned.   We didn’t see any more taxis for quite awhile.  When we finally did, we flagged it down.   Of course, it had 495 kr on its sign.   Resigned to the fact that getting back to the ship was more important than finding a fair driver,  I gave up and we jumped in.   We got back to the ship in 20 minutes.   Frank was very relieved.   I double checked with one of our Viking travel guides, who confirmed that we had been taken.   It brought back similar memories from our time in Amsterdam.  We must be easy prey for taxi drivers!  Using Uber is much more user friendly!

After a tasty meal in the World Cafe, we took in the captain’s welcome party and saw a introduction show with the Viking Sun’s entertainers.   The four young singers are extremely talented and sang several popular selections.  So  we ended the day with a very pleasant and enjoyable evening.