The train this morning from Copenhagen to Stockholm was about 5 hours, most of which I slept through. :) We estimate that about 15% of this trip is spent on trains. But that's cool, because the views from the trains are spectacular! Not to mention train time means down time. We can journal, I can blog, we play card games, sleep, snack, etc. Its great!
we have had perfect weather the whole trip so far, however it is a bit chilly here in Stockholm. It is a harbor town in the north, so I suppose that should be expected. Not to worry, we both have very nice jackets we bought from REI for the trip! Windbreakers with a little insulation through the chest, inner pockets for maps and things, and hoods. Plus they compact very well without wrinkling. Today, I was very grateful for my jacket.
We checked into our hostel. The City Hostel is only a 10 minute walk from the central train station. We are in a 10 bed mixed dorm (co-ed) BUT we are the only 2 guests!! Haha, that's a first! A huge room to ourselves!
After check in we went to the Vasa museum. The Vasa was a warship in 1628. On its maiden voyage it went 1500 meters from the harbor, then capsized. In 1961 (333 years later) it was brought back from the depths, and completely salvaged. They towed it to the harbor and built a museum around it!! So you walk in the building andc are instatntly met with this TITAN of a ship. 95% of what you see today is all ORIGINAL!
The museum is a total of 5 stories, each with a unique view of the massive vessel. And each floor full of treasures salvaged from inside the ship. It was the craziest/largest thing I had seen in a musuem! It was gorgeous. You can tell that the building was especially built around it too, which makes it even better.
We only got to spend a little over an hour there because they were closing, but we got to visit each level and at least get our money's worth. Speaking of which we are on a new currency, again. From Danish Kroner we are now spending Swedish Kroner. Scandanavian countries all have their own currencies, instead of using the Euro like most other countries. Its sort of cute though, because the exchange is about 9 Swedish Kroner equals 1 Euro.
After Vasa, we decided to forego the tram back and walked along the harbor to the island where the old town & royal palace are. The palace is massive!! I loved it! We window shopped through old town, and stopped for hot chocolate before walking the couple of miles back to our hostel.
Now we're enjoying our big empty dorm and chilling. Tomorrow we are going to Uppsala to see a castle! (And hopefully eat some meatballs)
Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather
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