Weekend trip to Stockholm, Sweden, including the legendary Vasa, was something I was really looking forward to at the end of April.
Disclosure
Fresh air, lots of walking, no office, no Wi-Fi. How great can it get?!
As it turned out – very great. Stockholm is an interesting city, a no-boundaries mixture of old and new.
So you may often see a pretty old building, pretty old building, another pretty old building and next to it boom – some crazy experimental construction from the 70s.
Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly at all, the weather was seriously cold, and there was even some heavy snowing. But that‘s exactly that kind of weather which brings you lovely cafés and museums and lets you discover Stockholm also „from the inside“.
Subscribe now and get my free ebook straight into your mailbox!
Having tried the delicious Swedish cinnamon rolls and a cup of non-Swedish coffee in a few rare streaks of the sun, me and my better half headed to one hell of a museum I really wanted to visit – the Vasa Museum.
The Vasa museum is a mindblowing experience for anyone with at least a little bit adventurous soul. Or anyone with a soul in general.
What happened to the Vasa ship?
Long story short – Vasa is a 17th-century Swedish warship, at that time the latest proud of the royal navy, unfortunately poorly designed.
So poorly that it sank during its very first voyage in 1628. The tragedy is, it went down literally a few kilometres away from the harbour of Stockholm, still in the sight of a (probably very) shocked audience.
Thirty people on the ship didn’t make it. And then…it was lost. After 300 years on the seabed (300 years!), it was found, raised and salvaged (the restoration alone took another 17 years, almost 100% of what you can see today is original).
And nowadays, you can just walk into the museum and admire the 70 m (ca. 220 ft) long and 50 m (ca. 170 ft) tall beast (it really is MASSIVE). It just sits there as if nothing had happened.
Go and see it!
Photography tips for the Vasa Museum in Stockholm
At the time of our visit, I did not owe a camera capable of high-ISO action. Nor did I have a wide-enough lens as I do now. Hence only the borrowed photo here.
These two things are necessary in order to take a decent image. As of 2018, you are even allowed to use a tripod / monopod. However, not for commercial purposes.
And please – don’t use flash. I mean – you can use it but the images will probably not look great.
Here, a couple of impressions from Stockholm:
