Scandinavia Trip, part 3 - Stockholm, Sweden

I adored Stockholm! Stockholm was far more modern and a much larger city than Copenhagen and certainly more diverse. Like Copenhagen, Stockholm is situated on a number of canals and islands, the oldest and most picturesque and touristy is Gamal Stan. Stockholm has about a million museums though most open at 11am so unfortunately I only got to visit the modern art museum and the photography museum. I'm already planning my next visit :-)

One of Stockholm's most impressive sights is the Vasa Museum. In the mid-1600s a viking warship was built and launched from Stockholm's harbor. The ship was way too top heavy and sunk about a mile from shore. In the mid-1960s the ship was found after a three year search and brought up from the ocean floor in nearly one piece. This ship is beautiful and amazing!! The ship is so large that the museum was built around the ship.
You can see the level of detail that was involved in designing the ship and you can also see why it was too top heavy to get too far from shore. It's amazing that the ship was preserved so well for so long under water. When they brought the ship up they even found parts of 12 skeletons of the 30 crew that drowned when the ship went under and numerous other affects from the boat.
One of Stockholm's islands has about a million (ok, slight exaggeration) museums. While we were wandering around looking for a museum that opened earlier than 10am we stumbled upon these guys. I love how colorful the "birds" are and the juxtaposition with the metal machines.
Some of the islands in Stockholm are very tiny. In the picture below you can see the island on the left which is only large enough to house two government buildings.
This is Stockholm's City Hall, a fully functional government building. The design is comprised of Swedish practicality and Venetian beauty. You can't tell from this picture that City Hall is right on the water. Unlike in the US which would have fences and barriers there is just a low stone wall where you can sit and enjoy the view (and fall in at your own peril). Interestingly enough at one of our company visits we were told that one of the barriers to entering the US market was fear of litigation. Europeans are much more casual with risks and take a lot more personal responsibility for not doing dumb things.
View of the "old town" island, Gamal Stan.
Stockholm had really colorful buildings in it's old town too. I loved the colors and felt inspired by the warmth of the colors. This is one of the largest town squares on Gamal Stan, and like every other city in Europe, the square had lots of cafes with outdoor seating for people watching and relaxing. Cafes with outdoor seating in Stockholm provide blankets if it gets too cold or windy - the Swedes definitely take advantage of nice weather when they can.
Gamal Stan had lots of small side streets that I loved wandering through. There were a couple of main tourist streets but once you got away from them the island was so quiet and picturesque.