Europe - Trip 4

Day 4 - February 3, 2002

The really nice Vassa that was poorly designed

This morning up at a reasonable hour and a quick drop off by Thomas at the Vasa museum for the morning (he and Cydney were painting today, working through their renovations). The museum housed the raised Vasa a 350 year old warship that sunktipped over and sunk on its maiden voyage. You might think that a museum devoted to one subject only would be boring and a quick view, but this one surely wasn’t. With the entire ship restored, along with the story of its construction, sinking and raising, many associated artefacts and descriptions of life at the time it was built, it was packed. We spent two and a half hours in the building before we were done.

Todd posing with one of the petrified local Swedes

Next a quick stop at the Nordic Museum to pick up a gift, whisked off to a quick bite at the city’s best bakery and coffee shop and then to the bus station for the fabulous bus ride to airport in the middle of nowhere. We might not do them justice here, but Thomas and Cydney were fabulous hosts – if they were a B&B they would be a Michelin 5 star…

Sue highlighting safety concious Swedish signs along the canal

We landed in London and made the long ride to Clapham where we met up with Harriet and Andrew. This was out last chance to visit with Harriet and her beau so we ducked out to a nearby pub that fit the bill well. An almost teary farewell with a promise from both that they’d visit us in Asia and we headed off to bed. Harriet deserves a medal for allowing us to use her place as a base for our trips. We’ll have to make her sing karaoke when she’s in Thailand.

END OF TRIP 4 - go to Trip 5

Swedish winter weather was very nice and crisp, except for the parts when it rained and the other times when the snow was really wet.