Vasa
June 27, 2019
Next stop was the Vasa Museum. Vasa was a giant ship that on its maiden voyage in 1628 sailed about 1400 feet and then foundered and sank. It had double rows of canons, and so was very top heavy. You can read more about it here. It was originally brightly painted and adorned with gold. The museum was built to house the ship. Although there are several levels for viewing, the ship is so large that it can't very well be photographed using just normal camera equipment. I don't carry my DSLR or my great superwideangle lens when I travel, so you'll need to see commercial photographs to get much of a view. Better still, go see it yourself.
Models show how the ship was painted. The statues along the bow show the succession of Caesars. At the front, in place of the Emporer Augustus is the lion of King Gustavus Alophus. (Gustavus = Augustus. Get it?) The choice of colors did not come from wild guesses. Everything was researched as far as humanly possible.
The Nordic Museum, near the Vasa Museum
We went back to the bus, and groups were dropped off based on where they were heading next. I stayed on the bus for the bit of tour we had left, and that ended at the royal palace back in Gamla Stan. I wound up going my own way and used public transit to explore more of the area.