Goodbye to Sweden today and board ship bound for Finland. But first, how to while away the hours before boarding. Let's go to a museum! One cannot go to Stockholm and not visit the Vasa Museum. Vasa was built in 1626, launched March 1627, sank 1300 meters into her maiden voyage. It was the most ornate, opulent, heavily armed ship in its time. The 2 decks of 64 cannons on a keel 1 meter too narrow. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon its completion it was one of the most powerful armed vessels in the world. Too much weight in the upper structure and too narrow of a keel doomed its existence within 20 minutes sailing by a slight breeze. Of course, there were crowds to witness the embarrassment to the king. Fortunately out of the 450 people on board, only 15 were not able to escape. The Vasa was located and raised in 1961. 17 years of restoration work and now stands proudly in its own museum. It was truly impressive.
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