We set off Tuesday morning and drove across southern Norway to Sandjefjord. The drive was very scenic through the mountains and the weather was pleasant. At Sandefjord, we caught a ferry across to Stromstad, Sweden, then drove a bit further until we found a campsite. You can definately tell a difference between Norway and Sweden with the flatness of the land (leading to larger roads as well!)
It was Sidney's fist time camping, and she did well. She complained a little about the ground being hard, but she slept through the night. My old back, on the other hand, does not do as well with the hard ground, but I managed to get some good sleep in between changing positions.
We got up, and after packing up the tent, headed to Orebro. It is a lovely town with canals throughout, and a medieval castle in the center. Sidney enjoyed seeing the castle and the cathedral, but liked the "Children's Island" much more. It is a park on an island with playgrounds, activities, petting zoos, and all kinds of other things for kids.
After Orebro, we headed on to Stockholm for a night of camping before our sightseeing. We stayed at a campground that was right next to a beach. The water was very pleasant after a warm drive, and the sleep was much better.
We went into Stockholm and headed straight for the Vasa museum. It is a museum built for a Swedish warship from 1628. The ship was launched and was on the way to Poland, but sank just minutes after launching. It was stuck in the mud at the bottom of the harbor for 333 years, and raised in 1961. After years of work (some of which is still ongoing) the ship was put on display in its own museum. It is amazing to see a ship that old, and 95% of it is original!
After the museum, we headed over to the Royal Palace for the changing of the guard. The Swedes put on an impressive show, with full marching band and concert, and lots of pomp and ceremony.
We then toured the Royal Palace, including the Treasury where the Crown Jewels are kept. Sidney liked looking at the crowns, but was disappointed that there were no diamond tiaras on display.
After the Treasury, we went through the Royal Apartments. The rooms were quite striking, and seemed to go on forever (the palace has over 600 rooms - more than any other palace in the world.) Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside the palace itself. In one room were the coats of arms of other royalty from around the world, including Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. Funny, we were just on a plane with him a couple of weeks ago!
We finished up our tour and headed back to the car so we could get to our overnight ferry to Helsinki. The next post will be about the ferry ride, Helsinki and Tallinn.
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