Stockholm's Impressive Museums

What an exciting day, visiting two well known museums in Stockholm.

First stop Skansen, apparently the world's oldest open air museum, founded in 1891, according to the Stockholm Guide.  It is set in beautiful gardens, Djurgarden.  It is full of traditional buildings and farmsteads from all over Sweden, and there are guides, some volunteer but mostly paid historians or craftspeople, dressed in period costume, to give you information about each building, and the people who lived there.

First stop, coffee and half a cinnamon twist each.  Very welcome on yet another cold day.

The cafe, a period house, also held a tobacco museum, which came complete with the aroma of good quality tobacco, rather then the smell of burnt out fag ends.  Tobacco was grown widely in Sweden at one time.   The men in their smoking room, while the women were next door drinking coffee.  The order of the day.

Walter standing in the Moroccan room.  Very comfortable.

A village street.

 This was a washroom, where the woman of the house took in washing to help towards the family income.  In the room next door a family of eight lived, mother, father and six small children.  Every night they put a mattress on the floor, to accommodate three boarders.  They needed to do this as they were so poor and rents were high.  I think the period was the late 1800s.

But ths house, in the 1930s was attached to the family hardware store, and it was decidedly more comfortable and roomier.

 We stopped for lunch in a traditional cafe, and managed to part with about £30.  Typical museum prices.  We had an egg and anchovie salad ( very small) on a piece of dark bread, and then followed up with a piece of rhubarb tart for me, and a cinnamon scroll for Walter.  I also had a small cup of filtered coffee.  It was delicious lunch though and we came away feeling very satisfied.

Many of the houses had living roofs, mostly covered with meadow grasses and wildflowers.

 A farmhouse room, where everyone lived during the winter.  Note the bed in the corner.

 Mother pig and her nine babies.  So adorable.

The school room with attached flat for the teacher. Very modern for the times.  Late 1800s.  We did find out about the red/brown colour of the houses.  Apparently wood became scarce during the 1600s, due no doubt to the massive boatbuilding, eg warships, which was taking place.  Therefore people needed to cover the timber in their buildings.   They used left over material from iron and copper production to preserve the wood.  Then tradition came into it, in later centuries.

 The farm worker's accommodation, which consisted of one room.  And in this room, there lived a family of eight.

 After Skansen we caught the tram for two stops, and entered another museum, called the Vasamuseet.  This museum is a unique, and purpose built preservation and showcase for a very old warship.  It is impressive.

The battle ship, called the Vasa, was launched in 1628, and then sank after sailing for 1,300 metres.  The ship was very narrow, and top heavy, so that when the slight wind hit the sails it toppled over, water came through the gun holes, and the ship sank immediately.

The ship was the pride of the Swedish Crown, so it was a very embarrassing situation.  The King, Gustavus Adolpbus, tried to blame other people but no one was charged, and it appeared that he gave orders for it to be built, even though the workmen knew it was top heavy.

 Sweden was in conflict with Poland at the time, and the king included a motif in the woodwork of the ship, of the Count of Poland crouched in a demeaning manner.  But of course the ship sank and the last laugh was definitely with the count.

 The ship was located and raised in 1961, and then restored so that it looked as it would have done originally, except it would have been painted bright colours then.

The back of the ship is extremely high and beautifully carved.  It does not take a trained eye to understand why this enormous, but too thin and top heavy warship toppled over in the slightest of wind.

We came back to the caravan, feeling very enthusiastic and happy about our day.  We celebrated with a glass of wine for me and a couple of bottles of non alcoholic beer for Walter, and two bratwursts each, in bread with mustard and tomato sauce.