City breaks are flawed though. That's not to say that they're not worth doing, but to pretend they give any real insight into the country one finds oneself in would be foolish. Perhaps the rule applies to European excursions less so- I suspect that our way of living continent-wide is, within decent parameters, broady the same. Not that there isn't a wistful pleasure in being in a place I know I'm unlikely to visit again as I plan my next trip. To Pyongyang.
I have wanted to visit the Vasa Museum for the best part of 25 years. I had made on of those Airfix models of the doomed 1628 warship at some point in my early teens, and I seem to recall it suffered a similar fate to the original when my sister threw a ball at it.
Nonethless, I was really looking forward to seeing it, and I was not in any way disappointed. Housed in a Noah's Ark- shaped building with masts protuding symbolically from its roof, walking into the main hall and seeing the 62-metre long preserved ship is a magnificent, and genuinely jaw-dropping experience. From keel to the lovingly carved stern, the structure of the vessel challenges your sense of location and time- it simply looks too good an artefact to be true.
Which, in a sense it is. In common with other major attractions (for example, the huge bell that can't ring and the cannon that couldn't fire in the Kremlin), here is a ship that couldn't sail. On its maiden voyage, the Vasa was only 1000 metres into its trial when a squall of wind toppled it over onto the harbour floor where it remained for 333 years. Looking at the vessel, you don't need to have degrees in marine architecture and physics to work out that disaster was inevitable: this was the first fighting ship with two cannon decks, and it looks far too tall for its svelte proportions, and whilst the artwork on the ship is intentionally awe-inspiring, the plain fact of the matter is that the Vasa wasn't going to win any design awards
The Official Inquiry cleared everyone involved ( does this sound familiar?)- the ship's builder had conveniently died the year before the launch. The unspoken truth was that the King had commisssioned a vessel that through over-weaning self importance was fated to be no good. It's a bit like the billions of pounds that various European governments have "invested" in the Eurofighter.
Enough of politics. I seemed to spend the rest of the day walking around the city in an island-hopping daze, finding some peaceful moments on Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen in the centre of the waterway. Finally, though, I gave into temptation and made the long trek to the TV Tower, for another obligatory look at the city from on high, The walk was pleasant, though: Stockholmites are fortunate to have such large expanses of parkland so immediate to the centre of their city. As I stumbled along the pathway, a parade of ever-more stereotypical troop of Swedes jogged past me..athletic, bronzed, blonde, good-looking, carrying flatpacks from IKEA. I suspected that they were laid on by the Swedish Tourist Board to make foreigners feel inadequate.
The view from the top of the tower, though, was impressive of Stockholm, if not particularly of the archipelago. Perhaps that was due to the weather: as one of the prevalent showers clattered into the tower, Stockholm disappeared from sight, before returning into view, instantly resplendent in her majesty. |
