I’m freshly back from New Zealand, where I had an amazing time catching up with family and friends and attending a fantastic wedding!  Between the jet lag and the kaleidoscope of expat emotion I’m still processing how I feel to be back in London, so for now I’ll be writing about my snowy January escapades in Stockholm.

Picture this.  Your king commissions you to build a huge warship, bigger than you’ve ever seen before, for your proud maritime nation Sweden.  No problem, right?  Just double a few dimensions from your last ship and boom – ultra-big ship, ultra-famous you.  Stacked with guns, your good ship Vasa is officially launched from the centre of Stockholm with hundreds turning out to see its maiden voyage.  Which makes matters pretty awkward when, almost as soon as wind hits her sails, the Vasa heels over once, and then again, quickly sinking just 120m off the shore.  Fortunately many of the crew are saved, but the Vasa comes to rest on the bottom of the harbour and stays there for 333 years.  I think we can safely call that a ship-building fail!

The different levels of viewing platforms on the left give you some idea of the massive scale!

From first hearing about the Vasa museum in Stockholm on Sammy’s blog, I knew I wanted to visit this massive ship, which is the largest preserved object in the world.  My first sight of the museum, with the masts of the ship poking above the roofline, only reinforced this impression.  After it sank in 1628, the ship lay largely forgotten on the harbour floor, particularly after it was stripped of its valuable cannon.  In the 1950s Anders Franzen, an amateur archaeologist, began to methodically search for the Vasa, eventually locating it in 1956 with the aid of a top navy diver.  However, it took another five years before the masts broke the surface of the harbour, as she was finally raised from the sea.  The museum has a fascinating exhibit on exactly how she was carefully lifted into shallow waters and then into the air.

A model of Vasa on her maiden voyage with the ship behind

But the main attraction of the Vasa museum is undoubtedly the ship herself.  It’s difficult to show from a few photographs just how massive she is – not only are you dwarfed by her prow and masts from the moment you enter the museum, but a few levels below the entry you can gaze at her hull before craning your neck back in a near-futile effort to take in the whole ship.  The height of the stern alone is nearly 20 metres!  Adding to her bulk are the timbers used in her construction – huge oak beams that seem impossibly thick… it’s easy to picture how the sea just could not keep her afloat.

My friends and I were fascinated by the museum and spent quite some time wandering its many exhibits as well as gazing at the warship.  The museum itself is modern and very well-presented, from the free wi-fi that allows you to turn your smartphone into an audio guide, to the detailed explanations of life on board, how the ship was rediscovered, and how she is preserved today.  Even if maritime exploration isn’t your strongpoint, I guarantee you’ll be drawn in by this fascinating story.  And if nothing else, you’ll learn how NOT to build a warship!

For more information on the Vasa museum, click here