Old folks holm?

We were parked very near the middle of town so it was easy enough to walk in and see what was going on with the mediaevalists. Not a lot as it happened. Most of the stuff doesn't start until tomorrow and we'll be gone. It was quite odd seeing people wandering around in ye olde gear, though often with ye newe watch or trainers on as well.

No idea. Something with flesh.

Sad end to a nice animal, so I'd like to think it died of natural causes.

Check out those 13th C trainers.

Maidens having a chant

The town's fancy hotel

Goete Kanal cruise boats. Some day trips, some the whole length

A bagpiper. Not highland bagpipes but I think the fingering was the same

Yet another marina. Makes sense as boaties have the same basic needs: power, water, waste removal

We got the power - not

The thunder and lightening continued until early morning. What a force of nature that was, but J got no sleep at all. We didn't do anything exciting on the trip and shose our stop on the basis that it was free and a reasonable driving distance. When we got in to Soederkoeping we found the town was setting up for a mediaeval festival. It was a nice town, on the Goeta Kanal which runs across the country from Stockholm to Goeteberg.

'Rabbits  Crossing'

Plenty of these old wooden houses

The mediaeval food court sets up

J on the throne

To contrast with the wooden buildings there were plenty of grand stone and brick ones

There was distant thunder again but while we got rain, someone else got the pyrotechnics

As our second day not plugged in we ran out of power again. My laptop seems to be the culprit. It has a dodgy cable and I think it is drawing more power than it would normally. Regardless,  we had so little power the lights set off the alarm as well so we had to have an early night.

Vasa

Up early in sunshine and got everything shipshape. We had a chat with a family from Luxembourg who travelled in a 4x4 camper through the 'stans. They have a blog advertised on the side of their camper but it hadn't been updated since 2016. Like us they find it very time consuming.

We eventually drove into town then spent time squabbling over parking. Sorry J.

Anyway, we only had one thing we really wanted to see.

And here she is. Sunk in 1628, recovered in 1969

Models of the recovery process. The wreck is undercut and cables passed under

The wreck is sealed and very slowly lifted

Once she was free from the bottom the silt and water was pumped out of the hull

Copies of the carving from the stern, with scientifically verified colour schemes

The mostly original stern. 95% of the ship is original

A nice cut-away model

Another nice diorama showing stages of ship-building

And back into the daylight again

We drove out of Stockholm and were treated with the most fantastic thunder and lightning display. It continued for about three hours with varying intensity. The best ones were very close and lit the entire sky up, but of course I have no photos. It did make for a spooky sun though, which the picture below does no justice to. It also bucketed down so we found another lakeside spot to watch the action from.

Islands in the sun

Another glorious day. We have been so lucky with the weather on this trip, but it we expect it will be quite a shock getting back to the UK dark.

Our destination today was Stockholm. We stayed at a paid campsite on the outskirts to stock up and empty out. There was enough of the day left to head into the city for a look. 

They seem to be reclaiming a large swath of waterside which has made a bit of a mess of the large bridge into the city. Note the liners in the background. There were a fair few tourists in town!

A training barque moored at one of the city's islands

J and I both thought we'd been transported to Italy (not helped by a number of passing Italians). Honestly, it could have been part of Rome or Venice rather than Stockholm. 

The royal guard. Mostly women with very shiny helmets

Doesn't he know it's rude to point a gun at someone? 

About a dozen of these rotated around a number of positions. It seemed they were continually marching around the palace swapping places with each other. That'd confuse the baddies! 

Finally J gets her moose

Must have been a long barrel to begin with. Now it can shoot around corners

Showerometer: 17 but  +2 for the attached sauna!

Dragons, griffins, vampires and thunderbolts

Zonked again by hay-fever.

First stop was an airforce museum. There were several aircraft on display, including a Vampire like the RNZAF used to fly. It is surprisingly small for a jet aircraft, even an early one.

Saab 1940's J21 pusher plane. Early ejector seat because of the pusher prop. The museum is trying to get this flying for the 100th anniversary of the airforce.

Vampire. I remember these flying over school when I was a kid

Viggen

Pretending to be a top gun

Our lunch stop on a lakeside in the middle of nowhere

The water was very shallow and still quite warm 

Our stopover. It had been a perfect day weather wise, and we had a quiet park at a marina.

There's a murder of crows in this picture if you look hard enough

A picturesque finish to a nice day