Snowflakes that Stay on my Nose and Eyelashes...

Sweden is just beautiful.

I cruised into Stockholm on the Isabella (that's a big cruise boat operated by the Viking Line) and I was in love with this city even before I'd hopped off the boat. We came into Stockholm in the wee hours of the early morning and seeing the beautiful lights of the city through a curtain of falling snow was just magic...

Stockholm itself is like THE city for museums so I'm pretty much in heaven right now. They have like 50 museums in this city - they have to produce a separate tourist guide just for all the museums!

My favourite so far though is easily the Vasamuseet which is a museum dedicated to the 17th century warship The Vasa which sank in 20 minutes on its maiden voyage. The centerpiece of this museum is the magnificent warship itself which sank in in the 1628 and then lay on the seabed for 333 years before it was finally brought to the surface in 1 piece. You have to see it to believe it - that is one truly BIG BOAT.

Oh and note that the blistering snow here doesn't bother me so much. It's positively balmy compared to Helsinki (-5 rather than -20) and the snow is so beautiful. It floats down to sit gently on your face and it just makes everything seem magical...

Oh the photo you see above is from the Storykan (I don't think I've spelt that right), a cathedral in Gamla Stan (the old town) near the Royal Palace. It's extremely opulent without losing any of its spirituality as a church. I think the cathedral really typifies all the good bits of Stockholm - it is just extremely functional but in a way where the aesthetics of the architecture contributes to and complements the functionality. That's Swedish design for you.

Oh and please don't yell and scream if you don't get lots of photos from now on. My camera has just been damaged beyond economic repair. Oops...