A Seventeenth Century Viking Ship

In 1628 the massive Viking war ship Vasa sank in Stockholm harbor.  Like the Titanic this was her maiden voyage but unlike the Titanic she never made it out of the harbor.  The huge ship with state of the art cannons and elaborate carvings and art work was top heavy and listed and sank on her first attempt to sail. The ship was constructed under the sponsorship of King Gustavus Adolphus as part of his military expansion into Poland and Lithuania.  The ship was designed to intimidate his enemies with its huge cannons and imposing red and gold appearance.  The hubris of this calls to mind Shelley's poem Ozymandias about a great ruler brought to ruin.  "Look on my works ye mighty and despair."  In 1961 a salvage team brought the ship up.  It was largely intact; the cold water in the harbor preserved much of it.  It has been painstakingly restored and is housed in a museum that was specially constructed to hold it.  Although we're not great museum goers we were told not to miss this and it was worth the trip.  The statues above are just part of the decorative elements that were part of the ship.  They have been lovingly restored.  Using modern techniques the original paint colors were found and restored to the carving.  The pieces represent kings and heroes of Swedish history as well as biblical characters including King David.
After visiting the museum we took a ferry ride around Stockholm harbor and passed the point where the Vasa sank.  The municipal ferries connect many of the islands of the Stockholm archipelago and are part of the city transportation so we were able to use our transit passes to ride them.  Stockholm has a wonderful mass transit system as well as many bike paths so it is easy to get around.
We walked miles today and also found a wonderful market, similar to the Chelsea Market in NYC.  It had beautiful produce, deli, meats and fish.  No prices posted so I guess if you have to ask you can't afford it.