Stockholm is one of the trully great cities in the World, easily in the Top 1000, and when you visit, it is easy to see why.  Built on a myriad on Islands, using the 7 storey rule for buildings that is in all the old cities of the world and with the foresight to have open areas for the public, Stockholm has the eye candy all sown up.  Not just that but it has so many interesting sights to see that you can't be bored.  Examples include Europes largest Royal palace, the Nobel Museum, the Vasa (more later), the Nordic Museum and the Skansen Open Air Museum.  Walking around Stockholm is also a delight, every corner, every narrow street, every bridge is another photo op waiting to capture.  Once again we got the Stockholm Card and used it to its max.  The best thing about these cards is that you just visit everthing.  You go for a walk and go passed something that is free with the card and then just go in.  It don't matter if its a watch museum or a flag museum, you just go in a have a look and every now and then something there is interesting.  That didn't happen in Stockholm as everything that we went to was already known about and known to be good.  Like the Stockholm City Hall which as 2 very famous rooms; the Blue Room and the Gold Room.  The Blue Room is where all the Nobel Prize winners dine on the 10th of December (Nobel's death) and the Gold Room is, well, gold.  The tower attached to this building is also a great place to view the old part of Stockholm and where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea.  The Palace is also magnificent.  The guided tour is a must because you just don't see everything and even if you do see it, you don't know what it means.  Underneath it is the old Palace which a section has now been cleaned up turned into an information area.  Just across the road is the Museum of Medieval Stockholm which was very interesting.  All this and more is just so close that it makes each day busy.  Once again we jumped on the 'Hop-On-Hop-Off' bus and also took a ride on the Water Bus.  From the water is where you get all the good views of the Stockholm skyline.  It is also where a lot of the Stockhom, and Swedish, history took place (or at lest started from there).  It's also where the grand Royal ship, Vasa, sank in 1628 on it's maiden voyage.
The Vasa was suppose to be the flagship of the Swedish Navy.  Built without expense, it purpose was to give the King something worthy to sail in in the voyagers to conquer distance lands.  But it seems that not a lot of thought was given to whether or not it would actually sail with the dimensions and requirements that were given to the builders from the Royal court.  After only 30 minutes, and in not a lot of wind, it sunk off the island of Beckholmen in 32 m of water, only 120 m from the shore.  Vasa was that big that the top of the masts were still visible above the waterline.  Obviously in 1628, underwater recovery was still in its infantcy and only the easiest stuff were able to be recovered; the bronze cannons for instance.  Over time it became forgotten ....
The Baltic Sea is different from the others on Earth.  One of the best things is that the waters do not allow woodworms to breed prolifically and thus wooden structure can survive longer when they are underwater here in the Baltic.  This is what has made the Vasa unique in the world.  In 1961, the Vasa was successfully lifted off of the floor and was able to touch the sun again after 333 years underwater.  The Swedes have spent many a Kroner on restoration and building a nice big shed to house this magnificent vessel that is THE must visit attraction in Stockholm.  When Audrey and I visited it we had to walk through the rain to get there so for us it was a double whammy; dry and a massive ship to peruse.  But even though I read about it it is still mind-blowing to see in the flesh.
I will return to Stockholm and it's surrounds one day as we didn't see enough of it and it really is a pretty place.