Sunsets and Sunken Ships
What to see with a day in Stockholm, Sweden

We took the Viking Line overnight cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm.
Price was $218 for a private cabin for two.  Ship sailed at 5:30 pm.

We made it to the cruise ship, found our cabin, and went up top for sail-away.
The cruise starts by going through islands and by Suomenlinna Fortress.
		Saying goodbye to Helsinki!
The sunset on board was stunning!
We were in cabin 5823.
Our cabin was very small.  It had bunk beds, a desk, a ladder, a mini-closet, and a chair/stool.
The bathroom was tiny, but it did have its own squegee.
We got up at 7 AM the next morning, ate the breakfast we brought with us, and went up to watch the scenery. We got off the ship quickly (no passport control) and took the Viking bus to the city's main bus station. We walked to our hotel, the Rica Hotel Kungsgatan, but our room wasn't ready, so we stored our bags in their luggage room.
We caught bus #47 to the Vasa Museum.
The Vasa museum is dark (for preservation), so all our pictures are dark. This is our best one, as it shows the intricate carvings on the ship.		We saw the 12:00 pm film and took the 12:30 pm English tour. The lady in red was our tour guide.
At the back of the Vasa museum are two lightships and a great view of the harbor.  In this picture, you can even see a Viking ship in the background. (When we docked, we didn't know how close to the Vasa museum we actually were!)
After seeing the Vasa, we took bus #47 back and checked in to our hotel. We were in Room 715 at the Rica Hotel Kungsgatan, a "double without windows" that cost $110 including breakfast. The room had good air-conditioning and free Internet in the lobby.  (This trip was before I bough my netbook.) We loved our hotel, as it was only a few steps away from the main pedestrian street and within walking distance to the old town, buses, and the train station. The most amazing thing about the hotel was it had the best buffet breakfast I've ever seen!!!
The bathroom had a big shower!
After that, we walked to the train station to pick up our Internet-ordered tickets for the next day, bought ice cream, and walked to the old town (Gamla Stan).
First, we walked to Stockholm's City Hall.  (We got ice creams at the 7-11 near there, too.)		We then followed the Rick Steves self-guided walk through Gamla Stan (the old town).
Streets were narrow . . .		. . . and the old buildings were beautiful!
The cutest thing we saw in Stockholm was this tiny piece of public art: Iron Boy!
I really love reading the Rick Steves guidebooks because of his sense of humor (such as telling us this was his phone booth) . . .		. . . and the unusual finds he mentions, such as this rune stone on a corner.
The last thing we did in Stockholm was watch the locks working!