The bridge, or should I say the fixed link, from Copenhagen
in Denmark to Malmo in Sweden, consists of, 4Km, four lane car and 2 track rail, tunnel to a
new artificial island and from there it goes over an 8km bridge. Costing some US$5.7billion
it’s going to take over 30 years to pay back its cost, even at £25 a time for a
car. But it was a fantastic drive across it on a brilliantly sunny day! As you
cross the bridge you can see on the Swedish side their tallest building, The
Turning Torso. It doesn’t really turn but it certainly looks as if it could.
This part of Sweden is not particularly pretty it’s a bit like home really but
with a lot more birch trees! Making my way North East towards Stockholm the
land gets much wetter with more on more lakes and rivers until you reach
Stockholm and the 14 Island that are part of the city.
Stockholm is small with only 1.4million living here and so
the central area is also small so it’s a city where you really can walk fairly
quickly to all the interesting places. The Royal Palace has the traditional
changing of the guard each day, this time with music and soldiers who march at
double quick time and with straight legs, I, along with some other Brits found
this extremely funny but the Swedes took it all very seriously. The whole city
is build around water and so everywhere you go there is a bridge or a ferry to
catch, but it is a beautiful setting and there are some fantastic buildings.
My main reason to come here was to see the Vasa, A real Viking
ship launched in 1628 and sailed a total time of 20 minutes and a distance of
about one and a half kilometers. She then caught the breeze heeled over,
letting water in through the gun ports, and sank in 30 metres of water. The
only things of value on board were the cannon and it took many years before
they invented the diving bell which allowed them to recover 65 of the 68 cannon
on board(If they had told the Irish, that there was several tones of scrap 30
metres away, it would have been up and sold in no time). In the 1950’s and 1960’s
the ship was recovered and now stands very proudly in the Vasa Museum here in
Stockholm. The museum work closely with the Marie Rose Trust so there is a connection
there as well.
Next stop Oslo in Norway!!
