A short trip to Sweden

[Swatopluk]

On Ascension weekend I took a trip to Sweden with the shipping and naval history society I am member of. Our destination was Karlskrona, once the main naval base, founded by king Carl XI because he needed an icefree harbour. Before that the Dutch and German navies roamed the Baltic freely in the spring while the Swedish fleet was still frozen in Stockholm.

We arrived late at night at the hostel.


The dining room at the Hostel at Drottnigsgatan 39. Modest but pleasant (unless you are allergic to IKEA design  )

Next morning we went to the Naval Museum for a guided tour. The museum houses parts of the old ship model collection of the Swedish navy and since recently has been expanded to include the Uboat hall where both the oldest and one quite modern Swedish submarine are on display.





One of the more exotic exhibits: The Vapenpalm, a tree made out of pistols, bayonets etc. (about 150 years old, not a modern creation)


Next on the list: a guided tour of the old navy dockyard in the (still active) war harbour. The area had strict limits on photography, so you won't see many ships despite the harbour being full of them.


The bell tower on the way down to the harbour.



This building once housed the ship model collection and is now the seat of the base commander.


In this shack the figureheads for the Swedish navy were carved. It has been returned to active use.


The old ropewalk. The building is 300 m long and was in use for about as many years (up to the 1960ies). It has now been reactivated.

Here is the building as seen from the seaside



The Vasa shack, the first indoors building slip of its kind. Large enough to construct the standard 74 guns men-o-war of the sailing ship era. Today it is used for smaller vessels.

You've probably at least heard of Selma Lagerlöf's book about Nils Holgersson's journey with the wild geese.


One episode takes place in Karlskrona. Nils strolls through the town at night and reaches the main square where he comes face to face with this guy:


His majesty king Carl XI of Sweden, founder of Karlskrona

He soon regrets his disrespectful remarks about the king's ugly face because the statue climbs down from its pedestal and comes after him. Nils has to run until he encounter this old wooden sailor named Rosenbom who hides him under his hat


The king then recruits Rosenbom to search the town for Nils. They also visit the model chamber seen above during the operation.

The next day was reserved for a trip to the outer defenses of Karlskrona, a ring of forts placed on small islands. The largest on King's Island is still used by the navy.


A nice statue on the fish market honouring the women selling fish there through the centuries. The ferry to the outer islands starts from here.


The main fort in full view. This is the 'old' side facing the town. The outer 'new' side facing the Baltic Sea is dominated by bunkers, armored cupolas etc.

One of the more interesting features is the inner harbour of the fort.

As you can see, it would be unwise to sail in there with hostile intentions. All those holes in the wall would have had either a cannon or a rifleman behind it.

A more surprising sight given the nature of the installation:

The fort houses a botanical garden. Swedish naval ships going abroad were expected to bring home exotic plants, espcially trees, and this is were those that could withstand the winter ended up.

On Sunday it was time to go home. We had so much spare time (on our outward leg we almost missed the ferry due to traffic jams on the way, so we were extra careful now) that we could make a small detour to Malmö. We were looking for a reconstructed Hansa cog but could not find it (we leater learned that it was visiting Stockholm at the time) and tok a tour of the shipping and technology museum instead.


They too have a Uboat in the backyard.


I think those are enough images for now. Karlskrona is quite a pleasant town with lots of old architecture. The weather was perfect the whole time too.
But, if you are thinking about going there too, expect a lot of climbing. The roads are very steep, so it is useful to plan your route accordingly. But everything is in walking distance too, so no need to drive around or to wait for buses.

[Darlica]

It seem like you had a good time! 

Karlskrona is a very beautiful little town. It tend to be crowded with tourists in the summer but the tourist season hasn't really started yet. 

As you describe it was once a very important city and literary the crown in in the Swedish naval defence. BTW for you who doesn't speak this crazy moon language I call my native tongue Karlskrona means  (King) Carls Crown.

As for the Kogg ships, Malmö city sold them 2013 for a couple of hundred Swedish kronor (actual value about 38 milion Sek!!!), one ended up in Stockholm as a restaurant ship, what happened to the other one I don't know. It's a sad story and considered something of a scandal in the maritime historic/ medieval historic circles here. L and I visited the Kogg museum some years ago (2008  or 2009)  it was a small but very well thought out exhibition, one historical part about the kogg ships, how they were used and a bit of historical context. There was also some findings form the actual ships that were found in Malmö, which the reconstruction where based on. The other part was about the reconstruction and building of the ships. Both parts of the exhibition equally interesting.
The museum was a success with schools and tourists but was closed due to budget cuts and then the ships where sold of for virtually nothing. 

[Swatopluk]

There was a funny translation error at the hostel. One could either clean one's room personally or pay for it to be cleaned after checkout. In the English version of the announcement one had to pay 75 Swedish crones .

[Darlica]

 
I'm not suprised...

We usually call words that sounds like a Swedish word but means something different in English "false friends" but I have never come across "crones" in that context before...

Swenglish, Swedish mixed up with English was more common before the the "Mtv generation", today most people watch a lot of English and American TV series and movies and are used to the language in a different way.

Still funny though. 

[Griffin NoName]

I'm a poor judge, but the quality of the photographs is superb. But then I tend to compare everything to my phone camera which is very poor quality. Looks like a very interesting trip.

[Swatopluk]

It seems that a lot of Swedes still learn German and (apart from the accent) speak it quite well.

The time was too short to get used to Swedish spelling. I am used to Norwegian, Icelandic and, to a degree, Danish orthography. So, reading something I usually was able to understand what was meant but it looked strange. To the ears the difference to 'general Scandinavian' did not really register. I usually got the gist, although I am still unable to speak any Norse language sufficiently enough to survive on it should the need arise.

As for the photos: Thank whatever-higher-being for autofocus (I did not post images where it failed miserably)

[Darlica]

Sorry I forgot to mention your photos! 
They are great! 
What kind of camera do you use?



All Swedish children read a little of Norse and Danish at school, both the language is self and some of the "great" authors.

Norse and Swedish in general are quite alike, usually we can understand each other rather well if both talk slowly and avoid certain "false friends" words. *

Danish is trickier, at least if you're not from the very Southern tip of Sweden that once belonged to Denmark. One they speak wickedly fast, two they use another R sound than most of swedes do. They have a lot of common words that we don't share and we count differently. I tend to use English when speaking to most Danish people to avoid misunderstandings. With Norwegians I can use "General Scandinavian", Swedish and the little Norse I master.


* Some words that we share still have their archaic meaning in Norse but have a newer meaning Swedish. Some of them are dirty in on language but not the other, hilarity ensured.

[Swatopluk]

This cheapy:

12.0 MP Design Digitalkamera Medion Life P43010 (MD 86063)

http://shop.the-upgrader.de/upgrader-p809h84s87-12-0-MP-Design-Digitalkamera-Medion-Life-P43010-MD-86063.html



Iirc bought for 50-60€

[Darlica]

As long as it does what it's suppose to do there's no reason not to use a cheap alternative. 

[Swatopluk]

Here is a link to the website of our regional (Berlin) section of the DGSM (German Association of Maritime & Naval History).

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107942256599080266714/107942256599080266714/posts

There are some more photos from our Karlskrona trip to be found made by other members. Some more are expected to be added in the future.

And here the link to the youtube channel of the Karlskrona Naval Museum
https://www.youtube.com/user/Marinmuseum/videos

[Griffin NoName]

I wish my eyes did auto-focus

[Swatopluk]

Four more pictures with a slight off touch


Noah's Ark Norse style (edge of Karlskrona main place)


On the playground opposite the naval museum


I simply found this cute (Malmö maritime and technology museum)


Is this steam car looking at me and/or is it going to vomit? (Malmö maritime and technology museum)