Day 9, Friday August 10th - The Göta Canal comes to an end

We start our last day at Brinkebergskulle lock.  This lock is from 1916 and the oldest lock from 1752 is right next to it.  Amazing feat!







It takes us down to the next lock system in Trollhattan with another Canal Museum and locks from the 19th Century.  We go through an amazing 4 lock staircase with the biggest lock from 1916.  We will be going down over 104 feet with this lock.



The weather is against us at this point and the captain is warning that the water will be rough.  He is trying to make up some time and we do arrive in Gothenburg around 4pm.  This has been an amazing trip, with more to come.



We then share a taxi with some new friends to Hotel Royal, one of the oldest hotels in Sweden.  How charming it is.

Day 8, Thursday August 9 - Museum, Lake, Castle

Today we started out very early.  We had the opportunity to take a morning walk at 6am, but.....



We arrived at our next set of 8 locks at Sjötorp, we were able to get out and enjoy a very fun canal museum and a walk along the canal.  Again, the museums in Sweden are very quirky and informative.



Doug and I are enjoying the topography of this area, it reminds us of home.  If you were to look at all the pictures of the canal you would think you were in the San Juans.  We travel on Lake Vanern, the largest Swedish lake and the 3rd largest in Europe.



Arriving at Lacko Castle which was built in 1298 and renovated many times since.  What is fascinating about this castle is that the art was painted on wood instead of stone or mosaics.





Have I said anything about the food on the boat, Oh My Goodness!  It is amazing.  Doug and I are thinking that we may have gained weight on this trip even with all the walking!

Day 7, Wednesday August 8 on to Hajstorp

We leave Motela and are boating across Lake Vattern, Sweden’s 2nd largest lake.  We arrive at Vadstena a few hours later and are able to get off the boat to tour the castle first then take a little train to the convent.  The convent and church were built around 1430 and the castle around around 1540.  We are having a great time with the history of Sweden.







We then get back onto the Gota Canal and go through one of the oldest locks at Forsvik. There we are greeted by a family that has been singing and praying for the Diana since 1920. It was very moving to know how dedicated this family is.  They have only missed singing/praying for the boat 3 times in all those years.





We are now on Lake Viken and go through another hand operated lock.  This is the beginning of the end.  We have been going up, up, up with all the locks until now.  We are heading down!  An obelisk that was very hard to see, marks the highest point of the Gota Canal.



We arrive at Hajstorp, a lovely area with 4 locks.

Day 6, Tuesday August 7th, Berg (Carl Johan)

This is our 3rd day on the Diana and it has been smooth sailing.  A few scrapes on the bottom and edges of the canal but otherwise very stable.  The weather has been very hot and muggy in the mid-high 80’s.  Last night we docked at the bottom of the Carl Johan staircase lock.  This is the longest staircase lock with seven connected locks. After watching the boat go up the locks and walking alongside we went on a tour of the first nunnery of Sweden (Convent Vreta). The church itself was very austere other than the crypt room, but the cemetery was beautiful with flowers and plants in between each grave.







The countryside has turned to fields and every time we come to a lock we are more of a tourist attraction to people beside the lock. Along the way there are a few hand crank locks and aqua ducts where the boat goes over the road, today we got to experience both of those.  So much fun!







We arrive in Motela after dinner time and the Car Museum is still open.  What a fascinating museum of not only cars but a history of the radio, tv’s, cell phones and motorcycles.  It has a DeLorian! After the museum we wandered up the hill to take a picture of the church, though we were not able to go inside.

Day 5, August 6th, Stegeborg, Sweden

We spent the night in Stegeborg last night. That is one of the benefit of this trip is that each night we spend the night either in a town or a lock. During the day we also have a chance to get off the Diana and walk either along the boat or around the towns. This means that we haven’t missed a thing!!

Stegeborg fortress was built in the Middle Ages and was built on a small islands. We were given a tour by a local whose family owns the island. Things are sooooo old in Sweden.  We then continue on our way to the beginning of the Gota canal at Mem. The canal was finished in 1832.  We we will be going up up up. 

We then stop at Söderköping and and walk around. You will find a theme in all the towns with churches!  We then get the chance to walk between locks. I think that we had at least a total of 18 locks the Diana went through. 

Day 4 Sunday, August 5th, Gota Canal MS Diana

We woke up very excited to be boarding a boat named the Diana.  This is a boat from the 1930’s that was specifically built to go through the Gota Canal.  As some pictures will show they did not leave much space in the locks that we are going through.  I have heard anywhere from 68-72 locks that we will go through over the 6 days of boat travel.  The boat has 24 cabins with most of them only 2 bunks and our room is on the C level, we do have a porthole with limited views.  All of the toilets and showers are down the hallway for everyone and we have a small sink in our room, so not too primitive. VERY COZY!!



We board with 44 other passengers with 1/2 from Germany, 1 couple from England, 1 couple from California, a Grandfather, father and 2 daughters from Boston (though they speak Swedish), us, and then the rest from Sweden.  The English speaking contingency is very small!



We start our day going through a lock right away into a lake, then a lock to the Baltic Sea and then so more.  We saw a castle with wonderful history and then We did get the opportunity to get off the boat in ......  (I will remember and put the name in ;-)) and walked a heritage trail.  How quaint everything is. 







I didn’t get a picture of the food which I should have it did get a picture of where we eat.  Our first lunch was corned beef gourmet style. The food has been nothing but amazing.

Day 2 Friday, Museums, Boats and More

We slept well in our lovely room, the bed is one of the best that I have slept on that wasn’t mine.  We even have a sauna in our room, though it has been too hot during the day to use it.



We started our day with a buffet at the hotel, very nice! A lot different than the US breakfast with meats, cheese, pickled herring, smoked salmon (not the dry kind), lots of yogurts, Swedish pancakes and the regular fare of eggs, bacon, fruit and breads.

We then went on a Hop-on-Hop off boat across the waterway to the Vasa Museum.  Oh My! It is an amazing sight hopefully some of the pictures will tell the story better than my writing.  We then went to the Nordic Life Style Museum, the Spirit Museum (History of Absolut and Champagne), Antiquities Museum.  We then just explored on foot the various alleys and pedestrian areas of Stockholm.  It is a very comfortable city to walk around though you really need to have good shoes as the cobblestones are killer.

Day 3 Saturday August 4th, Royal Palace Area

Today started at the Nobel Museum.  This is one of the most interesting museums that I have been to and I wish that we could have spent more time there, but what I have found is that you really can not do Stockholm in 2ish days. I really didn’t plan on the 9 hour time change kicking our butt.  There are such fascinating people out there from Einstein to Curie to Obama and many, many more.

We then went to the Royal Palace, the Tre Kronor Museum, the Royal Chapel and the Treasury AND then we had the honor of watching the changing of the guards at the Palace.  This took an hour and again was an amazing site.  The guards look so young and the Royal Band rode horses and played intricate music at the same time. I have videos that I might try and post.

We thought we would be clever afterwards and take the boat to the other side of the waterway, that went well. And have a nice lunch in an outside cafe, not so good. And then take the Hop-on-Hop Off sightseeing bus to see the the northern area of the city.  Well this was hot, bumpy and though we saw some REALLY big cruise ships due to the Pride Parade and events most of the area was closed off.  We frantically got off at a place that we recognized and walked home through crowds.  We did get some ice cream along the way so was worth it.  Still a very full and wonderful day.

As we were walking into our hotel we noticed that our little canal boat has arrived. The MS Diana is much smaller than I imagined, but very cute! We are excited to start the next adventure of this trip with a cruise up the Gotal Canal to Gothenburg.  More about this tomorrow....

Day 1 Thursday August 2 Travel Stockholm

Well the first day and the second  became one. With travel time of 21 hours from home to Stockholm and losing 9 hours Thursday was a fast one. We took a train from the airport through the countryside and then walked to our hotel. This is an amazingly beautiful city. We took a short nap and then went out to dinner!  2 of my favorite things to do!