The Iceland of my dreams: a frozen waste,
swept by storms, covered with snow, surrounded by frigid Arctic
waters. This dream was formed, as most people's ideas of Iceland
are formed, by the very name Iceland. Very early in elementary
school, I saw this name and country on a map, and my image of
Iceland formed. Even in summer, my mental picture was of a land of
ice and snow. Most people have this image. Recently someone asked
me if it was winter in Iceland when I visited there in June of
2001.
The reality of Icelandﾕs climate is
something else. Because Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream,
Reykjavik's average January temperature is higher than New
York's.]
Iceland Air for years has had a program
that allows travelers to stop over in Iceland for a few days at no
change in air fare. I took advantage of this program on my way to
Sweden.
I left St. Louis Thursday, June 14, on
TWA. We were having a hot St. Louis summer day; the temperature
was 93｡ F (about 34｡ C). I was headed for Kennedy Airport in New
York, and this was of some concern to me. Kennedy is so crowded
that delays in landings and takeoffs are fairly common, and I
dreaded circling in the air while my Iceland Air plane took off
for Iceland. But it wasnﾕt a problem; we landed just a few minutes
late, and I had to wait a while before Iceland Air took
off.
The plane was full. The tourist bureau in
Iceland evidently does a very good job of attracting tourists. My
seat mates were a couple from the New York area-he an American,
she an Icelander-going to visit family and friends. Announcements
on the plane were made in Icelandic, then in English, and she said
how nice it was to hear oneﾕs own language again.
Day One-Friday, June 15
The trip was the best kind of plane trip;
it was uneventful. I never sleep for very long on a plane, so,
when we arrived at Keflavik Airport, the international airport for
Reykjavik, I was quite tired. I had worn a long-sleeved
shirt as a precaution against too chilly
air-conditioning on the plane. From the plane we walked outdoors
to the terminal, and long sleeves were not much comfort in a
temperature of 43｡ F (6｡C). Given my mental image of Iceland, this
wasn't a surprise. As soon as I got to the terminal, I opened my
backpack and got out a jacket.
In the terminal, there is a money exchange
run by a bank that charges no commission for its services. Credit
cards are very widely used in Iceland, but everyone will need some
walking around money. I'd strongly recommend changing money here.
I didn't get enough; later in town I went to a money exchange and
paid a hefty 8.75% fee. After Iceland I was going to Sweden, so
when I was leaving Iceland, I changed the Icelandic money I had
left to Swedish money at the airport. The bank won't exchange less
than a dollar's worth of money, so I have some Icelandic coins for
souvenirs.
I had heard that, since almost everything
has to be imported, Iceland is a very expensive place. It is
expensive, but not as expensive as rumors would have it. One of
the stories I'd heard and believed concerned the bus fare from the
airport to the hotel. I read somewhere that it cost $50. It's
about an hour's ride on a service called the Flybus; I was pleased
to find that the fare was $8.50.
The bus ride gave me my first look at
Iceland. Generally treeless, some mountains off in the distance,
the land often broken up with rocks, limited vegetation. The
United States by treaty provides for Icelandﾕs defense, and some
of the buildings we passed had the familiar look of a U.S.
military installation. (The U.S. base is at Keflavik.) Many of the
homes we passed were painted in attractive pastel colors. As we
got closer to Reykjavik, the buildings were more numerous and
closer together, and businesses and small manufacturing plants
appeared. Thereﾕs a good-sized lake in the middle of Reykjavik; we
passed this, turned into some side streets, and pulled up to the
Hotel Borg.
The Borg is a very comfortable hotel in a
very central location. Its location is an advantage. It is very
close to the Althingi or Althing, the Icelandic Parliament
(Iceland's parliament was formed around the year 1000) and close
to a handsome church, the simple and unadorned Domkirkjan (which
was either closed or holding services every time I tried to visit
it).
I went into the hotel prepared physically
and psychologically for a good nap, only to have the room clerk
tell me that checkout time was 2:00 pm. The room I was assigned to
was occupied, but if the person left earlier, the hotel would get
the room cleaned, and I could have my nap. Meanwhile, the hotel
would be glad to hold my luggage.
I went to the dining room for breakfast,
which was a typical Scandinavian breakfast: tea or coffee, cereal,
milk, yogurt, cold cuts (ham, salami, etc.) bread and rolls,and
small slices of sweet rolls.
I finished my breakfast, took my back pack
with my camera, and set out to see Iceland through tired eyes. It
is, of course, not the fault of the Borg that I could not have my
room at 7:30 am. Business would be very bad if a room were open at
that time. In fact, business seemed to be very good for the Borg,
and June is one of the prime tourist months.
I walked around town, occasionally taking
pictures of interesting buildings. After a couple of hours, I went
to a post office near the Borg to buy some postcards. I bought
several postcards and several different stamps of the same
denomination, and sat down at a table to write the cards. Sitting
down was a mistake. As I was writing the cards, I was falling
asleep, and the hand in which I held the pen would drift across
the card. Jerking myself awake, I'd proceed to the next card, and
repeat the process. Some of the people I wrote to must be puzzled
about the lines drawn across their cards.
I went to the nearby Borg, and the clerk
told me my room was being cleaned. Soon I was having my now badly
needed nap. I woke around 3:00 pm and
resumed my walk around Reykjavik. It's a very clean city. The name
"Reykjavik," I'm told, means "smoky city," hardly an apt name for
the present-day city.
Iceland amazed me in so many ways. The
population of the country is about 280,000; Reykjavik's population
is about 165,000. I wondered how such a small population could
support schools, hospitals, a health system, law enforcement and
judicial systems, and all the services necessary to run a modern
democratic society. Icelanders obviously value architecture; there
is a lot of very striking architecture in public and private
buildings around the city. The Reykjavik city hall is a very
handsome building, which, along with many other tourists, I went
to see. It is built on the shore of the large lake in Reykjavik (I
canﾕt remember the name of the lake); part of the building
is built over the water, and views of
the lake can be seen from much of the building.
If I understand it properly, Iceland has a
state church, the Lutheran Church, but religious freedom was
granted in 1874, and non-Lutheran churches operate quite freely.
On top of a hill, there is a Catholic church, Christ the King
Cathedral, which was designed by the state architect and which
began holding services in 1929.
There is a Lutheran church, also designed
by the state architect and completed in 1974, on top of the
largest hill in the city. The church is called the
Hallsgrimskirkja, the church of Hallsgrimur. Land for this church
was set aside in the early 1900s, and it is named after the Rev.
Hallgrimur Petursson (1614-1674), an important cleric and poet.
The church is impressive for its site on the hill and for its
design. Lonely Planet's Guide to Iceland says of the church that
"the word 'tacky' may spring to mind." but I was struck both by
the siting of the church and the very open, bright interior. One
can go up by elevator to the top of the church's tower, but I
didn't.
In front of the church is a statue of Leif
Ericsson standing in the bow of a ship. The statue was given to
Iceland by the United States in 1930 to celebrate the one
thousandth anniversary of the founding of the Althing, the world's
oldest parliament. Leif Ericsson is believed to be the first
European to find Vinland-the North American continent.
Seeing that statue reminded me of one of
the first times I heard of Leif Ericsson. I was raised in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city separated from Boston by the
Charles River. One warm day when I was about ten years old, a
friend and I went to walk along the river. At that time the place
where we were to begin our walk was a field of knee-high grass (an
area long since covered over by a highway).
As we walked through the grass, I stumbled
upon a small monumental stone with a message that read more or
less like this: "On or about this spot, Leif Ericsson set foot on
the land that later became the United States." I don't remember
the name of the group that put the stone there. I called my friend
over to look at this important historical spot, and, when I got
home, I asked my mother how anyone
could know the spot where Ericsson set foot. She was of no help in
answering my question.
Another advantage of staying at the Borg
is that it is near the wonderful restaurant Apotek. It is on the
site of what once was an apothecary, and serves very fresh and
well prepared food. I am a fish lover. I ate at Apotek twice and
each time had fish for the appetizer and for the main course. The
Apotek had a system that many restaurants in the U.S. haveﾑlower
prices for early birds. Up until 6:00 0r 6:30 pm, the prices are
lower. (If you're going to Iceland, check the times at the
restaurant; my memory isn't what it should be. And if you are
going, be sure to include the Apotek in your plans.)
I've read that Iceland has a very lively
"club scene." Several people have said this, but you couldn't
prove it by me. I don't know if the Borg has a club, or if there
is one nearby; in the early hours, I could often hear a mildly
annoying percussive beat.
Day Two-Saturday, June 16
The next day I decided to go to the Blue
Lagoon, a highly touted geothermal pool some miles from the city
and easily reached by bus service. That day showed me how
changeable the weather can be in Iceland. The day started out
sunny and cool; I wore a light jacket as I walked to the bus
terminal. The bus ride took about an hour. About half way there,
it started to rain lightly. As we got to the pool, the rain
increased, and most of us scurried for the shelter of the bath
house. (Really more than just a bath house, it had lockers and
showers for the swimmers, a restaurant and snack bar, and a large
and busy souvenir shop.)
The locker room was clean and
technologically up to date. When I paid the fee for admission to
the pool-I don't remember what that was, but it was reasonable-I
was given a plastic bracelet. This not only identified me as
having paid, but also enabled me to lock my locker, the first
electronically locked system I've ever used.
I went out to the pool area. A number of
people were swimming; there was steam rising from the water; and
it was raining. I got into the pool, and I found the water as warm
as water I bathe and shower in. From my chin down,
I was warm and comfortable, but cold rain was
beating on my head. The contrast was a novelty, but it was a
novelty I soon tired of, and I left the pool. I changed into my
street clothes, had a sandwich and a cold drink, and, since it
seemed a little brighter outdoors, decided to go out for a look.
Now the sun was shining brightly; lots of people were outdoors,
having lunch, sunning themselves, and swimming. The Blue Lagoon is
certainly worth a visit, but recognize that the weather is an
important factor.
The Blue Lagoon is set in a lava field
left from volcanic eruptions in the 1200s. The lava makes for a
desolate landscape. Black and grey, it is a rough stone that
supports no vegetation. If you look at a map of Iceland, you see
that people live along the coast. The interior is not really
habitable.
On the way back, the bus went through
downtown close to the Borg, so I hopped out and went back to the
hotel. Another dinner at Apotek, but this time I got there after
the discount period. It was still worth a visit. For the first
time, I had plaice. I don't know if we have plaice under another
name in the U.S.; this, at least, was the first time I ate plaice
and knew it. As was every bite I had at Apotek, it was marvelous.
I like to think abut wonderful dinners I've had, and I've often
thought about my dinners at Apotek.
Day Three-Sunday, June 17
June17 is Iceland's national holiday. I
missed the Fourth of July celebrations in the U.S., but I made up
for it by celebrating the National Day in Iceland and later
Midsummer's Day in Sweden.
We hear the word "globalization" a lot,
and many people are strongly opposed to it. But in Iceland, and
later in Sweden and Denmark, I saw a kind of globalization that I
approve of very highly. I volunteer in an
English-as-a-second-language program which improves the English of
people born outside the U.S. who have come here to live or to
visit. There are two Korean nuns in the program; they told me
about a friend in the program, a Carmelite nun I think from
Brazil, who had gone to work in Iceland a few weeks earlier. I
promised the Korean nuns I would look her up and convey their best
wishes.
So I began Iceland's National Day by going
to Mass at the Catholic church. After the service, I spoke with
the priest, who told me that the Carmelite was far to the north in
Iceland. So there is at least one Brazilian in Iceland. I saw lots
of Asians, blacks, a few Indians, and some people who, judging by
their dress, might have been from the Middle East. I saw much the
same thing in Sweden and Denmark, and this globalization, this
movement of people from one country and culture to another, is
something Iﾕm very much in favor of.
On National Day, there were ceremonies at
the Althing and in a small park right across the street from the
Althing and the Borg, and there were services at the Domkirkjan.
There was a huge rock concert not far away, and there were
hundreds of people of all ages visiting the attractions. There
were booths, courtesy of Coca-Cola, selling food, balloons,
souvenirs, and what have you all along one of the main
streets.
There was a lot of drinking going on at
outdoor cafes, but I only saw one instance of rowdy behavior.
Actually i saw the result of rowdy behavior: a young man, hands
handcuffed behind him, being led by two policemen to the police
station. Though I didn't attend the Fourth of July celebration
held on the banks of the Mississippi in St. Louis, I'm sure there
was a lot of drinking going on, and I would bet a large sum that
there was more than one instance of rowdy behavior requiring the
attention of the police.
Earlier I said that Iceland amazed me in
many ways. It is a very literate country. At one time, there were
no television broadcasts on one evening during the week-I think
Wednesday-so people could read without distraction. I don't know
if this system is still in force. Most people are able to speak
English. A number of times I stopped people on the street to ask
directions or I discussed some item with a store employee, and I
got my answers in English. And got the answers very pleasantly, as
well. I'm sure there are rude Icelanders, but I didn't meet any of
them.
It amazes me that such a small country can
provide the systems and services that a democratic country needs
to function well. With a small population, Iceland has a high rate
of literacy and a universal health care system. I look at the rate
of literacy in the U.S. and the number of people in the U.S. with
no health insurance and wonder how Icelanders do it. The answer
is, of course, that they want to do it and so find the needed
resources.
I enjoyed my stay in Iceland very much,
and I would like nothing better than to go back for a longer stay.
I really saw very little of Iceland beyond Reykjavik, and there
was much of interest in Reykjavik that I never saw. But I had
great days there. It was worth every penny.
Some Sources of Information
There's a lot of reading material about
iceland on the Internet. I use AOL; I've read the Lonely Planet's
Guide to Iceland and the material on Iceland in AOL's travel
section. I bought a small book in Iceland that would be good to
read before going there: Gunnar Karlsson, A Brief History of
Iceland, translated by Anna Yates. AOL International has a message
board for Denmark that has a section called Travels to Iceland and
Greenland. Eye on Iceland is a very informative site on the
Internet.
Sweden
I went to Sweden for three weeks this
summer to visit my son Jim, his wife Lise, and their two children,
Tim and Ben. I've been to Sweden before and I like the country
very much. We planned to stay in Stockholm for a few days, then go
to a beach in southern Sweden where they had rented a cottage.
Jim and his family live in a small
apartment in Stockholm, and this presented a problem. I snore
loudly; all my life people within earshot have complained about my
snoring disrupting their sleep. Add to that, I've reached an
age-I'm 76 years oldﾑwhen I have to get up at night to go to the
bathroom. If I stayed at Jim's place, both these nocturnal habits
would mean little sleep for the rest of the family, so I told Jim
I wanted him to reserve a room at a hotel for me. He reserved a
room at the Langholmen Hotel-formerly Langholmen Prison. What kind
of a son would put his father in prison just for snoring and going
to the bathroom at night.
Actually, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.
The last prisoner was released in 1972, and the hotel-after a lot
of reconstruction-opened in 1986. Thereﾕs no doubt that it had
been a prison. The walls around the buildings are high and thick.
It required no imagination to recognize the door of my room as a
cell door. Inside the comfortable room was a poster made up of
pictures of former inmates of the prison and a list of the crimes
they were imprisoned for. The list was in Swedish, of course, but
my son read it for me.
I had several advantages over the former
occupants. I could come and go as I wished; I had a television in
my room and a shower and toilet adjoining. I woke when I pleased,
and ate leisurely breakfasts in the morning. It
was a very different kind of hotel. I was very comfortable there,
and I can now say I spent a few nights in prison in Sweden. The
hotel's Web site is
We took a couple of days to cover the 400
miles or so to the beach, and on the way stopped to see sites of
interest. It was very pleasant to be at
the beach. The water was much too cold to swim in, not unusual in
Sweden. The cold water did not keep my grandsons from splashing
along the edge of the water, racing the waves, and getting soaked
from head to toe. The town we were in had a pool with heated sea
water, and we did our swimming there.
For reasons I don't understand, Sweden
seems remarkably free of insects. Both in the city and in the
country, there were no screens on doors or windows. We stayed in a
beach cottage for a couple of weeks and then stayed with my
daughter-in-law's family. When we were in Stockholm, we ate all
our meals indoors, but when we were away from Stockholm, we ate
our meals outdoors with the exception of breakfast. We were never
bothered by insects, although the outdoor dining areas had no
screens. Eating outdoors in warm, sunny weather was a very
pleasant experience.
The cities that I saw were clean and the
countryside very attractive. There are cities in southern Sweden,
but the area seems basically agricultural. We saw herds of cows
and fields of grain. Along the edge of many of the fields, red
poppies grow, and the splash of red against the light green of the
grain is the kind of sight that inspires artists.
Driving around in Sweden, I'm struck by
the age of the country. There are old churches, many still in use;
burial mounds several centuries old; old homes and palaces. A
visitor to Sweden should not fail to visit some of the old
churches scattered through the country. Many of them were Catholic
churches when they were built and became Lutheran churches when
Sweden changed its state religion. They offer an attractive look
at the past.
In southern Sweden, I saw many thatched
roofs. A good thatched roof will last about thirty years, better
than the life of most composition shingled roofs.
I saw one burial mound, a very large structure
of stones piled up on what was the tomb of an important person.
The mound had been opened so that visitors could take a few steps
into the mound.
Swedes
Swedes strike me as a very healthy people.
Walking down the street of any Swedish city, you don't see the
kind of obesity unfortunately all too common in the United States.
Many Swedes provide their own transportation; it's interesting to
me to see numbers of people bicycling in downtown Stockholm. This
is a very healthy way to get around, good for both the rider and
the environment.
Sweden has a comprehensive health plan,
and I'm sure this contributes to the general good health. For this
and other services, Swedes are very heavily taxed. Swedish society
seems to have made the commitment to provide services such as
health care to all its citizens and to pay the necessary costs.
Before a baby's birth, health care workers visit the home to see
that the pregnancy is progressing well and, after the baby's
birth, to check on the baby's health.
I had been to Sweden before my latest
trip, but I had not noticed before the absence of salt shakers in
restaurants. In America every restaurant table has a salt shaker
on it, but in the Swedish restaurants we ate in, there were none.
This was true also in the different homes we ate in. We have been
told for years that cutting down on the use of salt promotes good
health. Swedes seem to be doing this. Because
their winter days are so short, Swedes seem to have a special love
of sunshine. During my trip, we visited the homes of friends and
relatives and always ate outdoors. Once, when we were driving down
a busy street, I noticed large numbers of people sitting on
benches along the sidewalk bordering the street. I said that it
didn't seem like a very pleasant place to sit since the only view
was of the street, but my daughter-in-law said they were sitting
there to enjoy the sunshine.
In summer the days are very long; late in
the evening, there is a lot of light, and this makes sleeping
difficult for those of us used to dark nights. I once went
outdoors at midnight to see if I could read the newspaper, and
there was plenty of light to read by.
Sweden has accepted large numbers of
people from other countries, so one meets many Asians, blacks, and
Middle Eastern people on the city streets. I have been to sushi
bars in America, but the first full-fledged Japanese restaurant I
ever ate in was in Stockholm. It seemed very strange to go to
Stockholm to visit a Japanese restaurant. One
day my son took me to a sushi bar for lunch. It was near his
office and, he said, was very popular. We went early to avoid long
lines, and it was indeed a popular place. It was interesting to
see so many people coming to have sushi and using chopsticks so
proficiently.
Midsummer's Day
Midsummer's Day is a holiday celebrated
throughout Sweden. Maypoles-large crosses with loops on either end
of the crossbar-are erected in fields throughout the country and
are wrapped in greenery and the blue and yellowcolors of the
Swedish flag. On this day boats are often decorated with boughs
from birch trees. Large numbers of people come to the fields to
celebrate Midsummer's Day. There is music provided by singers and
a small band; many of the women and a few of the men wear circlets
of flowers in their hair.
People join hands and dance around the
maypole. This is a dance that requires neither training nor
dancing ability; it only requires that one move around the maypole
in time with all the other celebrants.
Globalization is a word that we frequently
hear these days in relation to the economies of countries, but
there is another kind of globalization that I was keenly aware of
at the Midsummerﾕs Day celebration I attended. The people I saw
dancing around the maypole obviously came from several different
countries. At one point the music stopped and so the people
stopped. In front of me was an attractive young Asian woman with
two younger girls whom I took to be her sisters. There were some
black people among the dancers, and some people who looked as
though they came from India or Pakistan.
Midsummer's Day is a very happy occasion.
The people dancing around the maypole were often laughing as they
danced, clearly enjoying the celebration, whether they were
native-born Swedes or immigrants. This kind of globalization, a
mingling of the people of this world, is to me a good
thing. Midsummer's Day occurs, not in
the middle of the summer, but at the beginning of the season.
Apparently it had a religious significance at one time; it
celebrated the nativity of St. John the Baptist. Today it has lost
whatever religious significance it had. It is a wonderful holiday,
very pleasant to be a part of.
Shipsettings
In Sweden there are very unusual
structures called shipsettings-large stones arranged in the shape
of a boat. The stones are spaced along the side of the "boat" from
bow to stern. Both bow and stern come to a point, as they would on
a Viking boat. Shipsettings evidently had some ritual
significance, but not a lot is known about them. There are a
couple of interesting web sites that discuss shipsettings and have
pictures of them:
These sites will give you a good look at a
unique aspect of Scandinavian culture. As is so often the case, we
look at structures like these and wonder how the ancients managed
to erect stones of such weight. The shipsettings stand as a
reminder of the long history of Sweden and of its very close
connection with the sea.
Rune stones
Itﾕs very interesting to examine rune
stones. Large numbers of these have been found, cleaned, and
re-erected. They are monuments with messages written in the runic
alphabet, an alphabet used by Scandinavians and others from the
third to the twelfth century, The stones are large, as much as
five feet high and a couple of feet wide. The messages are cut
into the stone and have been colored so that itﾕs easy to follow
the letters. The stones, many of which must have fallen down over
the centuries, are set upright.
Most of the messages are simple
remembrances of someone: "Leif died in battle. This stone was
erected by his brother Grimur." But there is one stone, the Rok
stone, with a much longer message, which has been translated but
is not easy to understand. I believe this stone has a longer
message than any other stone in Sweden. It dates from around 800
C.E. You can see pictures of the stone and an English translation
of the text by going to this site:
A roof built over the stone casts a shadow
on the stone in the pictures, but you can see the runic letters
incised in the stone. As tourists do, I
took lots of pictures. My favorite picture was taken here at the
Rok stone. As I was getting ready to take a picture of the stone,
my grandson Ben was peeking at me from behind the stone. So I have
a wonderful picture of Ben, four years old, with the Rok stone,
1300 years old. When we look at the Rok stone, we are making a
connection with people who lived 1300 years ago. Human beings like
ourselves, they had many of the same hopes and fears that we have,
and they left this record of themselves to be read at a time that
they could not even imagine.
The monastery ruins
At the end of the 13th century, a group of
Trappist monks came to Sweden from Clairvaux in France to found a
monastery, now referred to as the Alvastra Cloister. The formal
name of this Catholic order of monks is the Cistercians, but they
are more often called Trappists. They came to Sweden at a time
when Catholicism was the state religion of the country and built
what must have been a large monastery. When Lutheranism became the
state religion, the monastery was closed, and I assume that the
monks went back to France.
To walk around the ruins today is to be
struck by the realization that the people who first devised the
arch as a construction method were geniuses. Much of what the
Trappists built has fallen down, but many of the arches have held,
a tribute both to the people who first devised them and to the
monks who built them. The Trappists who built the Alvastra
Cloister have left their mark, though not in the way they
intended. The Trappist order still exists. They have several
monasteries in the United States and elsewhere.
Glimmingehus
Glimmingehus was built by a Danish admiral
at a time when Denmark controlled southern Sweden. His dream was
an impregnable fort, and it was designed so the defenders could
offer significant resistance until the last moment. Building began
in 1499. The fortress was surrounded by a moat and is several
stories high. There is a flight of stairs that leads from the main
entrance to the very top of the building. Rooms open off each side
of the staircase; in the walls of these rooms are slits
overlooking the staircase so archers could fire on invading
troops.
In case enemy troops gained entrance to
the fort, the defenders could fight as they retreated, floor by
floor, to the top of the building. In one room, there was a hole
in the floor so that hot tar could be poured on invaders
below. There was a well inside the
fort; there was a kitchen, rooms for the soldiers on guard,
women's rooms, dining rooms, storage rooms. There were toilets
hung on the outside wall.
The fort was never attacked, so whether or
not it was impregnable is an unanswered question. There are
several outbuildings. In one there is an excellent restaurant. In
front of another are stocks, an old instrument for punishing and
publicly humiliating offenders. An offender's head and hands would
be placed in holes in the framework and a piece clamped down on
him so he could not move. Stocks were widely used in Europe and
America. In another building is a small
museum with artifacts from the fortress. Glimmingehus is a popular
tourist attraction, well worth a visit.
The Warship Vasa
Anyone looking for an example of the
vanity of human wishes could do no better than to turn to the
story of the Swedish warship Vasa. In the early 17th century,
Sweden had a war loving and aggressive king, Gustavus Adolphus. In
the Thirty Years' war he drafted men to fight in the army. To
further his military aims, he decided to build a warship greater
and grander than any other, a ship that would impress as well as
conquer his enemies.
If you look at pictures of European naval
vessels of the time, you will see wooden sailing ships with a row
of cannons down each side of the ship. There were a few cannons at
the bow (the front of the ship) and a few at the stern (the back
of the ship), but the main firepower was in the cannons lining
each side of the deck. When the ship was not engaged in firing at
other ships or when the ship was in very rough weather, there were
covers that could be let down over the gun ports, the openings
through which the cannons fired.
King Gustavus Adolphus, looking at ships
like this, thought of how devastating his navy would be if it had
a ship, not with just one row of cannons down each side of the
ship, but with two rows, one above the other-64 guns in all, which
would give him twice the firepower of any of his enemiesﾕ
ships. So the dream began to
materialize. He brought a master ship builder from the Netherlands
to build the Vasa and work began.
We think of a warship as a utilitarian
vessel in which everything on the ship contributes to the
successful completion of its mission, a ship on which there are
few decorative touches. But the designers and builders wanted to
impress everyone who saw the ship, so it was richly decorated with
hundreds of carvings of warriors, demons, angels, kings, and
others. Hundreds of men labored to build the huge ship, to put the
masts in place, to make the rigging and the sails, to get the
cannons and the ammunition aboard, to get all the supplies-food,
clothing, tools, and so on-that the great ship needed, and to get
the men who were to sail it.
Meanwhile, the king was fighting Poland,
and he wanted his ship. There was a rush to complete work and get
the ship to the king. Finally, on August 10, 1628 the greatest
warship in Europe began its maiden voyage. It sailed away from the
dock, then heeled over. It righted itself but again heeled over.
This time water came pouring in through the lower gun ports, which
had not been covered. So much water poured in that there was no
saving the ship. The Vasa sank within sight of the dock it had
sailed from such a short time ago. And so the dream
ended.
At what cost? Hundreds of workmen had been
employedﾑnaval architects, shipwrights, carpenters, sail riggers,
laborers-and many of them had been brought to Sweden from other
European countries. There were 150 men in the crew of the Vasa; of
these, between 30 and 50 were lost.
Three hundred years later, on April 24,
1961, the Vasa was raised. This was a triumph of technology,
raising a wooden ship that had been underwater for so long. By a
combination of patience, courage, imagination, and engineering
skill, the Vasa was raised and brought to shore. A museum was
built for it, and it is today a very popular place for both
tourists and Swedes to visit.
When you walk into the building, you get
the sense that the ship is sitting in dry dock. The main floor of
the museum is slightly higher than the main deck of the Vasa, and
you can walk downstairs in the museum and see the ship from
several levels. There are a number of very interesting displays of
artifacts from the ship and the shipbuilding yard and discussions
of the Vasa and the people who made her.
If you canﾕt go to Sweden, you can still
visit the ship at this site:
Vasa is, of course, the name of the ship.
"Museet" is Swedish for museum, and "se" is an abbreviation for
Sverige, which, in Swedish, means Sweden. In
ways that King Gustavus Adolphus neither desired or could have
foreseen, his great dream was realized, at least in part.
Thousands of people from all over the world have come to look at
and to admire his great warship, which stands as mute testimony to
the vanity of human wishes.