May 15th

I went to the Vasa Museum today which was the COOLEST THING EVER. The Vasa is the only surviving 17th century man-of-war. It was this huge enormous ship, and then as it was sailing across the harbor to get supplies it capsized and sunk. Then in the 1960s they raised it back up and fortunately the brackish Baltic waters preserved it. And it's seriously the coolest thing ever. There was a long line to get in, but it moved pretty quickly. And then you walk inside and there's this massive 17th century man-of-war right in front of you. And there were like seven floors so you could get a view of the ship from a whole bunch of different angles. And there were all these cool exhibits to go along with it. There was one with all the skeletons of the people that died when the ship sunk, and then osteologists went in and wrote up all sorts of stuff about who the person was and what sort of life they must have lived, all based on the bones. I want to be an osteologist now. Using my own extensive medical knowledge, I diagnosed one skeleton with scoliosis. They also had fragments of the sailors' clothes. One sailors' outfit was so well preserved that they had his whole jacket and his stockings and shirt and everything. Normal people clothes rarely last, because people wore them forever, so it was so exciting to get to see not only things from the early 17th century but things that were worn by a common sailor. That's a super rare and interesting find!! And the ship was so big and amazing, I was not expecting it to be so massive. And it had all these intricate carvings all over it of people and animals and stuff. I think even people that don't love old ships would love it. Best museum ever!!

I spent so much time marvelling at the Vasa that the day ended and all the other museums closed. So I didn't make it to the Nordic Museum. I did step inside though to find out if they'd be open on Monday, and while I was there I saw a flyer for Stockholm's "best preserved 18th century house". Which of course is only open on weekends. I found out about it at 4:45 on Sunday. Typical. I'm not too heartbroken though as I'll be in Versailles in a few weeks. So I went back to the hostel, stopping at an Italian place for dinner. I like it because the names of all the dishes are in Italian so I can pronounce them. For an appetizer I had garlic bread piled with parmesan and crushed olives.

I'm having a great time hanging out with my new friends from the hostel in the evenings. Last night we watched the Eurovision contest (Azerbaijan won which is total crap because Ireland should have won), and tonight we all just chilled and talked. There's all sorts of people from all over the world and they're all really friendly and interesting. I gave my new Australian friend tips on what to eat when she goes to the American South (deep fried pickles, cookout milkshake, cracker barrel, NC BBQ), and my new Irish friends have promised to help me find a nice British/Scottish/Irish man. I love meeting people from all over the world and all different cultures.