'Mutton' The one eared Sheep's Grand European Tour - Day One

Mutton admiring the fountains
in the Kungs-trad Garden Stockholm

Using royalties from her blockbuster autobiography 'The Silence of the Lambs', Mutton the one eared sheep commenced her Grand European Tour on the third of September 2013 in Stockholm.

Today she visited a number of parks and gardens and travelled ; on the 'Tunnelbana Metro', on a tram and by ferry boat between islands of the Stockholm Archipelago.

Mutton very much enjoyed a guided tour of the Vasa warship which sank in Stockholm Harbour on the 10th of August 1628.  The Vasa was raised from the sea in 1961 and then underwent years of reconstruction and conservation.

The Vasa - 98% original timber
perfectly preserved by the cold waters
of the Baltic and a layer of mud

The Vasa sank on her maiden voyage only a few hundred metres from the King's Palace.  King Gustavus Adolphus commissioned the warship for the promotion of Sweden's war with Poland.  Sadly, he gave his shipwrights insufficient time to undertake the building of the ship and during that period changed 'the brief' by instructing that a third gun deck be added.  The loss of the Vasa was the consequence of; these instructions, the inability of his craftsmen to question the word of the King, the loading of insufficient ballast and a fatal design error in the adoption of too narrow a beam.

Shortly after casting off, the sails were caught by a sudden gust of wind and the Vasa began to list. Water poured in through the open gun ports and the ship very quickly sank in 30 metres of water.

The King's brother set up an enquiry but with everyone blaming each other, no one person was singled out as being culpable.  Ironically if the Vasa had sailed safely away it would not be around today for all to see.  If you visit Stockholm the Vasa Museum is a must see!

Tomorrow,  President Obama is coming to Stockholm and Mutton is hoping to catch a glimpse of him and wave a hoof as his limousine passes by!

Gardens Skansen

A Red Squirrel in a tree