A tremendous opportunity fell into my lap. The Swedish Air Force, in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, wanted a pilot from Nellis to come to Sweden's Air Force Combat Simulation Center to brief a Grippen squadron on flying at Nellis and in Red Flag. They will be bringing a squadron of Grippens, their brand new front line fighter, to Nellis to fly in Red Flag for the first time ever. It was my job to get them as acquainted as possible to flying at Nellis and in a Red Flag before they left for the U.S. So, off I went on Tuesday, 27 May, to stay in Stockholm for a week and a half, coming back Saturday, 7 June.Stockholm is an amazing and beautiful city. Unknown to me, it is actually built on an archipelago. Which means when you combine Scandinavian architecture and culture with the beautiful water and many islands the city is actually built on, you get an amazing experience. The inhabitants are taught English by law early in elementary school, and I never once found a Swede that didn't speak English. Most of them speak it better than I do. Needless to say, it wasn't too difficult to get around. Some of the signs are only in Swedish, but some have English on them as well. In the end, I lived by myself there without any problems. Sweden is an expensive city though, but no one seems to mind. But the most beautiful part of Sweden are the people, literally. I don't know what genetic code has been triggered in this country, but the stereotype of a tall, blond hair, blue eyed slender population holds remarkable true, almost disturbingly so. I felt almost as much of a stand-out as I did in Korea.
I had the opportunity for some great sight-seeing during my off days. The city has nearly 70 museums that cover every aspect of life. The Vasamuseet, or Vasa Museum, was the first on my list. It is a museum built around a 95% original warship from the early 17th century. It was remarkable that a ship built almost 400 years ago is still around, but the story is even more remarkable. The Vasa, built in 1628, was going to be the pride of the Swedish fleet. Twenty five minutes into its maiden voyage, still inside Stockholm harbor, a gust of wind tipped the vessel over slightly, and water poured into her gun doors, causing the boat to sink within 30 seconds. They later realized the main engineering failure was the length versus width of the ship, making her extremely unstable and top heavy. There it laid for 333 years before a group found the remains and drug it up from the bottom of the water in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Magically, the boat could still float and 95% of it remain intact. Quite a sight to see.