Kalmar Nickel and Delaware At Museum  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Empty Ship In 1986 a group of citizens of Wilmington, Delaware established the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation. The foundation designed, built and launched a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel, but much guesswork had to be used. A few contemporary descriptions exist, but no blueprints, plans or drawings of the original Kalmar Nyckel have been found. The replica was built at a shipyard in Wilmington on the Christina River, near the original 1638 Swedish settler's landing site at Fort Christina. She was launched on September 28, 1997. The ship is operated and maintained by a volunteer staff, under the leadership of a paid captain, boatswain, and a chief mate.
I was lucky enough to be in Wilmington while the Kalmar Nyckel was in port and arranged to have trip on her with a party from the Nature Refuge. I was really looking forward to the afternoon trip but first I had time to visit the Delaware Historical Society’s museum, which is located in an old Woolworths building in Market Street. An interesting little museum it was too; for me the display of textiles and original garments developed by the DuPont Company using Nylon, Kevlar and Gore-Tex was a real eye opener. Having relied on Gore-Tex garments to keep me dry many times I had no idea of their origin.  Ships canon  Rigging  Explosives keep out
The day was incredibly hot and forecast to be 97 degrees with humidity which made it feel even hotter. I hadn’t really experienced this kind of heat before, but it was the really hot wind that was the strangest experience: like the heat from an open oven door hitting you. On boarding the impressive looking ship the crew told us that due to a fast approaching storm we couldn’t actually go very far on our afternoon trip in case the storm arrived before we had moored safely back at the riverfront. We would still be able to have a short sail on the Christina River and it was very enjoyable but a real shame we couldn’t go very far.
As well as answering any questions we had about the ship, the crew had us helping to hoist the main sail and joining in singing songs. The volunteers are all very knowledgeable about the ship and also run an education program. They gave a great account of the original Kalmar Nyckel’s voyages to the area and how, because of over-hunting, there are sadly no longer any Beaver’s in the area. Sadly all too soon our hour and a half sail was over and we were back at the quayside. Just in time too as watching on an I-phone one of the crew could tell that the approaching storm was a matter of minutes away. In fact as soon as I got off the ship an enormous gust of wind blew up rattling all the ropes and sails in quite an alarming way.  Ships detail  River taxi
I had walked to and from the riverfront on many occasions during my stay but this time I thought it best to catch a bus back to the city as it was really dark and looking very threatening. I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased to see a bus as I sheltered in the corner of the bus shelter as the rain started and on the short ride back to the city centre the rain was lashing down with a river of water running down the hill. I was in fact the only person on the bus and knew the bus stop was a couple of blocks away from where I needed to get to, so a quick chat with the bus driver and he let me off at some red traffic lights where he told me to go take shelter somewhere. Although only a few yards from shelter I got soaked to the skin: I’d certainly never seen rain coming down this hard before. The nearest place I could go was a bank where lots of other people were also sheltering.
Just when I was thinking it was easing off and I’d have a go at getting back to our apartment a siren sounded with a warning of an approaching tornado and for people to seek shelter straight away! Looking around at everyone rushing about they all looked as surprised as I did as no one had ever heard that before. Well as quickly as I could I got inside and got myself dried off and also made sure my camera was OK too. It had stayed safely in my bag during the whole storm, As much as I would have loved to get some pictures it definitely isn’t waterproof and it just wasn’t worth the risk. As it happened no tornado ever did blow through. By the time I’d dried myself off and looked out at the streets below ten minutes later it was like nothing had happened. It was so hot the pavements dried very quickly when the sun came back out. Am I really glad that I hadn’t been on the Kalmar Nyckle when it came through: the crew of the ship absolutely did the right thing by not going very far that afternoon.  Chihuly glass Persians  Modern artwork
The following morning I just had time to visit the Delaware Art Museum before a car was due to pick us up taking us back to Philadelphia Airport and home. I’d walked the couple of miles out of the city once before only to find the museum closed. I should have checked the opening times but I really did want to make a visit as they have a collection of English Pre-Raphaelite paintings well worth a look at plus I really wanted to see for myself a display of Chihuly glass sculptures known as Persians. They were as spectacular as I expected them to be and I was delighted that pictures were allowed to be taken inside although it’s never easy without having a tripod with you for things like that.
I walked back through Brandywine Park just to see if my favourite Blue Heron was around and sure enough he was there still trying to fish at the weir although due to the amount of rain the previous day there was a lot more water for him to fish in now. So our visit to America had come to an end and I go home with some wonderful memories of places visited and people I’d met along the way too.
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ook unusual, very attractive and colourful. What a wonderful trip you had, you certainly made good use of the time you had, don't think you wasted a minute of it and wonderful memories for you. M
aggie