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Old Town Gamla Stan

by travel2022 | Jul 15, 2022 | Sweden

Islands, Bridges, Boats

By: Michael

Geography is not our strong suit so it was more than surprising to us that discover that there are more than 30,000 islands in the Sweden archipelago beginning just a few minutes from Stockholm. This morning we enjoyed a short boat ride to Fjaderholmarna, one of the smaller inhabited islands. We walked around the entire island in less than 30 minutes including a stop at a blacksmith’s studio and a cappuccino at a cute little bageri (bakery). We caught another boat to Nacka Stand on the mainland when we enjoyed a wonderful visit to Fotografiska, a museum of photography that was featuring the works of Terry O’Neill’s Stars Exhibit (famous for his photos of celebrities from all walks of life) and Andy Warhol. We then walked back to Gamla Stan for lunch and people watching and a visit to the Nobel Museum. There are daily tours of this museum in English but they were sold out today so we will venture back tomorrow morning.

It was colder and windy today and we both found ourselves a little chilled with somewhat inadequate clothing. Having heard of all the problems with airlines and lost/ delayed baggage, we opted to travel with only carry-on luggage. Not a lot of room in that small a bag for cold weather gear when just packed for 19 days until we get to our apartment in Italy. Tomorrow is our last full day in Sweden as we fly to Norway early on Sunday morning. Tomorrow we go our separate ways for a day, as Betsy wants to do some shopping and I a longer hike in the countryside. BTW, the photo of Betsy lounging by the pool was taken at the Fotografiska in a setting staged to mimic a famous O’Neill photograph of Faye Dunaway taken the morning after she won an Oscar for her performance in Network. Betsy got an Oscar for best tourist of the day.

Stockholm

by travel2022 | Jul 15, 2022 | Sweden

Islands, Bridges, Boats

Arrived in Stockholm without any hiccups accept our own incompetence at how to exit the metro to get to street level. Just goes to show you, when you live in California with ‘0’ public transport those skills are relatively nonexistent. With the help of strangers who are somewhat friendly we found our way off the tracks and into our modest hotel room in the heart of old town Stockholm, otherwise known as Gamla Stan.

Our first venture out we took a ferry to the island of Djurgarden to visit the Skansen which is essentially an open air museum dedicated to the preservation of traditional architecture throughout the Scandinavian countries. It’s kind of a combination of preserved history of culture and buildings along with a zoo featuring Nordic animals such as moose, bears and reindeer along with a Nordic fox or two.

From there we went on to visit the Vasa Museum which for the Swedish is the equivalent of a “Titanic flop.” It’s a ship that took years to build and was launched in 1628. It was intended to rival it’s most powerful rival, Poland. However, seven days after it was launched, it sank due to moderate winds and faulty engineering. It has been painstakingly restored and the museum makes honorable tributes through films and tours that chronicle a time in history of a city committed to securing its safety and well-being.

Then it started raining . . but we were prepared with rain jackets and climbed aboard our ferry to get back home.