In the morning, we went back over to the docks by the Grand Hotel (a famous hotel on the water where famous dignitaries and celebrities stay when they have business in Stockholm). We boarded a very new-looking ferryboat. Inside, we settled into a couple of comfortable bucket seats in the back of the boat (front of the boat was full), but we had a decent view of the water. We nibbled on some Swedish Pancakes and drank some more coffee we purchased from the cafe. As we navigated around the archipelago and watched the ferry chisel through the hard and frigid Baltic waters, we couldn't help but imagine what life must be like on some of the islands.
Some of the islands we passed were no bigger than Marcia and Geoff's yard in Conway, and on them stood small and tiny cottages. Sometimes, one stood alone on the island, with a small boat docked up 10 yards below the cottage, which was painted red, white or green. Over all of them, the Swedish flag whipped back and forth in the crisp air and you could see smoke billowing from the chimneys.
At some of the larger islands, where there were multiple houses, people would signal to the ferry to stop and pick them up at the public dock, so they could catch a ride with us to Voxholm, the biggest town in the area. We guessed they went in to pick up stuff they needed at the hardware or grocery store. They wheeled something akin to “granny carts” you'd see in the city, but they had compartments that protected their goods from the elements.
The ferry doesn't run to Voxholm as frequently in October because the islands' primary season is in the summer months. During the summer, we learned from a local later on in the day, the island becomes quite the touristic spectacle -- with thousands upon thousands of people thronging the main dock in town and the main street with its little shops.
We spent about four hours in Voxholm. Some shops had closed up for the winter, but others remained open. Though I didn't blame Rachel for wanting to peruse them, I insisted on us taking a walk around the island first. On our jaunt, we walked the small bike trails that hugged the water. The roads were made even narrower by the many leaves that had fallen. The houses on the water were small and modest. Parked in the narrow driveways, as you might expect, were volvos and saabs. The houses looked worn on the outside, but in a rustic way that hinted it might be a more intentional decision opposed to bad upkeep.
Down on the quays, sailboats and motor boats laid quietly docked, settling in for what we hear can be extremely long and dark winters.
We headed back into town and had lunch at this unmistakably Swedish cafe. The walls were lined with floral wallpaper and behind the counter played folksy Swedish music as the voice of a crooner sung in a language that sounds nice but that Rach and I didn't make much leeway in learning this trip. The owner made us some sandwiches as we sat inside and enjoyed the cafe's warmth (we'd stayed pretty warm from walking, but our cheeks had pinked by the time we made it inside).
We thanked the owner for a wonderful lunch and did some shopping around town. We went into a very small boutique, where Rachel got a pair of earrings made by an artist from Denmark. While inside, I sat in a comfortable leather chair so as not to rush her. While waiting, I couldn't help but get lost in this magnificently beautiful music playing over the sound system. To my amateur ear, it sounded like a cross of Keltic folk music with the heavy fiddle sound of bluegrass.
I found out from the owner it was neither. In fact, it was Swedish folk music played by a folk band she's quite fond of. I jotted down the band's name (Vasen), and purchased a CD of theirs in Stockholm later on in the day and I'm listening to it right now as I write this post on the plane ride back to Boston.
We got back to the boat around 3 p.m. This time, we got to the dock early and secured a nice seat in the front of the boat, where a glass room gave us a semi-panoramic view of the sea and the islands as we headed back to Stockholm. Only one more night left in the city and we wanted to pack in as much as we possibly could...
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