Day in Voxholm...

Wrote this on the plane yesterday. Still trying to finish up the Sweden road diary. One more entry to come after this one.

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...

Out on the water

We had breakfast here at the hotel with Sarah before she headed off to class. Breakfast was nothing short of crazy and somewhat picked over. A large bus of Asian tourists clogged the buffet lines, and business people who are staying at the hotel shoveled down plates of eggs.

Rachel and I showered and took the T to Kungstrgarden, where we hoped to catch a ferry to one of the nearby islands. The one we'd initially hoped to catch had already left, so we settled for a general Archipelago tour that took us around all the islands of Stockholm.

On the water, we enjoyed the second straight day here of clear skies and sun. We spent time cruising around Saltsjon, which is a salt-water inlet of the Baltic Sea that many of the islands reside on. But then we went down a man-made channel to the western part of the city that took us into Lake Riddarfjarden, which was fresh water.

During the voyage, Rachel feel asleep for a few minutes because a lot of sun came into the cabin and sort of baked the room, making it feel warm and cozy as we looked out on the brisk Scandinavian waters. While she slept, I put on my coat and went in back where a couple other passengers were snapping pictures.

While I did take some pictures of Parliament and the Palace as we passed Stockholm center and Gamla Stan, the more rural parts of the trip interested me the most. The deciduous trees, now in their prime peak of autumn and hanging comfortably but not lazily over the water, ran flush to the shore in some places. On one side of Lake Riddarfjarden, I saw luxury apartment buildings that epitomized the Swede's long celebrated reputation for elegant, yet simple design. They were held up by long white pillars and had square decks overlooking the water. On the decks were slightly curved, wooden deck furniture.

We finished the tour and got off the boat around 1 p.m. before heading for a cafe in Central Stockholm (right near the bridge to Gamla Stan). I had a light sandwich and Rachel had a pumpkin soup. Believe it or not, we ate outdoors, as have many people the last few days. From what I've learned of winter here, I truly believe they'd rather bundle up and enjoy the sun while they can.

There won't be much more of it.

At the height of winter here, the sun rises around 9 a.m. and sets around 3 p.m. While Sweden gets rewarded with a sun that stays up to 11 p.m. in the summer, the locals here in Stockholm tell us the winters can be very depressing.

After lunch, we went to the Nobel Museum expecting to see a nice celebration of all the brilliant minds who have won the prize. Instead, it was somewhat of a dud. The layout was poor. It had very little helpful information and very few displays that really put the Nobel prize on the pedestal it deserves.

But, we've been lucky the entire trip with our choosing of activities, so we didn't let it perturb us too much. We walked around more of Gamla Stan that we'd missed yesterday and then back to Central Stockholm and down Drottinggatan.

We stopped in a small, uniquely Swedish restaurant with moderate prices that Rachel and I booked a reservation at tonight. We just woke from a much-needed nap and are going to head over there soon.

P.S. We're still in disbelief the Yankees lost. But bring on Cleveland! Gives us something to look forward to when we come back Thursday.

One very full day in Stockholm

We spent yesterday morning in Gamla Stan, the “old” section of Stockholm. While the temperature never climbed much above 50, it was an amazing, blue sky day, and it was fun to walk around the narrow, cobblestoned streets. We walked up by Parliament, a large stone building near the water. We then went up to the Palace where we saw the soldiers getting ready for the changing of the guards.

We had lunch at a wonderful little cafe in Gamla Stan, where we had pressed sandwiches and a Swedish Apple Crisp doused in cream (we're going to gain 10 pounds each this trip!). Rachel did some shopping and perused the small boutiques while I meandered the streets taking pictures and listened to the street sounds of two fiddle players.

In the afternoon, we went back towards central Stockholm and over to the Vasa museum. We took a guided tour (in English), so I was able to learn the following:

The Vasa was a Swedish warship built for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Construction began in 1626 and ended in 1628. The ship was made in preparation for Sweden's war with Poland, and King Gustavus Adolphus thought it would establish him and Sweden as a true power in Europe.

But the Swedes (and the dutch fellow they hired) apparently weren't the best warship builders. The elegant boat, decorated with fancy moldings of figures like King David and the Roman Emperors, was very top-heavy with inadequate ballast.

On August 10, 1628, the Vasa made its maiden voyage from outside the palace in Stockholm. The crew brought their women and children on board to celebrate the occasion (they planned, of course, to drop them off at one of the islands along the archipelago before heading off to war). They fired salutes to the Sweden before heading off to sea as thousands thronged the docks in celebration to see the ship make its glorious trip towards Poland, where the Swedish king was awaiting his new weapon.

But they didn't get that far.

In fact, the boat got no more than 15 minutes away from the dock when it tipped to one side, failed to right itself, and slipped rather sadly into sea. About 30 were killed, and many survived due to the accident occurring close to shore.

Because the Baltic sea isn't every salty, it doesn't allow a type of worm to thrive that typically eats away things like wood on the ocean floor. As a result, the Swedes were able to pull the ship up in the early 1960s. They couldn't just let it dry quickly though, because the wood would eventually just crack apart. In order to preserve it, they sprayed polyethylene glycol on it for 17 years and then allowed it to dry for nine years.

The result is truly incredible. It's the only fully-restored boat from the 17th century. They placed it in this museum and now it's eerie to look at this ship and think of its doomed voyage 400 years ago. Though it wasn't seaworthy, it looks glorious. The moldings along the side are extremely elegant, and it evoked various Hollywood images of conquest and war.

In the evening, we met Sarah around 5:30 p.m. and headed for the southern part of Stockholm to see the Hammarby Football (Soccer) Club. We stood in the general admission section, located behind the goal, with the hardcore fans. They screamed and sung songs the entire game enthusiastically, watching their team exercise futility against a much better Helsingborg team. The cold and wind swept up the stands and the three of us huddled together drinking Swedish beer.

Down two goals with only about 15 minutes to play, a fan threw and object at one of the officials and the game was called early. While they were deliberating whether or not to call the game, we hightailed it out of there because when they call a game they lock in the hardcore fans until the opposing team's fans leave.

In the evening, we retreated to the Scandic Alvic for a drink before heading to bed. Today, we're off to hopefully take a ferry today to one of the islands.

Evening in Stockholm

All the walking we did yesterday worked up quite an appetite. Saturday nights in Stockholm are quite busy, and at Sarah's advisement, we made a reservation at a wonderful little Swedish restaurang called Entre, located at 78 Folkungagatan, a little south of Stockholm center.

It was a quiet and pleasant place. It had hardwood floors and very dim lights. Candles on the table. Sarah and Rachel ordered fish and I had a cut of steak, which was perfectly cooked. After dinner, we went to a bar called Mest Bar & Kok. I ordered a couple pints of Swedish lager and the girls had some mixed drinks before we went back to the hotel and called it a night after a very long, but very productive day.

One other highlight from yesterday:

-Sarah had said she'd found a “sports bar” for me to watch the Red Sox game tonight (daytime for you folks back in New England). She didn't realize just how much she struck gold. We stopped by O'Leary's, which in its tagline (as you can see from their website here) describes themselves as an authentic “Boston-American sports bar.” We walked inside to find banners of the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics and Patriots. Autographed pictures of Boston legends like Larry Bird hung on the walls. We're pretty sure that if one establishment in Stockholm will show the game, it'll be this place, where the owner is from Nantucket.

Today, Sarah's host family plan to cook us a homemade Swedish dinner, so we look forward to that very much. After the dinner, we'll head over to O'Leary's to hopefully watch Big Schill finish out the ALDS in Boston's favor.

Autumn in Stockholm

We began the day with our breakfast (included) at the Hotel Alvik. Sarah joined us. It was quite the spread, with a lot of the usual stuff (eggs, toast) and some nice additions like Swedish pancakes. They had the texture of a crepe and you topped them with a jelly or jam.

It was an overcast morning, and about 45 degrees. I've read that's fairly typical weather for this time of year here. Sarah tells us we can also expect sporadic periods of rain, though today has been dry.

We went across the street from the hotel to the Alvick T stop (yes, they call it the “T” here, too). Rachel and I purchased 7-day T passes for Skr 230 ($35), a really great value when you consider each ride is $5 a pop if you pay-by-the-drink.

The subway here didn't disappoint. It was clean and had very comfortable seats. Was it a smooth ride, you ask? Well, I saw a gentleman standing and reading a Swedish Metro, holding the pages open with both hands – not once did he see the need to grab one of the handle bars.

We took the metro to T-Centralen (which runs below Centralstationen and is the main hub for the T lines). We walked upstairs to the lower plaza of Sergel's Torg (translated: Sergel's Square). Sergel's Torg is sort of the epicenter for dissent here, I'm told, in the form of protests. Recently, there was an international one opposing the United States occupation of Iraq.

Today, though, there weren't protests. Instead, there was a skateboarding/snowboarding festival. Sweet Skateboards had its sign over a half-pipe that was set up along the lower plaza beside the entrance to T-Centralen. Over on several flights of stairs leading down to the lower plaza, a dump truck unloaded tons and tons of snow. Boys dressed in baggy skater pants smoothed the snow over the steps, giving it a nice consistency. At the top, they built a ramp and dumped snow over it. I thought it'd be fun to stay and watch a few jumps, but we kept moving.

We climbed the stairs from the lower plaza and began strolling down Drattninggaton, a street lined with shops (some touristy with postcard stands in the doorway) but others more fashionable. The Swedes, it seems, are generally very fashionable. We spoke with Sarah about her conversations with her aunt, who works in fashion in New York. She says while Stockholm is by no means a first adopter (that distinction, of course, belongs to New York and Paris), they at least pay attention very closely to what's going on in those bellwether cities and then follow soon after. Everyone here is dressed in points. Pointy shoes, coats with pointy cuts. It's sort of a 1980s, quasi-punk, pseudo-hipster style (Disclaimer: I know nothing of fashion, so that's my crude assessment).

We ambled around the Norrmalm section of the city before moving slightly east and down along the water. As we walked along Strandvagen (a road that runs along the Djurgardsbrunnsviken inlet, we saw ferry boats that take people around the archipelago of the city. The buildings along the water, a lot of which are owned by companies or are hotels, looked marvelous with their empire-like towers.

We had lunch back at Sergels Square. We ate in Bern's restaurant and Cafe, which resides in an ugly modern building over the sqaure but that had wonderful food. We had pressed sandwiches and Pepsi's from longneck, retro-looking bottles.

In the afternoon, we took the Redline T south two stops to the Slussen stop, where we went to the unapologetically touristy (yet really helpful) Katarinahissen, a tall elevator, that shows you a bird's eye view of the city from high up. We paid Skr 10 each to take it to the top. The viewing area is basically a long walkway, which leads you into one of Stockholm's little neighborhoods. We stopped by a park and I took some pictures of the foliage.

The smell of the smoke billowing from a nearby chimney, coupled with the brittle leaves cracking under our feet, evinced thoughts of a New England winter back home. Oddly, I didn't find the thought depressing as much as a comforting reassurance that the seasons still change, after all.

We took the T back to our hotel and Sarah to her apartment for a much needed nap. Such a full day, but we still had dinner and a Saturday night out in Stockholm to contend with...