It was decided that to enjoy Sweden I needed to know a little more about Stockholm the capital and the surrounding places, notably Vaxholm and Stockholm's old town Gamla stan.
Stockholm is built on many islands, part of the archipelago running up the east coast, I am not sure how many of the hundreds islands and skerries, which are too small to be inhabited. The transport, consequently, is a mixture of road, underground train and boats. We first did a tour of the harbour area by the Hop-On-Hop-Off ferry which also had a commentary as we went around. This gave me a very good overview of beautiful Stockholm.
Stockholm from the ferry
The ferry was busy with all kinds of boats including international ferries and serious looking ships that looked as if they were built for icy seas round Scandinavia and Iceland. There were several stops on our tour, one most popular one was where people disembarked for the huge fun fair or amusement park. It had the scariest roller-coaster I have ever seen which was easily visible from the boat, I took a photo but it really didn't turn out too well, sorry kids.
After our harbour tour we disembarked and went to the old town, or Gamla stan, as it is called. This part of town is very old, it dates back to the 13th century and has been influenced by North German architecture. Stortorget is the name of the large square and I think, it is the one in the picture below. Of course the streets are narrow and there are many small alleyways.
There are many more photos of Stockholm on my Flicr site which is in the right-hand column on my main blog page, do go and have a look.
My impression of Stockholm initially was how clean it was, there didn't seem to be a litter or dirt problem. Gels would love it here, the art and shopping is in abundance. And Gamla stan in particular is very quaint with lots of ancient character. We saw one building which was once an old bank. My goodness, the heavy doors and window bars were very solid indeed.
There is a very unimpressive palace in Stockholm, easily visible from the ferry, in this city of wonderful architecture you have to wonder why the palace is so plain. However, there is a lovely little story about this too. Apparently once when a visiting foreign dignitary was visiting Stockholm the mayor (or maybe the king, I can' remember now) wished to make an impressive gesture and so he had a gun salute fired from the old hospital, a truly beautiful and impressive building, and not from the palace. I don't have a photo of he old hospital and can't find one so you won't be able to see the difference but just believe me -the old hospital is like a fairytale palace. However in my searching I did find this link CLICK HERE which has lots of pictures of Stockholm and gives you a really excellent idea of the buildings and architecture, far better than I can, do have a look.
After exploring on foot for a while we took a steamer, if I remember correctly its name is Storskär (or Big Scary translated I think). We had arranged to meet Jan at Waxholm or Vaxholm - both spellings seem to be correct. The trip took about an hour I think through the islands and skerries past many charming dwellings and to Vaxholm, an old town which was established in 1558. Jan wanted us to have our meal at a little restaurant that was less for tourists and catered more for Swedes. It was busy, and hot. We found a table more or less in the shade and allowed Jan to order fried herring, mashed potatoes flavoured with a herb I couldn't identify, and beetroot and a really cold Carlsberg to go with it. Delicious.
We had a walk round the area and Jan proved to be an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide.
First of all we passed Vaxholm Castle. Then we meandered past many traditional old houses that were originally built as holiday homes, or summer houses, when Vaxholm grew popular as a spa destination. The houses are mainly constructed in wood and decorated in red or yellow. The red paint comes from a residue from iron or copper mining industry and was discovered to have preserving properties. The window frames and trim round the roof is picked out in white. The result most fetching and picturesque.
The next day, having had our fill of Stockholm for a little while Agnes, Doug and I went for a drive in the countryside, to find a pretty spot to picnic and to pick blueberries and chantarelles if there were any. First we visited the local shop to pick up a few ingredients for our picnic. It is considered a fairly upmarket shop and not all shops have the particular feature I am about to tell you about, namely a free coffee service. Imagine that! That is definitely a clever way to get the likes of me into a rather more expensive outlet, how very civilised. So on to the picnic...
On the way we visited an old smelter. There was no parking charge and no entry fee...can this be true? The smelter was one of dozens that were active during the time of Karl XII. Karl XII was, according to Agnes and Jan, a particularly inept warrior king. He waged war against many nations and lost most of them causing the kingdom of Sweden to shrink enormously. However it appears he had a 'Valhalla' vision and manufacture of swords and weaponry was key to this and many other mining and smelting enterprises. Later on they gave up on swords and concentrated on agricultural implements instead. So...here we are in the 21st century seeing how the worthy smiths worked, the little smelter and smithy beautifully situated on the side of the road in a forest. Dad/Grandad would have been interested in the simple and ingenious method used here, many of the cogs and wheels to raise and lower hammers made of wood.
On the way we visited an old smelter. There was no parking charge and no entry fee...can this be true? The smelter was one of dozens that were active during the time of Karl XII. Karl XII was, according to Agnes and Jan, a particularly inept warrior king. He waged war against many nations and lost most of them causing the kingdom of Sweden to shrink enormously. However it appears he had a 'Valhalla' vision and manufacture of swords and weaponry was key to this and many other mining and smelting enterprises. Later on they gave up on swords and concentrated on agricultural implements instead. So...here we are in the 21st century seeing how the worthy smiths worked, the little smelter and smithy beautifully situated on the side of the road in a forest. Dad/Grandad would have been interested in the simple and ingenious method used here, many of the cogs and wheels to raise and lower hammers made of wood. Back to the hunt for berries and mushrooms, there weren't any really a few blueberries but not much - too dry and too early for the berries to be ripe. It was very hot again. Yesterday I had enjoyed a dip in the Baltic before our trip into Stockholm, it is a very quiet and (at this time of year) warm sea, much much nicer than the sea around Britain for swimming and even nicer than the rough treacherous oceans round South Africa. Well, I'm not looking for a challenge - I prefer my ocean dips to be of the warm, peaceful variety with no danger of currents, being nibbled by a shark or frozen to death! The summer Baltic suits me just fine.
After the smelter we found a pleasant spot on the edge of Lake Viren and feasted on Swedish bread, kaffe bröd, ( a sweet plaited bread filled with cinnamon and sugar - delicious with coffee) and cheese and coffee. Doug and Agnes swam, but I was too lazy. I lay in the shade of the wonderful tall trees and listened to the little sounds of a family picnicking not far from us.
This was not the end of this wonderful day. Later after eating supper on the balcony (most of our meals were on the balcony or al fresco picnics), Agnes sat down at the piano completely unannounced and played for 30-40 minutes. She is an excellent pianist and I believe she was being groomed for a concert pianist career but didn't want the pressure that goes with it. She played selections from Chopin, Scott Joplin and others apologising for her rustiness as she hasn't played for almost a year with any seriousness. Douglas is a lucky man to have that source of truly beautiful music in his home. We sat enthralled as the music danced out into the calm evening,
Agnes's family are very musical - her Father's Mother was an opera singer and the music gene has been passed down the family. They all play piano and/or violin beautifully and no doubt this gift will be passed on and encouraged among the next generation too. Agnes brother played some simple Swedish folk tunes on his violin one evening for his little girl which she really loved, me too!
Agnes's family are very musical - her Father's Mother was an opera singer and the music gene has been passed down the family. They all play piano and/or violin beautifully and no doubt this gift will be passed on and encouraged among the next generation too. Agnes brother played some simple Swedish folk tunes on his violin one evening for his little girl which she really loved, me too!
