Stockholm
On the way to Stockholm I had a coffee on the plane. I was given a paper cup and some milk to consider while I waited for the coffee jug to be refilled and brought over. The milk was in an interesting tetrapak with a clever shape, which made it very difficult to hold and open without placing pressure on the milk inside. Seeing the danger of an airborne milking, and thinking myself very clever, I put the pack inside my empty cup for protection, and eased it open. The moment the foil was off, the dam was broken and the milk exited the cup in a neat arc. In my struggle to control the flow, it sprayed all over me and the magazine I was reading, and came perilously close to landing on the stranger next to me, who — thank god — was asleep the whole time.
Tetrapak adds excitement to milk opening.
The guy next to me woke up just in time to see the lovely view as we landed in Copenhagen. It was sunset and outside the window there was an impressive wind farm, blades turning slowly over the Baltic Sea. We changed planes in a rush and headed on to Stockholm, where we met up with Tanya's parents.
Renewable energy, yes!
Stockholm is very beautiful. I hadn't realised how watery a place it is. It's built on a set of islands and the sea is everywhere. We wandered the old town and were turned away from the royal palace, which was under heavy police guard complete with guys with mirrors on sticks and dogs on leads. It turned out to be because there was a royal wedding that day, and later on we saw the wedding party go past in a dark car surrounded by horses. So that was quite strange.
Fjäderholmen is one of the closest islands to the city. We took the boat out there for a look. It's about a 25 minute trip by ferry, and the island itself is tiny. We walked around it twice before lunch. We also went to its highest point, where there were sunbathers scattered amongst nesting sea birds.
The ferry to Fjäderholmen.
Tanya swimming in the Baltic Sea.
Later that day we went to another island, this one part of the main city and accessible by subway. From Södermalm we had lovely views of Gamla Stan, the passing trains casting reflected sunlight onto the water.
Stockholm's guerrilla knitting game is on-point.
Two Plopps are better than one.
The next morning we once again wandered the city, and ended up at the amazing Vasamuseet. There they have the ship called Vasa which sank in 1628 and was recovered impressively intact in 1961. It was fascinating, and huge. The ship sailed on roughly the same path we took from Gamla Stan towards Fjäderholmen, but didn't make it that far — it had a weight distribution that made it unstable, and it sank on its maiden voyage after it hit the first breath of wind 1.3 km into the bay. The museum didn't discuss its sinking very much but rather focused on its recovery and preservation.
The Vasa at the Vasamuseet.
Stockholm's T-Centralen station.
We reluctantly left Stockholm after the weekend there. During the Sunday evening, storms rolled across Switzerland and played havoc with air traffic; our trip back south was delayed and we arrived home late. Stockholm was smart, beautiful, friendly, old, and watery - what a great city!