An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We spent our usual morning time with Louisa going over all our planning, then asked about the availability of their suite (they only have 10 rooms, of which one is a suite) It was available tonight and Sunday night, but not Saturday, due to a bride and groom staying for one night. We looked at the room and decided to pay the 200SK ($25) extra, since it’s much larger and has better blinds for the windows! (A consideration when it gets light in the middle of the night) It was only down the hall, so moving wasn’t too bad.
Breakfasted al fresco, then set off for the Vasa museum. One of the more fascinating things we’ve ever seen: a 210-foot oak warship constructed in 1628 which sank on its maiden voyage and lay on the sea bottom until 1961 when it was raised virtually intact. This museum was then built to accomodate the ship. The stern was (almost grotesquely) ornate with innumerable carved figures, which were originally painted, to show the grandeur of Sweden at that time. ( The ship was actually built to aid in the war with Poland, which I’m sure we all remember studying. . . )
Then it was across the street to the Nordiska Museum, sort of the Victoria and Albert of Sweden, with Swedish lifestyle implements throughout the ages. The main reason for going was their special exhibit on the history of the Automobile (for Milton) and a history of fashion (for Wendy) Both were pretty interesting (especially the parts about Saab) and were aided tremendously by a system they have of free discmans that one carries and enters the 3-digit numbers from the particular exhibit and the disc plays a few minutes on whatever one’s viewing. Makes for wonderfully personal and selective museum going.
We finished up at the National Gallery to see the Faberge show. Nice little collection assembled of eggs, jewelry, etc., (too bad Wendy’s birthday had already passed) with a helpful film shown before. We then did a quick once-around the rest of the musuem and saw beautifully crafted wood furniture, some tapestries, and china.
Since today was the first day of the Stockholm Water Festival, we stopped by some of the booths, buying a few official tee-shirts and an official watch and watching a few skateboard wizards do tricks. We passed on the myriad food booths (including the hot dog stands with their IV-drips of mustard and ketchup) and instead went eagerly to the Saluhall, the food hall we had scoped out yesterday. We canvassed all the booths before deciding on some foccaccia, some garlic and olives in oil, and 1/2 a bar-be-qued chicken. We sat at one of the fish restaurants in the court and ordered a sampler platter (which included melt-in-your-mouth fresh salmon and smoked eel) and a small lobster and got permission to eat our other finds there. All in all, a meal any restaurant would aspire to.
We concluded with a small bag of Oliver’s truffles, after hearing the 23-year-old Oliver complain about how hard it is to run your own biz in Sweden, and went to Humlegarden Park to rest and read the Int’l Hearald Tribune. We saw some, uh, interesting characters (which N.Y. clearly has NO monopoly on) then finally set off to partake in the Water Festival. It’s sort of County Fair, Manhattan Street Fair, Block Party, and Spring Fling all put together with hundreds of booths, tens of thousands of people, and lots of different music. (Interestingly, we saw not one policeman all night). We sat, and strolled, throughout the Gamla Stand (old city) which still has narrow winding, cobbled streets, European piazza-like squares, old beautiful buildings, and some upscale shops. The crowds finally got to us, though, so after watching some street performers (one doing some amazing tricks on a bicycle), we broke free and walked home to our luxury suite.
After our time in the countryside, it was nice to be back in a big city, but again, we were struck by how clean and quiet everything was (away from the festivities), even the park was fairly empty, and how safe we felt walking home after dark.