Stockholm, August 21 - 31

Of all of the places we have traveled to, Stockholm proved most difficult to find accommodation. The apartment rental market is in such a state, locals are often on waiting lists for years and often end up living on top of each other in shoeboxes in the meantime.

We were very nervous, as we had not found anything after days of making enquiries. On the evening of our departure from Portugal, an agent came through for us! She found a spacious and bright apartment in the street of Södermannagatan, on the central island Södermalm.

It was a great neighbourhood to be in. The streets were quiet, but a short walk away there were many quirky shops and cafes to explore. Naomi's friend Georgia was in town, and they caught up right away. More plans were made to see each other over the coming week or so.
Here you can see Naomi and Georgia at a cafe called String, a place where we were soon to become regulars.


We had a fantastic map that Georgia had made for us as a gift when we left Australia. One of our first activities in Stockholm was to follow one of her suggested walking routes, along the South-Western coast of the island. The walk takes you through a few different gorgeous areas, it really was very pretty.
Meandering along the water's edge, you can see an interesting Swedish phenomenon called Kolonilotter. Apartment dwellers manage small garden plots, and the wealthy build elaborate garden sheds and sundecks from which to watch the vegies grow.


The coastal walk terminates at an outdoor market area known as Street. It had a very vibrant and festive feel to it, and we were excited to stumble onto Georgia and some of her friends who had been soaking up the sun over some breakfast bagels.
They suggested we continue walking past a funny little store that sells pre-loved indoor plants. It was like an opp shop for greenery, and even the name reflected this.


I do think they could have put more effort into the window display, but the store was very cute.

We made some effort to do a bit of sightseeing in between catchups with Georgia and the gang.
A lovely afternoon was spent at Rosendals Tradgard, a public orchard and nursery complex on the hill in a beautiful national park. The train ride and walk there took us through the old center Gamla Stan, and some stunning forested roads dotted with stately homes.


After a coffee and some snacks, we wandered through the gardens to find ourselves a patch of grass. From there we watched families and children play amongst the apple trees, eating a few apples here and there while enjoying the sunshine. It was a perfect day for it.


With no internet in our apartment (perhaps its only identifiable flaw), we would do all of our online activities from cafes, and when that wasn't possible, we sat at kiosks at 7-eleven.
In the next photo, Naomi is on a call back home to the family outside cafe String.


The Moderna Museet had some interesting displays in their Architecture section, including a model of the entire city of Gothenburg that we could trace our recent movements on. After Portugal, Gothenburg seemed like a long time ago.
Along one wall in the main gallery there were large feature boxes containing design items, vintage architectural models and interesting photographs.


We both really liked the look of this swimming area. It would have been great to stumble onto such a place during our travels. We couldn't tell if the photograph was recent or from a historical archive...


The audioguide at the museum was very comprehensive and we were able to take in a great deal of information. It was also fun to visit the toilets where one of Georgia's friends, Helena, had been involved in some challenging installations.

Our walk home took us along the shores of Skeppsholmen, where we had beautiful views of the old town at Gamla Stan and further on to Södermalm.
The grey skies you can see in the next photo are typical of Stockholm... when the sun came out it was never for very long.


A fantastically efficient subway services the various neighbourhoods, and we were amazed that there was never a wait of more than a couple of minutes for our train.
Because the tunnels run under the water between the islands, there are giant escalators at many of the stations.


Another Stockholm trait is to decorate the stations, all with a different theme. Although some of them looked a little like they had been used as sets in a school play, it never failed to create a welcoming feel in an area that so often is devoid of any human touches.


Shopping districts pop up all over the city, and we enjoyed ourselves discovering the source of the slightly bizzare fashion choices that the locals seem to make.
The area between Slussen Station and Mariatorget had some great streets. The photo below shows Naomi outside a store called Monkey, where she unfortunately failed to find herself the perfect pair of jeans.
It was fun to see a bit of street art that we had previously only known of through pictures. There is a group of Swedes called Masquerade, who knit jumpers and sleeves for objects in public spaces. On the pole of the traffic sign, there was a colourful knitted sleeve. A little discovery that made us both smile.


There was more to get excited about than just knitwits in this shopping area.
After many months of travel, hundreds of stores and a very patient husband... Naomi finally found herself a handbag! It really was hard to believe that the search was over. She discovered it in a cute fashion store called Icon. We had turned down a small side street called Repslagargatan and there it was.


With one big item checked off our list, we both moved with a lighter heart through the streets. My bag was lighter too :)
Somewhere between our place and String, there was a second hand store famous for its shoe collection. On Georgia's recommendation, we popped in to check it out. The following image shows one of about ten racks of heels, in all the colours of the rainbow.


A highlight of our Stockholm visit was the Vasa Museet.
Highly recommended by Susan Onas after her visit a few years ago, we headed down to the distinctive building expecting something pretty special. And indeed it was.
The Vasa was a 17th century warship, built for the Swedish King Adolphus. Said to be the mightiest military vessel of its time, it was to be the flagship of his fleet. It sank less than 2km into its maiden voyage... assembly instructions mustn't have been as good in Sweden, back in the days before IKEA and that little bendy tool.
An amateur enthusiast found the wreck in the 1950s and thus began an elaborate salvage process. After 333 years, the Vasa emerged from the water intact. Thanks to the silt on the bottom and the low salinity of the water, it was remarkably preserved. On a guided tour, we learnt the story of how the ship was treated and prepared for display, and the history of the vessel itself.


The Vasa was a big boat. You can see the scale, from the three fuzzy figures to the left of the above image.
The museum itself is so well done. Information is plentiful and clear, with many levels from which to view the ship as well as models and recreations of the period, the ship itself, and the salvage process. A section was devoted to detailed analysis of the few victims found within the wreckage. We thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience.


Having Georgia in town was great for us, although it meant our use of her gorgeous map was reduced. When she prepared that map many months ago, she never thought we would be in Stockholm together. Naomi loved that Georgia was there to get together with and have girlie chats, and also we suddenly found ourselves surrounded with new friends.
Here are Naomi and Frida as we head to an exhibition opening.


The exhibition was crap. Really. A lot of self-indulgent rubbish, but we amused ourselves for a while before moving on. There were a couple of pieces that mildly caught our interest, such as the one below in front of which stand Georgia and Naomi.
It was an experiment in creating 3d scenes out of 2d photographs.


One afternoon Georgia, Naomi and I enjoyed a long walk through the Woodland Cemetary. Although we were not blown away by what we saw there, it was a very pleasant place to go to and the peace and quiet helped conversation shift to different levels from the usual.


The time that we spent in Stockholm was different to most other places we had been, mostly because Naomi had a buddy in town. It worked out really well, we saw parts of the city we never would have otherwise discovered, and did some of our own exploring too.

The final image is of a cat ramp in the courtyard of our apartment building.
I wonder if it belonged to the fluffy black cat I had made friends with earlier in the week...


One last story to share. To relax on our last night, we ran a hot bath and then wheeled the flat-screen telly into the doorway to watch a movie from the tub. Almost like the old days, only much more sophisticated.