Do-it-yourself in Stockholm

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The day we arrived in Stockholm was going to be a long one. We were due to dock at 8:30 at Stadgårdsterminalen on Södermalm. We got up at 5:30 to marvel at our approach through the archipelago (skärgården) If that wasn't early enough, the clock moved again!! This time it went back an hour. OK, an extra hour in bed but why do we have to mess with the time? They didn't have this in the Viking days as they were sailing to invade Finland and Russia. Olaf Silverblad reminded everyone that the sun would rise an hour earlier tomorrow so don't forget chaps, early to bed tonight!! I don't think so. They just got on with the stuff they had to do. They didn't worry about time. It just messes with people's body clocks and looking at the average age of the passengers on board the MSC Opera their body clocks could do with rewinding!!

There was already activity in the restaurant. I grabbed my usual breakfast, a couple of buns, cheese, ham (not forgetting the gherkin!), bowl of fruit, yoghurt, some of those little sausage things with a fried egg, juice and last but not least a mug of coffee. Roisin had tea and toast! We found a decent vantage point and watched the islands pass us by.

The Archipelago stretches from Stockholm to Finland. It is possible to sail the 188 (nautical) miles between Stockholm and Helsinki and never lose sight of land.

There are over 70,000 islands that make up the archipelago that started emerging from the sea shortly after the last Ice Age. In fact, surprisingly this part of the Baltic is know as the Archipelago Sea. Wow! Someone really put a lot of imagination and thought to come up with that.

Did Erik Silverblad name this bit of water 'the bit of the Baltic where there seem to be millions of tiny islands' Sea'? His mate then said, ‘Hang on a mo! As you named the seemingly millions of islands ‘an archipelago' last week, what about calling this bit of the Baltic the Archipelago Sea?'

‘Yeah! That could work!'

As we got nearer to our destination the islands became denser. There are only 257 islands in the archipelago that are bigger than 1km². Seems to be a very precise number. Has someone actually counted them? There are a whopping 68,000 island that are smaller than 1km². Now that seems to be a very round number. Its as if they started counting and got fed up and said, ‘I know, lets call it about 68,000'. Why not round it up to 70,000? Of these 68,000 about 50,000 are classified as rocks!!!.

The Opera continued gliding through the skerries. The ship passed within close proximity to many of the islands. Some had small communities, others just a single house. Many small islets just have a single tree!! The houses are mainly of red wooden design. Typical traditional Scandinavian dwellings.

The islands then suddenly gave way to larger landmasses and soon blocks of houses appeared then factories and then looking ahead portside one could see the very characteristic outline of the Stadshuset (City Hall).

Once again we docked bang on schedule and had 7½hours ashore.

Having been in Stockholm many times before in the 70s and 80s, I know how easy it is to travel around and see the sights that matter. For this reason, Roisin put her trust in me and we decided once again to do our own thing.

On disembarking the Opera there were meeters and greeters to explain and offer advice on ways to get around. They were there for the main reason of trying to sell tickets. The hop on/hop off was very reasonably priced at SEK100 (about £10/$15). This was much cheaper than the Helsinki deal and there is so much you can do. The shoe museum or museum of Jeans will have to wait for another time. Why have separate museums for different bits of clothing anyway? Why not just have a museum of clothes with 1 floor dedicated to shoes, another to hats, maybe a 3rd to socks or something. It would save us all time in the long run and we'd have everything under one roof. (Sounds like a good slogan!!)

The hop on hop off transport was slightly different than the normal mode and shouldn't be taken literally else you're likely to end up wet!! This was a hop on/hop off boat or a ‘ho-ho-bo!!!' Don't add in another ‘ho' or you will end up with a ‘ho-ho hobo' or another name for ‘a jolly vagrant!!!'

I recommended we alighted at the stop called Slussen. This is about half a mile from Gamla Stan (the old town). This is as good as any for a first stop to marvel at the Royal Palace and have a wander through the narrow cobbled streets that make up this quaint and picturesque area. One of Stockholm's smaller ‘connected islands within the city boundary.

Stockholm is referred to as the Venice of the North. That's funny ‘cos we were told that St. Petersburg is also known as the Venice of the North. They both can't be right. As St. Petersburg is more northerly perhaps Stockholm should be known as ‘Stockholm, the Venice of the North but not as north as St Petersburg so now it's just plain ‘ol Stockholm, the city formerly known as…!!!'

Walking along the quay toward the royal castle is a very pleasant stroll with great views across Strömmen. The ‘af Chapman' was still where I left it!! Tied up on Skeppsholmen. This tall ship was actually built in the UK in 1888 can originally named the Dunboyne after a town in County Meath, Ireland. After arriving in Sweden in 1915 the ship was renamed the G D Kennedy and following an illustrious career as a training vessel for the Swedish navy was eventually sold to the Swedish tourist board in 1949. Yet again the ship was renamed af Chapman after an 18th century Swedish ship builder, this tall ship is now a youth hostel with 285 beds.

During our stroll to the Royal Palace, which took us only about 20 minutes, we passed a deserted customs station with a bicycle propped up outside. The deserted customs station, we could understand, as some things never change the world over. However, there was something odd about the bike. Someone in their wisdom had knitted, what could only be described as a sweater for the cross bar!! We had no idea what the practicality of such an invention could be but then again we're in the country that's brought us Ikea and the tetrapak!!

The current royal palace is built on the site of the original Tre Kronor castle. The Tre Kronor (three crowns) can be seen on all Swedish National badges and coat of arms to this day.

Despite being home to the Swedish Royal family, the palace is remarkably accessible to the public. We entered the outer courtyard just in time to witness the ritual that is the changing of the guard. The guard is made up from 4,000 conscripts each year from about 40 army, navy and air force units around the country. Considering Sweden have not been in a war since the early 1800s. and Sweden has been a neutral country for nearly 200 years, playing the percentage game says that they are unlikely to engage in conflict any time soon. I have been told that they do not have an army but a defence force.

The guard did their marching thing which in itself was amusing. Why do they have to walk like the have a brush shoved up their arse and with callipers on each leg?? I'm sure they never used to walk like this. Perhaps one of the guards had his mum, girlfriend or mates in the crowd and decided to show off. As he started to amuse the few onlookers, the crowd grew with those curious to see what was going on. The Sergeant Major must have said, ‘Hey lads! We're on to something here. Ham it up a bit more, you ‘orrible little men'

When one meanders through Gamla Stan's narrow cobbled streets and alleys, it doesn't need much imagination to visualise 150 years in to the past when most of Stockholm's growing population of 93,000 mainly lived on or around this small island that separates Lake Malären from the Baltic Sea.

After a short walk from the Royal Palace we came to Stortorget (Big Square) noticeably famed for it's buildings with colourful façades, oh, and some massacre in 1520 where King Christian II of Denmark had 80 Swedish noblemen beheaded here and piled their severed heads in the middle of the square, pyramid style. This vision lived with one onlooker, an Italian merchant, for the rest of his life. Talk about turning a negative in to a positive. His name? Signor Ferrero Rocher!!!

Our next stop on our hoho-boat was the Vasa museum. This is a museum of a 17th century ship that, on its maiden voyage, sank in the middle of the harbour. It's well preserved piece of history and this open plan museum offers viewing platforms at various levels although it is not possible to board this vessel. This is a very popular tourist attraction. We were lucky as; whilst still busy it was not uncomfortably so. Peak times can be unbearable so I was informed. This ship is well worth the visit, just to ogle at the enormity of this disaster waiting to happen. They got the ballast all wrong apparently! There are also lots of exhibits that have also been saved such as clothing, clay pipes, pewter tankards and glassware. There are only so many pots and pans I can take. Our kitchen is full of battered and well used utensils so why would I want waste time staring at stuff I can see in my kitchen for free.

Roisin pointed out a skellington of one of the seafarers who perished on the Vasa. I said, ‘That's interesting!' She thought I was being sarcastic. I wasn't!

The Vasa Museum is located on the island of Djurgården along with the National (Nordiska) museum and Skansen. We decided to stroll the 1 km or so to the entrance of Skansen and give the National museum a miss due to the fact that the phrase contains the words ‘National' and ‘museum'. We've been to many ‘National museums' on our travels and take it from me, if you only have a limited time in any city, give the national museum a miss. We took a photo of the outside as we walked past on the way to Skansen. The building is nice!

Skansen is also a museum but with a difference. It is open air. In fact it claims to be the oldest open-air museum in the world. A claim I have no intention to contest.

After paying the admission fee, the museum is accessed through the main entrance by a funicular (bergbanan).

Skansen is over 75 acres of homesteads and buildings mainly from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The houses are grouped in communities and laid out in such a way that you feel you are walking down a street of that era. The buildings include farmsteads, churches and shops with woodland dotted around for authenticity. Some buildings are open for the public to wander around and get a better feeling of the standard of living all those years ago.

We entered a church in a community that was supposed to have represented a Swedish village in the southern Swedish county/state of Skåne. The church was quite plain and ordinary. Just then Roisin let out a shriek. Out of the shadows had appeared a ghostly figure of a man and woman in period costume. I must admit, my heart missed a beat when I spied them out the corner of my eye.

They introduced themselves as Bjorn and Anna. The pastor and his wife. Not the real ones of course! Skansen, as I realised later, employ actors to dress up in the costume of the day and answer any questions that the public have. It adds to the authenticity, supposedly!

"I have a question for you", I said. ‘Do you always make a habit of scaring your guests shitless??! There is a boatload of seniors following us up. Some probably have dicky tickers so, unless you want a massacre on you hands, I suggest you meet and greet them at the entrance rather than attaining to be a Vincent Price look-alike in some Edgar Allen Poe featurette!!'

At the highest point in Skansen, one can look out over the harbour toward Södermalm. We could see the MSC Opera still moored where we left her. That was reassuring!!

On our way back to the boat we passed the entrance to Gröna Lund. The main entrance is opposite the exit to Skansen. To give it its full name of Gröna Lund Tivoli is an amusement park albeit small with only about 30 attractions.

It was shut!!

We took the ho-ho boat back to the cruise ship. The stop was only a few metres from the cruise terminal.

In the short time we have had ashore, Roisin has decided she also likes Stockholm (my allegiance was never in doubt!). It's difficult to explain why Stockholm has this sort of effect on people. Is it the open landscape of the Swedish capital or the ease of getting around? It may or may not be compared to Venice or St. Petersburg but still has a uniqueness all of its own that provides the charm and elegance that is and always will be Stockholm.

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Photos

A replica graveyard in Skansen
Too real for my liking!!!