Vikings Ho

As an antidote to the warm balmy, slightly humid, sunny and slow paced Thai holiday, I went where it is just above freezing, dark, and rainy. Yes to Scandinavia. I spent a week in Finland (for work) and had to stay over a weekend. The only bonus was that there was a lot of color in the trees. This was in a park close to the office I walked through every day on the way to and from the train station. Most days it was wet and cold, although the day before I left it turned downright freezing.

Oh yes, the vikings--well since I was there for the weekend, I thought I should make something out of it. The weather forecast was for no rain, and even possible sun, on Saturday. So I decided friday to catch the boat to Sweden. It goes overnight--leaving at 5:30, and arriving about 9:30am in Stockholm. The boat ride wasn't much to speak of. The rooms are small, and I had decided to take a shared room to keep the cost down. There are 4 bunks with just enough room to walk between them, and a little toilet w/ shower. Not exciting. I had dinner and then went to the party lounge. There were a couple of acts, neither exceptionally good, but lots of alcohol being consumed by the passengers probably made them seem better than they were. Eventually I got tired of it and went to bed. Arriving in Stockholm was beautiful, but cold enough not to want to be on the outer deck. So some of the pictures are through the window.

I took a bus tour around the city. We stopped at the palace, the city hall, a couple of nice viewpoints, and the penultimate stop was at the historical museum. There was a line out the door when we arrived. The exhibit was fabulous, though much of it was not very well lit, and therefore hard to see. But it was pretty much empty of people. The line was for a local festival of bread. You gotta love a place that has a bread festival and allows selling lots of yummy bread in a museum. I would have bought some, except I had no real need for any and most of it would have gone bad. So I just tasted from the samples available.

Then we drove around an island which is mostly museums--6 or 7 if I remember right. The guide told us that Stockholm is about 1/3 built up, 1/3 parks, and 1/3 water. That seemed to be true and it was a nice light airy and green city. There is also art everywhere, indoors and out. In the old town there are many art galleries, and outside, sculptures and beautifully built buildings and gates and... I also happened on a market with stalls and stalls of mushrooms. I recognized the chanterelles, but not the others. I also think I found the narrowest street in town-not sure though. And I enjoyed the odd displays I came across during my wanderings around town. I would like to go back when the weather is better. Although it didn't rain on me the whole day, for which I was really happy. It was cold and somewhat bleak. I would love to explore the city more and visit the museums with more time.