J and I took a day trip to the island of Grinda. This is a very popular island and it was covered with visitors wanting to get away from the city into nature and quite. The rocks and beaches were covered with flesh covered with sun screen. The Baltic around was brimming with boats of every kind. In fact, the collection of photos has way too many boat photos even after I culled them down!
Click here for little over 100 more photos on Flickr.
J and I hiked approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) Friday (and we're tired!) in Tyresta National Park. This huge park has several very blue lakes - I did not color enhance these photos. I actually went skinny dipping (a very Swedish thing to do) in one lake: Stensjön.
You can view 70-something photos here.
I saw one of these while kayaking near Björkvik in June. I couldn't catch a good photo myself so I blogged this one from Steffe.
In English it's called a Great Crested Grebe.
There is a sub-culture of sailboaters with families. They come here annually during the summer. Many of them have come for lots of years and know most everybody else. They bring a lots of food and supplies on the boat but they also buy some of it on the island (at redicicoulsy high prices). They walk about two kilometers from this bay to a tiny little store to make their purchases. Then a courier driving an ATV with a trailer delivers the stuff to the bay later in the day.
If I could do it again....
I'd find an apartment to live in on Lille Essingen. It's a charming little island. Definitely, if I extend my stay, we'll move to a place where we can view the water - even if it's a tiny place. The east side of Lidingö is also very nice. However, that's too far to commute to work in Kista.
if we extend our stay ...
we have to have figure out a way that my kids could visit at least twice a year. Missing them on major holidays is particularly acute.
and, what to do with the dogs???
J and I went to the opening night of the 2008 Stockholm Jazz Festival. Some friends of ours (Bo & family and friends) saved us some seats). This was a really fun evening. We heard pure jazz from The Rigmor Gustafsson Quartet and the Bobo Stenson Trio. The we heard a top notch should band, Tower of Power, who've been making soul music for 40 years (well some of the original members are still with the band). Finally we heard Mary J. Blidge. My ears are still ringing from that. The base vibrations were so strong it cleaned my teeth.
Photos here.
I've seen two of these beautiful woodpeckers this summer. I think they were even more colorful than the one seen here, but that might be my imagination. In both sightings I was riding my bike on a trail in the woods and the bird flies out of the underbrush. They must like to be low....I couldn't have photographed them if I wanted to: they were way too fast.
(Note: the photo is not mine!)
I went back to the US last week for 7 days. It's been almost a year. What surprises me most is that things I used to dislike in the US I now admire. Similarly, things I initially dislike in Sweden, I now like. Odd how that works.
I flew to Baltimore to meet my daughter and her fiance. We then drove 10 plus hours to Oconee county South Carolina to meet other family members, including J who'd been there already for several weeks spending quality time with her family (and mine). There we celebrated my Mother-in-law's 80'th birthday and gave my daughter a bridal shower. It was family fun for several days. I can't believe how gracious my wife's family was in giving my daughter and her fiance such a nice shower!
One thing that amazed me was the fireworks show put on by Neville's RV campground. It must have cost 10 or 20 thousand dollars. Heck, I don't know anything about fireworks - could have costs anything... It was just as good as the one at Folsom Field in Boulder! But the most amazing thing was that we watched it from a pontoon boat in the middle of a wide place in lake Keowee. But we weren't the only pontoon. There must have be a hundred. Just before dark they all just moseyed out from all directions, stopped and waited on the show. As the show was going on, you could see the silhouette's of all the boats and the fireworks reflections on the water - an amazing sight. I realize that pontoon boating is a sub-culture - just like anything else (like bicycling). When the show was over, the engines cranked and they lumbered off like zombies.
You can see my photos of the trip here. Those of you that are registered in Flickr as family (you have to do that) get to see more pictures than everybody else - I didn't want to embarrass any family members by showing their photos to the whole world. I have a collection of more generic photos for the rest of you.
Below you see a picture of me. Please remember that I was once young, had hair, and some muscle definition. My head looks like a smooth river rock with moss on it. Time changes everything. Oh well. The water was nice.
The post is really a promotion of a tourist brochure. I like it so much I thought it should be available to my readers.....
To see it, click here. It's a downloadable tourist brochure (pdf) with some great information on the most significant Stockholm archipelago islands and some great photos. Doing the island hopping sounds like a wonderful week long vacation!
As you know from some previous posts, I've done a few day trips and it is very nice to go out on one of the ferry's, tank up with coffee about as thich as coal tar, down a sweet roll or two, get off at the island for the day, explore on foot, by bike, or kayak (or in the case of Finnhamn, a tiny motor boat), and then return on a late ferry where you can sip a glass of wine on the top deck in the open air. Striking up conversations with other archipelago visitors is also fun. A warm jacket is required on the top outside deck, even in the hottest part of summer. Well, the adjective hot doesn't really apply in Stockholm.
I will caution you about the photos in the brochure, though. They were taken on the best of days by really good photographers. I suspect they did some photoshopping, too. There are quite a few rainy days in Stockholm. Even still, I love going out into the archipelago.
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