Post by Ella. Arrived home late last night. A few air travel annoyances and delays but all in one piece. We transited through Frankfurt – oy! United got a small corner in the far reaches and no gate space available for it’s planes. So we walk down three flights of stairs with luggage (yeah, no,…
Category: Sampling Scandinavia
Traveling makes me happy
Post by Ella. And excited and exhausted and reflective and exasperated and alive. Closing out this journey, as at the end of most journeys, i have mixed feelings. There is a pull to be back in my own place, my own comfort zone. But there is so much I will miss. I could keep traveling…
Up to Uppsala
Post by Grubb. Once we checked into the last hotel we’ll be staying at before flying home (tomorrow), we took a train to Uppsala. Known for its way-old university (Linnaeus taught there), Uppsala is commuter friendly to Stockholm the way Santa Fe is to Albuquerque. Our main intention was to enjoy another sunny day in Sweden. Take…
Our route, Wednesday, June 7
We moved to the Comfort Hotel at the Arlanda airport. Via metro to Stockholm’s T-Central and then the Arlanda express train to Arlanda airport. The very same train that derailed 10 days ago. Today was the first day back in action. Only an 18 minute ride in smooth comfort. And it stayed on the tracks….
Odd ads
Post by Ella Seen in the metro trains I thought this might be about getting a booster shot, but no…it was for a real estate search engine, kind of like Zillow.
A little insomnia
Post by Ella up in the middle of the night, around 3am, daylight was already breaking and there is an orange moon.
Grubb’s Favorites, the short list
Favorite theater Not this one… But this one where a video of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” plays on a small stage designed by Davy and Kristin McGuire. Favorite furniture design Favorite ad Favorite statue Favorite cornice Favorite not-so-quiet place to read
National Day picnic
Post by Grubb. We started out relatively late this morning so as to meld in with holiday crowds and sort of get swept away by their flow, the idea being that the flow would lead to the show, the National Day celebration of Sweden becoming Sweden sans Denmark, Norway, or Germany. When we popped up from…
Dark break into the Middle Ages
Post by Grubb Back in Gamla Stan after leaving Skansen, I had to duck into the Medieval Museum. (Ella opted for sunshine; she was done with museums.) But, hey, it was National Day and there was free admission. While children played in the fountain outside, I got to slip through the dimly lighted Medieval Stockholm exhibits like…
Genderless
Post by Ella Most WC’s (the loo, toilet, washroom, restroom, did I forget any?) we’ve been in across Scandinavia and the Netherlands are all-gender. The signs usually have both the male and female icons on the door. But here is one that carried the theme a little further. You might find simply rows of little…
Our route, Tuesday, June 6
Today was the National Day of Sweden which celebrates first: Gustav Vasa being elected king (6 June 1523) and second: the adoption of a new constitution (6 June 1809). Crowds gather, speeches are given, royalty makes a presence, the Air Force does a flyover. We decided that instead of avoiding the crowds, we would dive…
Wild Strawberries
Post by Grubb We were out at the Bergius Botanic Gardens in Brunnsviken yesterday afternoon when I paid homage to Bergman’s final shot in “Wild Strawberries”.
Nordiska
Post by Grubb. This morning we took a bus to the large Nordiska Museet on the island of Djurgården in central Stockholm. The Museet deals with the cultural history of Sweden since the 16th century. First, the long hallway devoted to fashion, then a short hallway length tribute to Strindberg, followed by display cases of cuisine…
The library of dizzy delights
Post by Grubb Imagine Bruegel’s “The Tower of Babel” as if it were a library with books stacked by Borges and you get what it feels like when you enter the Stockholm Public Library. Designed by Gunnar Asplund, the circular structure around the rotunda of the reading room was finished in 1928. Browsing titles three…
Our route, Monday, June 5
First off we took the metro and then a totally packed tram to Nordiska, a museum full of Nordic stuff. Where everyone was going with their big strollers and little kids on a Monday morning, it wasn’t this museum. Next, by bus to the Stockholm Public Library. You might wonder why in the heck…but wait…