After last weeks troubles I thought some relaxed midsummer days are the least what I deserve before my language courses start on Monday. So I was walking around in Gamla Stan and as I passed the Tourist Info I saw a flyer about the Archipelago or Skärgården of Stockholm, which means the huge amount of small islands around the city of Stockholm. The town Vaxholm is perceived the 'heart' of the Archipelago and boat tours are offered every hour to get there. Because I always have my camera with me I decided to go there - and it does not cost a fortune (SEK 150 retour for a 1:10h trip each).
Because I wanted to go with the 12:00pm steam boat I've put the lady from the Tourist Info under pressure - it was 11:35am and she needed to book my ticket and explain to me were the boat will depart. I arrived, heavily breathing, at the pier right before they closed the gate. There were a few folding chairs placed right at the bow of the boat and others further behind, and of course you could sit inside. I could not believe it, most of the people chose to sit inside! So I had no problem finding a place where I had a good view.
Leaving Stockholm behind - We will arrive in Vaxholm in about 1:10h On the chair right next to me was a young man who started talking to me - in Swedish, and I honestly told him that my Swedish is not good enough to start a conversation with him, but I was glad that he could switch to English. It was a really interesting conversation because he works as a kind of environmental engineer and currently he is planning on two underground train stations in the Stockholm area, in harmony with the nature :-)
He got really excited as he saw a huge bird and asked me if I know the species - I just stared at him and said 'no - why?' Then he explained to me, that in the Swedish / Nordic culture bird watching is a big hobby and there is this 'Club of 300' thing, means that if you have seen all 300 species of birds which are found in Sweden you can join this club ;-)
He told me that he lives on an island next to Vaxholm during the summer, but he has a house in Stockholm, too. Right now he is heading to his mother for the midsummer celebration - I suppose every Swede is gone this weekend!
As one of the other passangers heard us talking in English, he joined our conversation and told us, that he is from Gothenburg and visits his sister in Stockholm to spend the midsummer weekend at the family cottage. As we saw a family of white swans I told them that in Tassi there are a lot of black swans (because I thought maybe they like bird stories) and then he said that he traveled around AUS for 9months and loved Perth and the zoo/ aquatic center there. Then we talked about Australia but I had to get out of the boat at Vaxholm station - it was sad to end chatting with them.
Vaxholm itself is a tiny, touristy town with a fortress you can only reach by boat. But Vaxholm has a small sandy beach and beautiful traditional Swedish houses, too.
Here a more beautiful view of the Kastellet
As I was walking through Vaxholm I saw beautiful gardens, traditional houses, a beach, small cafès and stunning places to sit down and enjoy the beautiful view.
Here are just a few of the lots and lots of pics I took that day ;-)
Swimming in the sea is great - but a little bit too windy and cold for me!
In the late afternoon I took the boat back to Stockholm and as we arrived in the harbour I thought the first time that Stockholm is really busy and frantic - maybe because of the contrast between the relaxed and calm island of Vaxolm and the capitol of Sweden.
Tomorrow is midsummer and I will spend the day in Skansen and watch the crowds of tourists dancing around the maypole ;-)
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