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An Archipelago & Art Amphigory

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  The Archipelago has many islands reachable only by private boat... or hiring a water taxi. Hello again, Blogonauts! For my final day in Stockholm I joined about half-a-hundred other tourists for a 2-hour cruise around Stockholm's archipelago . (Clicking on the pictures allows you to enjoy enlarged versions on your phone or computer screen.) This close-knit cluster of about 24,000 islands (that number is NOT a typo) initially guarded Stockholm from potential invasion by sea. Nowadays the islands nearer to the city hold posh residences, while those further out give city denizens a chance to have summer retreats near the Baltic. Near to Stockholm sits Gröna Lund , an amusement park dating back to the 1880s. Affording a house near the city takes a lot of kroner. Still not far from the inner harbor is an art piece put up by an American. It shows a man standing atop a metal arc, with the rest of the parabola completed by a stream of water. (I'm having trouble finding details, so if...
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A Smorgasbord of Stockholm Snapshots

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  A view from Skansen to the Nordic Museum Hello again, Blogonauts! If a picture is worth a thousand words, today's Jaunticle could qualify as the longest (but really one of the shortest) posts yet! More photography, less verbosity... at least for today! (And if you click on a photo, you'll see it enlarged.) My wanderings today first took me to an outdoor museum on Djurgården , the island that once served as the royal hunting ground. Nowadays it's filled with museums, trails, parkland, and the very first ever outdoor history museum, Skansen , which opened to the public in 1891. Characterizing Skansen is a challenge. It contains some genuinely interesting farmsteads, churches, & homes, each painstakingly transplanted from a different part of Sweden, and often representing different eras in Swedish history.  But rather than begin by exploring early rural Sweden, visitors enter first into a village of urban shops and craft stores that were dismantled and moved from elsewhe...
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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A Flashy Fiasco & A Shiny Civic Space

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The salvaged, rebuilt Vasa , which sank in 1628.  Hello again, Blogonauts! (A quick reminder: To see a photo in more detail, clicking or tapping on it will enlarge it.)  Today I ventured to visit one of the most remarkable museums I've ever seen. It is entirely devoted to the enormous sailing ship, the Vasa , which 20 minutes into its maiden voyage in 1628, sank to the bottom of Stockholm's harbor. More on the sinking & salvage in a moment. First, take a look at this ship! Even from afar, it stands out as an impressive 4-story-high behemoth. But this is not just one of thousands of ships destined for Davy Jones locker. No, this vessel was a massive, royally commissioned work of both warfare and art. And thanks to the silt that covered most of it on the bottom of Stockholm's harbor, 98% of the Vasa , including most of its ornate carvings, survived through the centuries and is now on display. The stern carvings on the Vasa   The Swedish Royal Coat of Arms on the stern o...
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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