Walks at Waldemarsudde and on Skeppsholmen

During our time in Stockholm, we've tried to do one or two "touristy" things each day.  But every once in  a while we need some down time to recharge our batteries.  So instead of visiting museums we go for long walks and look for nice parks and gardens.

Today we sought out one of the nicest gardens in Stockholm, Waldemarsudde (Cape Waldemar), which was the former home of Prince Eugen on the island of Djurgården.  After his death in 1947, he left the house and grounds to the state to be used as a museum and park.

Prince Eugen was an artist and art collector.  His collection of paintings (and many of his own works) are displayed in the house but several large sculptures can be found in the garden, including a copy of Rodin's The Thinker.

I have to admit that yesterday was bit of a recharge day, too!  We slept a little late and spent most of the day catching up on emails and surfing the internet, haha!  But we didn't want to completely waste the day, so we took some time for a nice walk around the small island of Skeppsholmen in the center of town.  Permanently moored beside the island is the af Chapman, a former Swedish naval ship that is now a hostel.  It looks like a pretty cool place to stay.

From the island we had great views of the Palace and Storkyrkan.

And a pretty good view of the Södermalm neighborhood, our home-away-from-home (at least for a few more days!).

Archipelago Daytrip to Sandhamn

Yesterday we took a relaxing all-day cruise to the outer archipelago islands. We stopped for a two hour walk around the small island of Sandhamn.

There's a small town on the island but only about 100 people live there year-round.  While researching for the trip I discovered that there's a fictional Swedish TV series called The Sandhamn Murders.  It looks kind of like Murder She Wrote, only set on a tiny Swedish island.  There are four seasons of it -- we will have to watch it when we find the time!

I thought the landscape was very pretty with lots of pine trees and small wooden cabins -- parts of it almost looked like somewhere in Northern Arizona to me.

We were only on the island just long enough to explore some of the forest trails and the beach, and then back on the boat to Stockholm.  It was a nice relaxing break from the bustling city!

The Art of the Subway

Stockholm's underground T-bana has been called the longest art gallery in the world.  There are around 100 subway stations in the city and more than 90 of them have some kind of permanent public art installation.

Rådhuset - made to look like a cave

The photos are a little dark, but the Kungsträdgården station is an artistic interpretation of an archaeological dig.

It also reflects the red, green, and white colors found in the King's garden park above the station.

The city offers a free English guided tour of the subway art; all you need is an SL transit ticket.

Guide Marie showing us the workmen's silhouettes in T-Centralen

Due to time constraints the tour only included T-Centralen, Kungsträdgården, and Rådhuset.  But we did a little more exploring on our own:

Solna Centrum - a forest landscape with bright red sky

Rainbows and bright colors are found at Stadion

Disco lighting on the escalators at Tekniska Högskolan

My personal favorite was Tensta, on the blue line.  I loved the bright colors, animal murals, and messages of peace and love written on the walls.

Gröna Lund Amusement Park

Djurgården is one of our favorite places in the city.  Not only is it a park, with museums and attractions like Skansen and the ABBA museum, but it also has a fun little amusement park called Gröna Lund.

It's not as big or as pretty as Tivoli in Copenhagen but Gröna Lund makes up for its lack of size with a creative use of space, with twisting intertwined roller coaster tracks and vertical thrills like the aptly-named "Insane" ride in the photo above.  Sometimes it's hard to see where one coaster ends and the next one begins.

Gröna Lund is also one of Stockholm's concert venues, and it's nice that the concert is included in the price of admission to the park.  This summer's lineup has included diverse acts like Lionel Richie, the Dropkick Murphys, Whitesnake, and Madness as well as many Swedish and European acts we'd never heard of.  When we saw the concert schedule for August, we only knew one of the names - Iggy Pop - so we made sure to go on that day.  He didn't put on a shirt, but he did put on a great show.

Although it's primarily an amusement park, Gröna Lund is actually a pretty good venue for seeing a concert.  We hung out all the way in the back of the crowd (sadly my mosh-pit days are over...) and still had a pretty good view of the stage.

Being in the back also gave us the advantage of getting out the exit and onto the ferry before most of the crowd.  We also managed to get a nice view of the park all lit up before it closed for the night!

Ferry to Vaxholm

If you look at Stockholm on a map, you'll see that on its eastern side it is bordered by thousands of tiny islands.  One of the larger towns/islands in the Stockholm archipelago is Vaxholm.

Steam-powered ferry at the dock in Stockholm

You can get there by car or fast ferry, but the steamship cruise looked more scenic and fun so we decided to go that route.

View of Vaxholm from the ferry

During the cruise, we passed just a few of the more than 20,000 islands that make up the archipelago.  Lots of Swedes come here for vacation during the summer months, and there are charming vacation cottages on many of the islands.

Windblown on the ferry

We only had a few hours in Vaxholm, but it was plenty of time to walk around the town and scout out a cafe for a bite to eat.

Pastry anyone?

We found a great spot to just relax and watch the boats go by before heading back into town.

Skansen Open Air Museum

We've been to several open-air history museums on this trip, but Skansen is by far the best of the bunch.  It's more of a living history museum, and the people working there actually perform tasks using the same techniques that have been used for centuries.  They have traditional glassblowers, potters, weavers, bakers, and metal smiths and you can watch daily demonstrations of them plying their crafts.

Handmade linens

A Sami storehouse with Stockholm in the background

1930's allotment cottage. Proof that the "tiny house" movement is nothing new.

Skansen is also part zoo, displaying mostly animals that are native to the region such as bears, lynx, moose, seals, and of course reindeer.

In summertime Skansen has jazz concerts and dancing every Monday evening.  We heard a modern jazz band performing in the bandshell and had a nice view of the sunset over the city, too.

But the main event was the big band dancehall.  There were hundreds of couples actually foxtrotting and lindy hopping the night away.  We did our best to try to keep up, but the old-timers definitely had much better moves!

Castles, Castles, and more Castles

We spent the weekend touring Drottningholm Castle, the Hallwyl Mansion, and the Palace Armory.  There's no shortage of fancy castles and houses here in Sweden.

Drottningholm Palace, the Versailles of Sweden

Kevin at Drottningholm

Fabulous staircase at Drottningholm

Drottninholm's garden - the perfect place for a picnic

Hallwyl family private art collection

Horses and carriage at the Stockholm Palace Armory

King Gustav Vasa's helmet from the 1600's

I dub thee Sir Kevin!

Kulturfestival

The Stockholm Kulturfestival has been going on all this past week.  It's a free event that celebrates art, music, and culture.  One of the more interactive art installations was something called the "People's Arches" -- a sculpture made out of cardboard and packing tape.  Anyone walking by was invited to help put the structure together, then at the end of the festival they invited everyone to help demolish it just for fun!

Every year, the event organizers choose a different theme.  This year's theme was France.  "Vive la Stockholm!"  

There was a whole pavilion dedicated to teaching people different kinds of dances -- salsa, waltz, folk dances, and swing (known here as the lindy hop).

We went to several concerts, including a really cool tribute to Django Reinhardt, the French gypsy jazz guitarist.

And, on the final night of the festival, we were also treated to a gorgeous sunset over the old town.