We took a break from all of the boat preparations in order to have a spring stroll in Stockholm today - and what a wonderful day we chose for it. Brilliant sunshine, cobalt blue skies, glittering water and Japanese cherry blossoms exploding everywhere along Kungsträdgården.






It was quite a surprise really as we live only fifty kilometres south of Stockholm and yet for us, spring is still in it's very early stages, with trees just starting to think about producing leaves and no sign of blossom. Perhaps it is the cooler air coming in from the sea in Nynäshamn keeping things at a slower pace. Whatever the explanation, Stockholm's spring is far more advanced.




A day like this makes you feel excited, stimulated, innervated and so glad to be alive. We had to meet up with someone at Slussen just before lunchtime and then Lars-Göran had a dinner to attend in Gamla Stan in the evening, so we had the whole day to stroll around and soak up the glory that is the Venice of the north bathed in her springtime glory.

As I said, we began at Slussen, a lock in central Stockholm that separates the freshwater of Lake Mälaren from the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea. The winds were blowing strongly, whipping up the water and causing it to splash up over the walkways. The view across the water to the old town (Gamla Stan) was beautiful and the sunshine brought out all of subtle colours in the gracious old buildings.




Don't those pigeons look happy and content sitting on the rail overlooking the water. I swear that Stockholm has the fattest pigeons that I've ever seen and they seem to be perfectly happy to be around people.

The party Lars-Göran was to attend was at the home of an old school friend who is fortunate enough to live in this very old, exclusive area just off Skeppsbron, a place so full of narrow alleys and an atmosphere of a past era. What a brilliant location - I think I could get used to this!




I really love the warm colours they use in these buildings. The view from the end of his street overlooks one of the prettiest islands in Stockholm - Skeppsholmen (or the ship's island). You can see a glimpse of the water and the island beyond it if you peep from his balcony on the top floor. Wow! I wouldn't mind looking at that while sunning myself.




Positioned strategically at the Baltic Sea entrance to Stockholm, Skeppsholmen has traditionally been a place dominated by gracious military buildings. Nowadays the military presence has been replaced by creative, artistic places, with the Museum of Modern Art, the architecture museum and the East-Asian museum dominating. Can you imagine waking up to see this every morning. The old sailing ship you see moored there is the af Chapman, first launched in 1888 and these days used as one of Stockholm's most popular youth hostels.




There are some amazing buildings lining the street. I was really struck by this one, at number 18 Skeppsbron, which looked so much like a ship - perect when you consider the location overlooking the glorious harbour area. I believe that it was originally built for one of the banks.




Along past the palace and we were just in time for the daily changing of the guard and so we stood in the sunshine and watched the pomp and ceremony as the mounted guards and brass bands passed by across the road on their way up to the palace gates.




We wandered along, crossing bridges and sticking close to the water admiring the surroundings. We bought a double cone icecream each in Berzelii Park and sat down to eat it on a waterfront park bench along Strandvägen. While sitting there, I was asked by a passing man if I spoke Swedish and when I answered in the affirmative, he thrust a leaflet into my hand. It was a lot of ultra right wing propaganda about keeping Sweden for the Swedes and throwing out all of the immigrants! Little did he realise the irony of handing it to me. It was swiftly relegated into the nearest rubbish bin.

We checked if Anders and Beth were onboard Matilda, but they weren't, so we crossed over the bridge into Djurgården, a large, beautiful park-like island full of fabulous gardens, walkways, museums, galleries, cafés and of course, the glittering water. You are always close to water in Stockholm, which makes it so much more beautiful. I have read that the city is made up of one third water, one third green space and one third buildings - a perfect balance. On Djurgården, there were family groups having picnics, others lying in the sun relaxing, riding around on hired bikes, walking with their dogs, young lovers strolling through the woods, friends enjoying coffee together. We strolled around and enjoyed glimpses of the city across the water.




The statue you can see here is of the ninteenth century opera singer, Jenny Lind (known in her time as "The Swedish Nightingale"). Lambi found a few friends to frolic with and I passed a pleasant time chatting to a few people and enjoying the sunshine. The wind was blowing quite strongly so we had to try and sit in lee. We saw a waterfront open air café which had used several old furlexes and sails as a sun shelter. These were flapping wildly in the strong breeze so we joked as we passed that we felt it was time to take in a reef! After all of her running around, Lambi chose to snooze in her backpack for the rest of the afternoon. Lazy dog!




We went along to Waldermarsudde and walked to the café at Biskopsudde and watched the boats battling out on the water, coming in from the Baltic to cross in through the locks into Lake Mälaren. By this time, I was tired, so we took the bus back from here to the central train station. I saw yet another strange ad in English on the bus. Unfortunately there were far too many people onboard to get a shot of it, but it was for the drink Sprite Zero and part of it read "Yes, you did see the old person that needed a seat" Hmm... I believe you meant "Yes, you did see the old person who needed a seat". I can smile at the mistakes written on signs in small stalls that advertise their "Take A Way Kaffe" because after all, English is not their first language and by and large they are trying to offer a service. But you'd think that a big, international company like Coca-Cola would run that slogan by a native speaker first, rather than release it and look sloppy and unprofessional.

But it's too nice a day to worry about silly things like that. It's better to let it slide and enjoy this perfect weather!