On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
Have a wonderful day and weekend, and enjoy the pictures!
Stay cool otmar and all our European friends.
Today, pictures from valued commenter otmar.
The week after my trip to Bucharest brought me to Stockholm. Again on a business trip, meaning no extensive sightseeing, just some minor walks to the evening events and from/to the airport.
It actually was quite a change of scenery: Stockholm feels quite different. For one, the climate differs a lot: I was coming from a hot, dry southern Europe town to a cool, rainy Scandinavian metropolis. Bucharest is in the middle of the country-side, not even on a major river, Stockholm is connected to the Baltic sea and the big ferries/cruise ship anchor right in the city center. And of course the people are different.
The public transportation network of Stockholm includes boats. In my case, this was actually the best way to reach the city center. On the way, we passed by the Island of Djurgarden, which hosts a number of interesting buildings.
On the left is Junibacken, which is a Disneyworld-style ride through the books of Astrid Lindgren. During RIPE-50 Meeting in 2005 we had the social event there, it’s nice ride.
The building on the right is the Vasa Museum. It holds the salvaged wreck of a mighty (though ill-fated) warship from the 17th century. See https://www.vasamuseet.se/en/vasa-history/timeline
This is still taken from the boat. Now we’re close to the city center at the Nybroviken landing point.
I’m now back at the hotel in Hendriksdal and looking back over the sea towards the center. The amusement park is on Djurgarden.
The location of Stockholm is very interesting: the coast here is a huge archipelago of small islands that somehow smoothly morphs into lakes. (Think “MC Escher drawing where foreground and background intersect”) The old center of Stockholm (Gamla Stan) lies exactly as this transition point: large sea-faring ship can navigate up to this point. But they have to pass trough a quite narrow and winding shipping channel passing a lot of island until they reach this point. This, of course, makes defending the port of Stockholm from maritime invaders rather simple. There are still some historic forts on this route.
Apparently, the Swedish navy plays games with real (or imagined) Russian subs there every now and then.
I passed by Sofia Church on my way to dinner on Södermalm.
And this is how it looks from inside.
Thank you so much otmar, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
Steeplejack (phone)
Great pictures, Otmar.
??? Now to see if I can sleep a bit more.
JPL
Fascinating!
Spanky
@Steeplejack (phone): Good luck with that.
Otmar keeps the idea of travels to Europe in my head. Don’t know if we’ll make it back there, but it’s nice to be enticed.
Now up and off to camping in the Shenandoahs. No politics for 60 whole hours!
otmar
I’m back in Carinthia to pick up the kids.
Interestingly enough, the brunt of the last two European heat waves didn’t really hit us in eastern Austria. Yes, it was hot, but not as oppressing as in France.
The next week should be fine with moderate temperatures. That’s a good thing as the kids will be at an outdoor sports camp.
ThresherK
Someone’s finally made an ad that I’ve been dreaming of, showing how Susan Collins feels about the whocoodanode results of her votes.
As a New Englander I’ve been onto her game since day one.
PS Susan Collins is the real schoolmarm in the Senate, isn’t she?
arrieve
One of my favorite cities. Thanks for sharing, Otmar!
eclare
What an interesting city!
Amir Khalid
Stockholm is lovely. I was there 20-odd years ago and saw some of those beautiful old buildings.
sherparick
Thanks for the pictures Otmar and Alan for opening the day. Came across an interesting twitter feed with thoughts on how the U.S. foreign policy can be a little less destructive in the world. twitter.com/allanwhite/status/986374808685330432
Gin & Tonic
The Vasa Museum is spectacular. If the uploading form was usable, I’d post some pics from the inside, but it isn’t, so I can’t.
Elizabelle
@Spanky: Enjoy the Shenandoahs! And the heat has broken this week.
Great photos. Happy Friday, OTR fans.
Barbara
The Vasa Museum is worth anyone’s time should they find themselves in Stockholm, and it had a great cafeteria. We stayed in a hotel on Djurgarden, which is a short trolley ride away from the central part of the city. We boarded a cruise in Stockholm, in a small ship, and one of the highlights was leaving Stockholm in the afternoon and getting a real feel for being in an archipelago.
chris
Thanks, otmar. I’d love to go there one day, my father was Swedish and I still have some very distant relatives in Stockholm.
@Gin & Tonic: Inside the museum. Amazing!
Mike in NC
We visited Stockholm and the Vasa Museum five years ago. A lovely city indeed but also very expensive. T-shirts at the museum ran about US$30 or more.
scav
The Wasa and Skansen, they anchor my memories of Stockhom. Now I think I really need to add a boat ride to the list.
J R in WV
Thank you Otmar for the great travel pictures. And the metaphor of M C Escher’s black and white birds merging for the ocean shore and lakes of Sweden is great!
otmar
I have vage recollections from ’90 visiting the Vasa Museum while the conservation process was still ongoing. Everything was dripping with some fluid.
I’ve been able to visit the finished museum a few years ago. Probably in 2005. Definitely worth the visit.
rikyrah
gorgeous pictures :)