May 21, 2022 - Day 52 - Stockholm, Sweden

 Today being a Saturday meant that Maria had the day off so she suggested we take a trip on a boat to the Artipelag Island. The boat ride itself is very nice:

"Travel by Boat to and from Artipelag.

Take a scenic boat trip to Artipelag aboard Strömma Kanalbolaget's 19th-century ship M/S Enköping or M/S Gustafsberg VII. This beautiful journey will take you through some of Skurusundet and Baggenstäket's stunning narrow passages."

The boat.

Maria and I on the boat. We all had coffees and blueberry muffins for a snack/late breakfast.

Leaving Stockholm.

Amusement park on one of the islands of Stockholm

We saw many homes perched on cliffs with stairs that led down to docks and boat houses and piers. I wouldn't want to go up and down so many stairs.

Enjoying the warmth and a beer.

Artipelag is an art museum with a cafe (where we had a wonderful lunch) and the island is a huge sculpture park.

Don spotted this tree with a curl in the trunk.

Don and Maria, looking at nature.

I love this natural bonsai.

There was a lot more to explore and we didn't even get a chance to visit the art inside the museum, because the boat only stayed on the island for about 2 hours that early in the season. I did take a picture of the bathroom, it's one of the best I've seen.

Just look at that sink setup! There were two of them in the woman's bathroom. I like the natural rock wall too. Don confirmed that the men's bathroom was not as fancy as this one.

Back in Stockholm we wandered around a park and looked for some ice cream. I mentioned to Maria that it was nice there was so much green space in Stockholm and she was surprised I said so, "You think so?"she said. After that, she really paid attention to her own city and had to admit that there were a lot of parks and green spaces that she hadn't really noticed. 

Most of the statues in Stockholm are pointing at something.

Ice cream nearby.

Like most cats, this one has claimed a toy for itself. Do not touch.

We saw many actual swans in Stockholm also.

Maria headed back to her place to rest up (she had a cold) and to start preparing dinner while Don and I just generally walked around and looked at the city.

Homes on the historical register, close to Maria's place.

So many bridges!

We wandered into Gamla Stan or "old town". We had forgotten how commercial and touristy it was from our last trip, lots of old buildings and narrow cobblestone streets, but tons of shops, bars, and restaurants. I did stop at a candy store to buy a bag of peppermints, I could smell the peppermint as we walked by. I also bought a tourist shot glass for my sister to add to her growing collection of shot glasses from around the world.

We walked back to Maria's place and had a delicious dinner of vegetable lasagna (I guess I like eggplant, especially in lasagna!), a green salad, and a bottle of wine.