Living in London

Not to state the obvious, but there is A LOT of water up here. We took the obligatory boat tour this morning, and viewed a few dozen of the islands in the archipelago that is Sweden. The city of Stockholm is spread over about 20 islands, but when you are just looking at the pretty little harbour, its difficult to understand the true ratio of water to land, and the fact that this city isn't on the water as much as in the water. The landscape is as you might expect ... blue sky with fluffy white clouds, lots of evergreen trees, and a rocky shoreline. Temperature is in the mid-sixties (17 - 19 C), which our tour guide assured us is plenty warm for summer swimming!

After the boat tour we went to Ostermalmshallen, the market hall, which is gastronomy personified. It's not as big as Harrods, but fruits, vegetables, and fish were all stunningly presented. After lunch, we headed to the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art), in a new building designed by Rafael Moneo, on the island of Skeppsholmen. (All these sights were within easy walking distance of each other; Stockholm is a small and easy-to-get-to-know city.) The museum had a special exhibit of architectural models, and we visited the regular collections as well (Picasso, Miro, Magritte all included). A highlight for Linda was when Heather was scolded not once, but twice, by the security guard because she could not keep from playing with the Alexander Calder mobile. (Heather's defence was "it's a mobile, it's supposed to move.")

We walked back to the Grand Hotel and talked over the day while sipping our Pol Roger and looking out over the harbour. There were lots of ferries departing this Friday evening with Stockholmers looking forward to a weekend at their cottage on a far north island. Seems a nice lifestyle here ... while summer lasts. Tomorrow we have a Segway ride planned, followed by our embarkation on the cruise!