Now, where were we?

Oh yes, one or two minor glitches prevented me from posting the full story of Tuesday, but now we are back home, let’s return to that gorgeous afternoon in Stockholm, shall we?

I had one or two ideas of what to do after lunch. Originally, I’d wanted to go and see the huge Carl Larsson Midvinterblot which hangs in the National Museum, but sadly, the museum is closed for renovation right now. Considering the many options available as I walked back to our hotel (photo above), the answer was staring me in the face.

Take a boat!

I bought my ticket and waited patiently whilst a few European scores were settled in the boarding queue ;-) It was a “hop on hop off” ticket and I decided that I’d hop on and hop off as the mood took me.

But scoring a comfy and very good seat on board, I was going to need considerable persuasion to hop off!

The first stop was the Vasa, the Swedish MaryRose if you know what I mean. Hmm. It was tempting to go and take a look – it’s years since we were first there – but on such a lovely afternoon it seemed sad to go indoors.

And my seat was very comfy.

Actually, spending the afternoon on the water was exactly the right thing to do. I was enjoying the fresh air and watching the world go by. Who needs to hop off anywhere?

Prins Eugens Waldemarrsudde looked gorgeous over there on the little peninsula. We went to a great exhibition of Carl Larsson’s work there on a previous visit and loved the location of this beautiful house.

Oooh, for once it’s not our ship which looms over in the cruise terminal! The hop on hop off boat emptied suddenly though, as it seems most of the folks on board are returning there. Suddenly, not only do I have a comfy seat, I have the boat (almost) to myself!

The old town – Gamla Stan – looks lovely over there across the water. Perhaps I will get off there and have a walk around, take some photographs and catch a later boat back to the hotel?

Much as I love the old streets and the ochre and terracotta coloured buildings which line them, on Tuesday afternoon it seemed very touristy and there were some noisy people around.

The beautiful views were still there of course, and the narrow streets were pleasantly cool and shady.

I spent a few minutes admiring the runestone on the street corner – I love coming across things like this!

But actually, I had had enough of mooching. Time to return to the waterfront and watch the boats coming and going. This one, about to arrive, isn’t mine, but a ferry going to a different set of islands. I was amused by the speed and efficiency of the procedure which followed

In less than five minutes, the passengers had got off, and as there was no-one waiting to board, the walkway was pulled back, the captain put the engines into reverse and off they went. Like my boat, the walkway is at the same level as the pier, making it incredibly easy to get on and off.

When I did finally board the hop on hop off boat, it seemed as though there had been a catch of the day ;-)

By this time, we were nearly back and there were just a few more minutes to savour the view, the fresh air and the fact that here I was, in Stockholm on a Tuesday afternoon. How neat was that?!

I began to give a little “grrr” at the closed National Museum, but retracted, because if it hadn’t been closed, I’d not have enjoyed such a lovely afternoon out on the water. Anyway, Midvinterblot will be there next time I’m here, won’t it?

I’d had a great afternoon – well, a lovely day, actually. As my hero had spent most of it indoors in his meeting, it seemed a little churlish to wax too lyrically about everything. But I had to tell him all about the cherry blossom of course – and fortunately, the service at Prinsen was so slick, we finished dinner whilst it was still light and he could see for himself.