Yesterday’s brief glimpse of the sun during the last vestiges of daylight proved predictive of today’s weather: blue skies and glorious sun, all day long! The temperature was sub-zero, but who cares? It was fantastic weather.
This was the day we’d been waiting for to take to the water for the winter sightseeing tour. Unfortunately, this has been the mildest winter that Stockholm has seen since records began in 1760, so there was no ice for our boat to plough a path through, but the setting was a gorgeous one all the same.
The boat excursion took us as far as the closest island in the bewilderingly extensive Stockholm archipelago, namely the island of Fjäderholmarna. There, we turned and headed back to port.
They say that, if you took the Stockholm archipelago’s 2400 islands and laid their coastline out end to end, it would stretch 1/4 of the way around the world. You may not have heard much if anything about the Stockholm archipelago, but it’s apparently one of the biggest in the world. It’s supposed to be a thing of incredible beauty.
One thing’s for certain: we definitely intend to come back in warmer weather and see the archipelago at its best.
After the excellent boat tour, we had lunch and then took Eloïse to Junibacken, a children’s house on Djurgården. Here, the worlds of many Swedish children’s characters are recreated, including Pippi Longstocking’s Villa Villekulla.
Eloïse had a great time at the Junibacken, including attending a children’s theatrical performance at the end of the day. She didn’t seem to mind that it was all in Swedish and sat glued to her seat, watching the story unfold on stage.
Incidentally, I mentioned a few days ago in my blog entry about the Music Museum that ABBA really deserve a museum in their own right. Well, I learned today that such a museum will be opening its doors in 2009.
I’m sad to say that tomorrow will mark our last day in Stockholm. It’s been a tremendous first visit and we’re eager to come back again soon. Eloïse apparently spontaneously announced to Sarah today that she’s going to move her, so she’s evidently enjoyed herself here, too.