12. Aug 29: Stockholm - 3 of 3

Aug 29: Stockholm – 3 of 3

Woke up to yet another beautiful sunshiny day. We have had such good luck with the weather! Folks here in Stockholm told us that last week, it was ferociously wet.

We have had sun every day of the trip.

One night in Copenhagen, after we had come back to our hotel, there was a little rain, but it was totally cleared and gone by morning.

In Tallinn, Estonia, there was rain as we boarded the shuttle to Old Town, and by the time we got off the bus, clear and sunny.

That's been it for rain.

Royal Palace, where we saw the changing of the guard on Day 2

Museum of Art, closed for renovation; check out the facade, though.

  A work of art in itself.

We took a 2-kilometer walk to the island where the Moderna Museet, the modern art museum, is located. Unpretentious building from the outside, but inside, large spacious gallery rooms, not crowded either with pictures or people – there were at most in any room at any given time 15-20 folks. Nice collection beginning with the early 20^th century – fine early pieces from Braque, Matisse and Picasso, including the latter's bronze Head of a Woman, picture below. There's also a Dali, and I snapped that one, too, also below.

Dali:  The Enigma of William Tell

The window is as much a part of the display as anything else in the room

We had lunch at the museum at an outdoor cafe, affording us a splendid view of the city across the canal. I got a snap of the Vasa Museum, which we did not go to, it being a bit hard to get to from where we were, and a long way, to boot. It's a Viking ship named Vasa that sank in 1628 and was raised in 1961.

Vasa carried 450 men, 300 of whom were soldiers, and had 64 cannons. 69 meters long, 10 sails, displacement 1210 tons. You can see the masts sticking up from the museum.

I'm including an enlarged closeup of those – hope they're somewhat visible. 

 

The red-brown masts sticking up through the building are those of the Vasa.

Came back to the hotel, rested, packed, had dinner at a restaurant accessible from the hotel lobby, a fish place with, among other things, Maine lobster on the menu. Maine lobster in Stockholm??? What the heck! Then, afterwards, we got ready for going early in the morning right 'round the corner to the train to the airport, a 20-minute ride at about 125 mph.

Addendum: Flight from Stockholm to Heathrow was delayed an hour, but didn't bother us or our plans. We caught our flight to SFO from Heathrow in plenty of time, had an uneventful trip home, and so this is the end of the blog.

Hope you've enjoyed reading it and looking at the photos. I've had a good time putting all this together.