Warning - old post II! Back to Stockholm, word for the week - bat

Boats, boats, boats.

When I returned to Stockholm after holidaying en France, Rich came with me. I invited him, he didn't just happen to tag along. So for a week we did that that fun thing where you get to be a tourist in your own city. Which, when it's summer and the city is Stockholm, means boats.

Boat the first: the Djurgården ferry to Djurgården (unsurprisingly), to laze about at Rosendals slott and play cards. And then back to Slussen to have a BBQ at Herman's for dinner. Anyone coming to visit me - we will be going to Herman's. It's the greatest.

Boat the second: a big fast waxholmanolaget boat out to the archipelago. Warning to other Stockholm travelers; the archipelago timetable is sort of there as a guideline. Boats typically leave whenever they feel like it, which often means early. Despite missing an early departing boat and ending up very hot and discomknockerated on the next one we made it out to Gällnö, in the east of the archipelago. Gällnö would be quite perfect, but for one thing. Mosquitos seem to quite like it too. It's warm and forested and surrounded by water. Turns out, we were a welcome snack. I was still recovering from the mozzie-mauling a week later. Other than that, it's a tiny delight, and a good spot for an onion pie, a gin and tonic and some boat envy.

Boat the third: a row boat! We rowed from Gällnö to the neighboring island! It was so 'Swallows and Amazons' and intrepid. (It really wasn't that far, I was just over excited.) Sadly, Vambö is even more of a mozzie haven, so we didn't stay long. Despite an abundance of intriguing turds. Cows, or moose?! We will never know.

On Thursday we took a well earned break from seafaring for some highly successful vintage shopping. And then, on to...

Boat the fifth: canoeing in the city centre. It's possible to hire kayaks and canoes near KI, and kayak right round one of the city islands - if you are fast enough to get back within your hire time.Which I haven't been yet. But we did manage to canoe right down to the City Hall, where you pop out from under a bridge and find yourself in the Baltic looking at Gamla Stan. The waves are somewhat unnerving, but the view makes up for it.

 

As a boat detour that same day we went for a walk and discovered a bridge with a padlock shrine. Well, Rich knew about it already, so it wasn't so much by chance, but it certainly is intriguing.  They are all chained to the middle of the bridge, and have initials scratched into them.

 

Boat the sixth and last: over to Birka - Viking Island. On the final day of holiday we went all out touristing and took the boat to Birka Island. Our tour guide was an actual Viking! Except that his Dad kept calling him on his mobile, which rather spoilt the illusion of all the Viking clothing and long hair.

On the boat, in an outfit that resulted from the highly successful vintage shopping trip!

This is a model Viking village, not a GIANT GIRL in the background.

Beautiful lunch spot.

Viking boats

Many and varied boats make for a good holiday! Plus, I get the impression that in the winter they are not so feasible as a method of travel, what with all the water being solid, so it's good to get as much boating in as possible.

That's all for now chums, hope you are enjoying your weekends, 

Byeloveyoubye!

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Warning - old post! Nous avons retourné from Brittany!

A post that should have been posted a month ago! I feel like I am just resurfacing and finally getting stuff in order!

Bonjour mes amis,

Nous avons retourné from Brittany, all relaxed after a week eating cheese, drinking preposterously cheap beaujolais and rampaging around medieval ramparts.

The ramparts of St Malo.

We stayed in a tiny hamlet called la haute houssais in a gite on a farm. I didn't know what a gite was initially. In my understanding it appears to be a bit of a barn transformed into a little apartment with a wood burning stove and a beautiful garden full of camomile and mint to turn into tea. There we were terrorised by local chickens and a multitude of skinny cats, one of whom I nearly brought home. Only the thought of how either Chops and Spoons or Misha would react stopped me.

La Haute Houssais

This kitten! Nearly ended up in Stockholm...

Beautiful Gite.

We started every day with croissants from the local bakery on our terrace, and then ventured out into the surrounding Breton countryside in Nicole the Renault Clio (on the wrong side of the road, in the wrong side of the car. Eeeeeps!). During the course of these ventures we had numerous adventures.

On the first day we explored the ramparts of Dinan, the nearest town. We took a detour, crossed a gothic bridge and took a walk which ended up at a beautiful ancient abbey. Along the way we passed some kind of mad jousting tournament, on boats rather than horses. The aim seemed to be to row at each other really fast, spurred on by a 'Last of the Mohicans' style theme tune blaring from surrounding speakers, and whack a guy off the other boat with a fishing rod. The surprisingly large crowd went wild every time.

Last of the Mohicans jousting from the safety of a very high bridge.

Other day trips took in a melancholy chateau, a 1930s seaside resort and even a quick jaunt to Normandy to visit mont-saint-Michel. The churros, whilst perhaps not traditional fare for French monks of old, were delicious and sustained us on our fight through the legions of other sight-seers.

Mont-saint-Michel. Busy, but astounding.

A couple of days we ended up staying closer to the gite, due to the fact that I inadvertently drugged myself, making me unfit to drive. My hayfever was really bad, and I accidentally took drowzy anti histamine two days in a row before realising why I had literally no energy.

My favorite bit was Friday afternoon, when after a few days of either inaccessible beaches or inaccessible sunshine at the opportune moments, we stumbled across a beautiful sandy bay with a castle and turquoise water in the late afternoon sun. I swam and swam until it got too chilly and I got too hungry, and then found a cafe in nearby St. Malo to eat a galette with scallops and leeks. Om nom nom.

Rich tells me his favorite bit was waiting for three hours at Southampton airport. The only airport in britain without a Boots. I think he's joking... Yes, apparently his actual favourite  but was a walk we did in the forest owned by the people who owned the farm and the gite. And the amazeballs vegetarian BBQ we had afterwards. It is possible, don't scoff my bacon-mad friends. It's amazing how much of this post (and that week) focuses on food.

As you can probably tell, we loved every minute. And now, with autumn already in full swing in Stockholm, it seems like a distant dream!

Some more up to date news soon!
Byeloveyoubye,
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