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Malmö, Sweden
On an island far away, lemonade with my Cococo
Santiago Calatrava's Turning Torso is an expensive residential tower in a mostly industrial section of Malmö, a still developing area that desperately wants to be just like London's Docklands when it grows up. Rising from this, Calatrava's tower twists and turns, defying logic and physics and changing at every possible view. After first spotting it from halfway across the Öresund Bridge, I followed it from the rail station and circled its base (along with a reasonable crowd of like minded people), taking a picture or two at every possible view and every possible turn of that torso.
It's the early 1600s, England has just started colonizing North America, the Romanov's are just starting up in Russia and Sweden is one of the world's strongest countries in the world. In 1628, a war hungry Sweden launched another brand new warship from Stockholm named the Vasa, a ship like any other (of the time) except for one thing- unlike other ships, the brand new Vasa traveled about a mile into the harbor, started heavily listing and promptly sank. While it was bad news for the fifty (or so) people on board, it turned out to be good news for us. The Vasa stayed underneath the harbor and stayed in remarkably good shape for the next 350 (or so) years, the cold harbor waters being favorable for wood preservation The ship was eventually located, slowly raised, slowly preserved and carefully moved into a impressive though dimly lit museum at Djurgården, and is now the centerpiece of a fine museum chronicling the fascinating story of its birth, death and rebirth.
The slideshow's only real pictures of Stockholm and its Gamla Stan, ones that gives you just a small (though possibly misleading) taste of what it's really like. Gamla Stan is the old city of Stockholm, it is located on several picturesque islands right in the physical center of everywhere you want to be. It is also the home of the Royal Palace, a lot of restaurants, a lot of tourists and extremely picturesque alleys that feed off all the (mostly) pedestrian cobblestone streets. Even at its edges (pictured below) the colorful buildings and occasionally distant towers invite you to wander back through those extremely picturesque alleys and right back into the heart of Gamla Stan.
One of the best things about going to Stockholm is going to Helsinki. The two capitals are about a fourteen hour overnight ferry ride apart along a route through an archipelago that is especially scenic, and traveling that especially scenic route are several competing full service ferries that do their best to make the journey as smooth as possible. For the second consecutive time I chose the Silja ferry, a cruise ship sized boat that includes everything you would expect from such a loaded description. Casinos, shops, restaurants, clubs, a glass elevator atrium, you get the idea.
Some typical deckside views as the Silja Serenade winds its way through the archipelago on its way to Helsinki. Small islands with little red houses and nice pleasure craft boats are followed by more small islands with little red houses and nice pleasure craft boats.
