Landsort!

The Stockholm archipelago - Landsort pointed out by Corinne - the southern-most island

At the invitation of Corinne's new friend Hanna, 10 of us traveled to the Stockholm equivalent of 'the lake' - the Stockholm Archipelago.  Landsort is on the southern-most island of the Stockholm archipelago, which is a LOT of islands outside of Stockholm.  It was a fantastic weekend - lots of great food and company, and some humbling views of the Baltic and of the same abundant and impervious granite we enjoy in northern MN.

The Journey: it was a trek of 3 trains, a bus, a boat, and another bus - the entire journey took us about 3 hours.  While this might sound like a maddening exercise, it was entirely smooth.  Corinne and I took the city metro to the central station, where we met the rest of our crew (with the exception of Christian, who missed the train and joined us later) and boarded the commuter train to the south.  We changed trains once, which involved stepping off the train we were on and stepping onto the next one across a ten foot platform - pretty straight forward.  From the final station we boarded a bus on a windy road to the coast, where a boat was waiting for us.  A brisk and splashy 20 minute boat ride later we were docked at the north end of the island Oja (5km long and 200m wide), where we walked most of the distance to the far end of the island and the village of Landsort.  While it helped a great deal to have Hanna with us as our guide, Christian managed to find his way behind us just fine.  I was amazed again at the efficiency of Swedish public transportation.  Imagine going to your lake-house by public transportation!

Loading onto the ferry

From the boat - some houses on the coast

Piotr and Helen on the boat

The Crew: Hanna, our Swedish host, Kyle, Nelson, Alicia, Helen, Piotr, Alicia, Christian, Corinne and I.  We split up meals and beverages (Corinne and I making fajitas for our Saturday dinner - surprisingly the Swedes are not that into spicy southwest food which complicated shopping, but we managed just fine).

Summer house, cabin on the right where C and I slept (note the solar heating panels!)

From left - Helen, Piotr, Hanna, Kyle, Alicia

The Place: We arrived early afternoon and enjoyed a late lunch before an afternoon exploration of the area around Landsort.  The island, like lots of Sweden that I've seen, has a very similar feel to northen MN on a cold autumn afternoon - everything is wet and consequently very slippery.  The island Oja itself was almost exclusively rocky, with some trees and brush toward the middle.  The scenery was stunning, awe-inspiring, humbling.   The rocks were an extension of the power and permanence of the ocean.  I had the sense that I was entirely exposed, walking around at the clemency of nature who could pluck me into the gray at a whim.  The Baltic sea was salty, but not very, as we discovered on our late-night dip into the water.  I took a lot of pictures, and will try to sample a few here to give a sense of the majesty.  As lovely as the brush and trees were, there was lichen and moss growing on everything, sometimes in vivid reds and oranges.  The weather, as you can see, varied considerably, and sometimes in a matter of minutes.  However that - I was told - is coastal weather.

Bits and Bobs: Mid -evening on Saturday, several of us, emboldened by some Polish vodka, braved the chilly water of the Baltic for a dip, which always manages to broaden the scope of a weekend.  The Landsort end of the island had a lighthouse and several giant gun turrets left over from WWII.

Nelson, myself and Christian giving it a hard look

We often looked like the album cover for a 70s folk group

Featuring Kyle - we all did it, and so would you. 

In all it was a breathtaking weekend - a get-away I'm jealous of and I was there!  It was a chance to spend time with some really quality people at an amazing, ferocious place.  I cannot express enough gratitude to Hanna for hosting all of us - it is a trip I will never forget.