As The Sunsets Over Stockholm | Day 22

Woke up this morning with pretty much the same routine as most other mornings so no need to bore anyone with that. After the computer work and shower was time to hit the city to see what there was to see today! I didn’t particularly bother to look outside before I left my room but when I got to the lobby and looked up from putting on some music I saw it was just dumping rain. Highly unfortunate haha. I stood just outside of the door to soak in the cool air and hoped it would stop raining. Not only did that not happen but it started to hail. I can’t honestly remember the last time I saw hail. These were golfball size pieces of ice but they were bigger than snowflakes and the collected on stone and rubber matting outside of the hotel. This went on for a solid 10 or so minutes until finally it let up just enough to make a dash for the lunch spot I had seen. The place was called Bastard Burger and I thought it was just a standalone place but it was actually attached to a multistory indoor mall. I walked in and before just rushing to get a burger I thought maybe I should walk the mall a few and see if there was something else that was better. I walked the length of the mall and ran in to a sushi spot and then the typical cafes. I decided to return to my original plan and head back up the stairs to the burger joint.

Bastard Burgers was jammed! There was about 10 people waiting for the 3 self serve kiosks and more people filling in every second. I got in line and landed on the Texas burger which was Swedish beef, lettuce, onion, cheese, bacon, and bbq sauce. I of course got it as a meal which came with fries and a drink. The I could tell it would take a minute for the my order to be ready so I went to scout out the seating area. It was mostly filled so found a seat at the little counter and waited for my number to appear on the board. 10 or so minutes later my number was called and they had my food waiting at the counter. I real choice that is made here in Europe is warm sodas. I got my food and she handed me my Orange Fanta and was warm. No ice or anything just room temp can. Don’t get me wrong I still drank it but just an interesting choice serving it like that. The burger was decent but not sure it commanded the $20 price tag. Being a mall there were a lot of younger kids eating. School was out for summer so I suppose the thing to do is cruise the mall with your friends. With lunch behind me I was off to find this location I had seen previous. It was a staircase in a hotel that wasn’t that far from the mall.

It continued to drizzle out as I walked toward the hotel. When you live in this kind of weather it doesn’t effect you as much. There were still a ton of people out walking and riding bikes to where ever they were going. Still didn’t have any rain attire so hopefully the rain would just drizzle and not pour. There was a variety of things to see as I walked and multiple cars had driven by with people hanging out the windows blowing whistles and clearly celebrating something. I tried asking someone on the street what that was all about but they had no clue. Further down the busy street I saw a taller building that had a large dome roof and looked like a very expensive hotel. I marched towards it and when I finally arrive it in fact was not the hotel haha. In fact, it was nothing more than a marketplace. I went back to my maps and it seemed I had passed it while being focused on this other building. I backtracked and actually followed the map this time and arrived at the Nobis Hotel. It had a small patio seating area out front and a small staircase that led to an automatically opening door. There was a doorman who was gathering umbrellas for an incoming car and he nodded as I walked passed. The door opened and I entered in the a small entry that was between a cafe and the reception desk. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous. The floor was made of large white marble and the hotel seemed to have their own fragrance. I saw directly at the end of the entry was a large round table set in the center of the staircase. It was busy inside and I thought better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I walked over the to the table and looked up the 5 story spiral staircase. The stairs were made of the same marble and had a darker red railing. Even though there is about one way to shoot the staircase I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Was pretty cool staring up and seeing the symmetry. I thought I had gotten enough so I turned around and headed out the door. I got maybe 10 or so steps away and then thought I really should have shot it from the top down. Sometimes I have these thoughts and then just don’t act on them but this time I turned around and walked back in. The lobby had thinned out a bit and in fear of being noticed walking up the stairs I decided to chat with the front desk first. As I approached the counter the nice lady said hello. I asked if it was ok to walk up the stairs and take a photo of the staircase. She started to say yes but then said she needed to call a manager. As she picked the phone up she changed her mind and told me to just go for it as long as I was only going up the stairs. I told her not a problem and would be gone before they knew it. As I walked back toward the staircase there was another set of stairs in the middle of the lobby leading down to a restaurant. It looked quite fancy and had a cellar type vibe. I snagged a quick shot of that and continued on my quest. I was going to take the elevator but didn’t want to cause to much of a scene. I walked up the 5 stories and when I finally got to the top I realized I should have taken then elevator up and then walked down. I saw just a few people waiting at the the elevator on separate floors and they just looked, smiled, and said hello. I set my stuff down and started to capture the staircase. It is always a bit stressful hanging your camera over a large drop and the fear of dropping it is always there. Not sure why I would drop it exactly but it for sure went through my mind. I shot the staircase for about 5 or so minutes and then deemed I had sufficiently covered the area. I packed up my stuff and rode the elevator down. I looked, and it should have dawned on me, you need a key to ride the elevator up so I wouldn’t have been able to even if I wanted. As I got to the bottom someone saw my camera and commented on it asking if I had see the other atrium. I had not but peering through the window I could see a large room that had a multi-story ceiling, couches, and plants all around. It was a really cool looking room and if I didn’t think I had already overstayed my welcome I would have gone in. It was enough to just admire it from afar. I exited the hotel and didn’t exactly have a direction to go in next.

I walked across the street through a small park that was backed by a small hotel and outdoor cafes. There are a bunch of little parks strewn about which is really nice. It appears as well that unlike the United States people really care for their parks. There isn’t a homeless person in sight and not an ounce of trash anywhere. They are safe places for people to come and just enjoy the outdoors. America needs more of that or at least somehow to make large parks feel safer. I shot the little cafe setup and the Balinese statue at the the restaurant Asiatiska. The park led me around and left me at one of the ends of the inlet. At that moment two dump trucks filled with people all shouting and holding signs passed by and they were blowing whistles, pouring beer on themselves, and jumping up and down drove by. I never actually learned what they were celebrating. Maybe Google can tell me. Rather than walking more I decided to get on one of the scooters and head to the smaller island that was across from the Old Town island. I hopped on and scooted off. The island bridge wasn’t to far from where I got the scooter and within 5 minutes was heading across it. The island is a district called Skeppsholmen. In 1634 it became Stockholm military station and most buildings were built for the crowns navy. Now, the buildings have been converted to schools, museums, and cultural institutions. The island was really cool. I just scooted around it and on the far side came to a dock area that had a view of the amusement park that was across the water. It is a full blown amusement park with rollercoasters, tower drops, a haunted house. There was another couple sitting on the bench when I pulled up and did my best not to disturb them. I took a few photos of the park and then kept exploring. As I got around the side facing Old Town docked was a one of the Royal Columbian Navy ships. It was really cool to see and they had a giant Columbian flag flying behind it. It was a cool perspective look at Old Town and see a ship like that. I had sufficiently rounded the small island and decided to head back to Old Town and explore the town a bit more.

The scoot over was really easy and only took about 10 or so minutes. I parked the scooter at the intersection that led to the elevated walkway from last night. The next bridge over had a metro line that went over it and I thought that could be a pretty cool photo. The walkway along the water seemed to be new and was made of wood. It still smelled of new wood and had concrete ledges that you could sit on. I busted out the tripod and took a seat on one and waited for the metro to come by. I sat for a good 15 minutes and enjoyed the weather and shot the trains going by a few times. There were two different color trains and was waiting for the white one vs the bland tan one to go by as I think it matched the backdrop a bit better. It was a nice little rest and the rain had stopped so made for a lovely afternoon. I got what I wanted out of that spot and across the street behind me seemed to be bustling with people so went to explore. It turned out that it was the main street in Old Town and was filled with souvenirs, clothing shops, small cafes, and convenient stores. The street was quite long and had a ton of people. At some points you had to make yourself thin to stop from running in to people. As I walked down the street there were tiny alley ways every so often including one called Mårten Trotzigs Gränd which is the skinniest street in Old Town. It measures only 35 inches wide! That was pretty neat to see. This spot was a treasure trove of things to shoot. I could walk up and down that street all day photographing the streets and people. I got to the end of the street and dipped in to the 7-11 for a bottled water and a Redbull and continued the journey. The street behind the 7-11 had a view of of the Saint Gertrude Church tower which was a pretty cool photo. You got a lot of depth with the housing buildings in the foreground and the big church top in the distance. While I was taking those photos two kids probably 21 or so came walking out of one of the allies and one had a Rolleiflex around his neck so I had to stop him and ask him about it. We all chatted for a few minutes and he said the he had just gotten it and it was only his second roll of film inside. He also said that he didn’t exactly know how to wind it so the first roll had a bunch of multiple exposure which if he got lucky could have turned out to be really cool. Was cool seeing someone shoot film even if they were new to it. A came to another alley and there was an older gentleman who had like a sailor cap on, silver hair and silver beard. He looked like he had just gotten off of an old time ship. He was wandering up and down the streets taking photos on his phone but I couldn’t help shoot a quick shot of him admiring the streets. I roamed the streets a bit longer and then started to think about my next moves. I was in the weird time where it was still a while until sunset and wasn’t to sure what to do. I could go back to the hotel and download images and recharge some batteries or I could try and find a place to sit and have a beer. As I walked back toward the hotel I started noticing all of the boat tours. Stockholm being considered the “Venice” of Sweden maybe it would be worthwhile to take one of the boat rides. I looked online to see about one of the tours and it said that there was one departing at the top of the hour which was 15 minutes away. I thought I could make it in time so I hustled as best as I could. The dock was at the far side of the island so needed to make it snappy.

I arrived at the dock with just a few minutes to spare. There were two ladies standing outside of the ticket hut and they asked if I wanted to take the ride. I said well yes I did. She gave a slightly different time than what was quoted on the internet but then I saw that I was at the wrong company. They offered pretty much the same tour but had an addtional one. You could do the hop on, hop off boat or the bridge tour. I opted for the bridge tour which was $20. She said that that boat would be here at 5:30 so I had 30 minutes to wait. I just hug out near the pier and was looking at the view when a flash of light came out of no where and the lady that was in front of me had those “what was that” eyes. I turned and the clouds just beyond the city were dark grey and then a loud clap of thunder rumbled over the dock. I started to reconsider my decision about taking a boat ride if there was lightning in the area. Over the 30 minutes a few additional bolts of lighting could be seen but it seemed to be sticking away from the city than coming toward us. While we were waiting for the boat to arrive a man had come walking up inquiring about the boat ride. He wanted to know what time it would said and how long it took. He at first was inquiring about the following day and I suspect that was due to what he had seen in the weather. He got the answer and then headed off. A moment later he returned to inquire about the sailings for today. She had responded with there would be one at 5:30. He took that info and walked off again. A moment later he returned again but this time ready to sign up. He paid the fee and they handed him a receipt. It was just him and I standing there at the dock as 5:30 rolled around but no boat was to be seen. Another 5 minutes went by and no boat. Finally 15 minutes later the small plexiglass covered long boat arrived. I picked up my backpack and as I started to walk towards the dock a group of 6 or so people came out of the woodwork and were joining the cruise. The young tall blonde boat attendant came walking to shore to check people’s ticket. She welcomed me on board commented on my camera, and I headed to the rear of the boat. The group of 6 took the front part and then the older gentleman and I took the second half. The boat pushed back and it was to be about an hour long ride. The captain came on welcoming us on board and the cruise did offer soda, water, wine, and beer. The young girl that had checked my ticket was looking back over all of us and I looked at her and started cheering when the captain said they offered beer. She saw me and we both started laughing and she turned the the captain tell her that I had clapped and cheered when beer was mentioned and they both laughed. Once we were underway I couldn’t cheer and not have a beer so I walked to the front to get one. I returned to my seat and picked up my camera. The views were cool and the river was lined with homes, other boats, and a running trail. Everywhere you looked there was some thing to shoot. I also snapped a few candids of the girl who had checked me in. After she had commented on my camera I thought possibly she would like a few photos of herself so had planned to airdrop her a few whenever the cruise was over.

As we reached about the halfway point of the cruise the older gentleman that had waffled on getting on was a few rows in front of me. He kept moving from one side of the boat to the other looking at all of the sights. He had his back to me when he came to my side of the boat and he sat against the window. He just sat there and admired the view for a while. He didn’t really show much emotion but more so just had a contemplative look. I had to get a few shots of him. It was a nice moment and one that needed to be captured. I rattled off a few and then proceeded with a covert operation to go a few rows a head of him and shoot a few of his face. I sat in the seat 3 rows a head of him and started by shooting out of the window. With the R5 having a screen that folds out I was able to point my camera towards him without looking to obvious. I got a few frames before he changed his posture and looked down at his phone. The tour was starting to come to an end and I attached my camera to my phone so I could import a few and do a bit of color grading. I was able to go through a few and when I walked by the man he looked up at me. I quickly said, “my friend I hope you don’t mind but I got a few photos of you and I would love to give them to you.” He looked a bit confused but then I showed him the shots and he was so happy and would love to have them. He didn’t have airdrop, or at least didn’t know how to use it, so I took down his email and sent them his way. Likewise when I disembarked the boat I said the same thing to the young girl and was able to airdrop those to her. She smiled and said thank you for the images! The boat ride had taken up just the right amount of time and I wanted to head back to the elevated walkway to capture the sunset. I grabbed a scooter and started to scoot that way.

Before I went up the elevator I took a ride further down the main street to see if there was another vantage point of the Saint Gertrude spire. There was a ton of construction happening so some of the vantage points weren’t accessibly but there was a small alley that led to an area that had a railing but with gaps large enough to shoot through. I paused the scooter ride and setup my trip. The vantage point was good and worth shooting but it wasn’t the money shot I was hoping for. I took photos for about 10 or so minutes and then packed up to head to the sky walk area. I rode the elevator up and when I got to the top the sun was still a little to high in the sky. I wanted to capture that real nice sunset light so would have to wait a little longer. I walked in to a different pub that was a part of the Gondolen restaurant and ordered a beer. The table had a cool view of the suspended restaurant and with the light going down it made for a real cool photo op. You had people eating in the foreground and then all of the people walking on the street down below in the background. I shot a few shots of that, had a beer or two, and then sun was starting to get low enough in the sky to where it was shootable. I settled up and made my way to the skywalk. I started setting up and sun kept going in and out of the clouds. Someone had walked over and asked what I was shooting and said it is a shame that the sunset won’t be that great. He obviously wasn’t a photographer and didn’t see what happened in Budapest. I told him we would see and would keep my fingers crossed. I had faced towards the amusement park first knowing that the color would start to come out in the opposite direction of the sun. A group of kids about 16 came up and wanted to chat and pointed out that I was facing away from the sunset haha. I told them the reasoning and it seemed to click for them as to why I was shooting in the direction I was. The clouds turned that cotton candy pink and blue and like in Budapest a lone hot air balloon drifted across the sky. It flew perfectly over the AF Chapman ship. The ship was built and first launched in 1888 and was owned by Charles E. Martin & Co of Dublin. It traded hands a few times and ended up being bought by the Swedish Navy. It didn’t sail again after 1935 but was a barracks for soldiers during WWII. It now is a youth hostel. I snapped away as the balloon past directly in line with the ship. Immediately after that moment I turned around to see the sun on course to intersect with another spire in the distance. I debated moving locations and finally made the move. The spire in the distance was that attached to Riddarholmen Church. A bit about the church in a moment but the stars aligned on this one. The sun came through a break in the clouds and passed right through the middle of the spire. The church the former medieval Greyfriars Monastery and is the final resting place of most of the Swedish Monarchs. What an awesome moment to see the final resting of the sun cut through the final resting place of Swedish Monarchs! I couldn’t asked for a more incredible sunset and patience paid off in spades. I shot for just a little longer but deemed the sunset show was over and should head back to the hotel. When I reached the street level the clouds had popped once again and I got one additional angle of the Saint Gertrude Church.

I hopped a scooter and headed for home. It was 10:30pm by the time I got back and felt I deserved a beer for my days efforts. I plugged my memory card in and let it download while I retreated to the lobby bar. I had a beer and then headed off to bed. Tomorrow I was going to go golf and one of Swedens premier courses, Bro Hof Slott. I was to play 36 holes so didn’t want to ruin that with evening decisions. Got a shower and kicked off to bed. What an awesome day and can’t wait for tomorrow!