Vega

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
tisdag 12 maj 2009

Hej hej!

I can't believe I've been here almost two weeks!!

And I'm sorry for not writing yesterday, Dear Reader, but I was unfortunately too busy finishing a box of wine with the delightful owners (?) of the boat across the wharf, the beautiful Vega.

The button project is going rather well, albeit a bit slowly now, as my bricka, or access card, needs to be adjusted so that I can actually get to those damn knappar in the magasin. I am also in the process of creating seperate entries for some of them that were grouped together by where they were found. A more meaningful connection might exist (buttons on the same doublet, for example, that are not exactly the same) but I'd like to start with them seperately. For that, I will need to get numbers to assign them, and tomorrow Irene and I will meet to discuss that process.
I've also considered creating a static vocabulary, especially since I'll be working in English, but maybe that's dramatic.
So today and yesterday I did a lot of background reading in the book Vasa I, mainly about the process of excavating the ship in the late 50s and 60s (1950-talet och 1960-talet).

And I did find a book to read in one of the cabins, Someone Like You, a book of short stories by Roald Dahl, which is heradled on the cover as being bizarre and disturbing...which...I suppose they are. But even if not so alarming to my modern mind, they are quite good reading and I do like Mr. Dahl on principle.

Yesterday I tried--and failed--to find the Östermalmsbiblioteket, and instead bought a box of South African wine from a really second-rate Systembolaget on Karlaplan. It's probably closer than the other one, but I don't know how I feel about their selection. I had chosen two fine beers, but remembered the boxed wine we had had at Fred and Emma's that I had rather liked, and picked up a box of something I believe called Bindi Sun, with a attractively designed box. And 175 SEK for a 3-liter box, not so bad (almost $20). The boxed wine here, I should note, is certainly not Franzia. They even have Penfolds in a box, which I was tempted to buy thinking of my little Colby but I deemed it "too expensive" for what I was looking for...maybe next time.

I sat out on the bench with my book, as I tend to do every night, this time accompanied by my wine! The two men who are restoring the boat across the way (Tommy and Odd, who told me he sure had kind of an "odd" name, and I told him my last name was kind of "funky", because although I hate that it just seemed appropriate) came by to wash their faces (I don't believe there's much of a head on her yet!) before getting some dinner. I offered to share, and after they had had dinner they invited me over to take a look at the boat, "and bring that wine".

What I love about this country, although I have not yet had the opportunity to partake, is that there are saunas EVERYWHERE. Even, apparently, on boats. This one will be directly in the bow, complete with a little hatch to the deck for cooling off or even jumping in the water for that great hot-to-cold shock. But a sauna on a boat, how ingenious! I believe they even said something like every boat from Finland is required to have one, or something, but I'm not sure if I take the bait, or if I remember that properly.

It's just such a beautiful boat, built in 1909, and set to cruise this summer around the archipeligo with paying customers. They even already have a customer in two weeks, a rich American fellow whose Swedish friend scouted the boat for him. They mentioned something about me sailing with them, but I imagine a lot of that was the wine. I think it can sleep something like 30 people at full capacity, 15 or so most comfortably. They're still in the process of building a lot of it, but it's coming along swimmingly. There are still parts right now where you can see the beautiful original hull, and they've got a cross-section example of how it was put together for everyone to see, which is great. I want to post the link to the website but it says it can't be viewed...http://www.vt.se/mera/artikel.aspx?articleid=3826682 that's a news story on it! And here's another good one:http://www.traskepp.se/

We had a very nice time of it, walking around looking at the engine, painted a brilliant red color, and finally just talking (ok and drinking more wine) in the aft cabin where the crew lives until 2 in the morning! Needless to say today I was on the tired side, but it was well worth it!

Anyway, tomorrow I think I will walk to the National Museum...or who knows! I'll have to take a poll and see what people suggest I see.

Gosh, another thing I just love about this place is that the sun has been going down for like an hour now, and although it's 2210 (10:10!!) the sky behind the city is still this incredible rainbow of orange, yellow, green and then the dark blue that will soon take over. Somehow the location of this boat and the position of my reading spot creates this amazing vista northish across this great span of water with the city above it...pretty incredible.

hej då, god natt, etc, etc!