oooh, stockings! Still cut, on the bias, of course. On the right is one that has not been stitched back together--the stitching is much more vulnerable than the material, being of vegetable fibers instead of that wonder of wonders, WOOL! And then one brought back to life on the right! I forget what's next to them on the left. On the right, however, is:
This incredible full jacket! In the database it's on a form, and it's beautiful. Please do not assume it's dirty, I'm almost positive that's glare or something? A beautiful hatt specimen is to its northeast, along with some woven silk (and wool?) tape, and:
ugh, sorry, I don't know how to turn it. It looks like this man is Diving into History! But in fact, I am just not interested in learning how to manipulate photographs on a damn Dell. Actually, this is quite demonstrative of what I was hoping to talk about briefly: the bizzarre choice that whomever chose the photos for the Vasamuseet catalog (probably Fred, now that I'm complaining) made. This is very close to how this suit is positioned in the catalog, but with less definition--I think it's on a similarly-colored background, or a wooden table or something--and unless you knew what you were looking at, it makes no sense at all! Oh well. There's no accounting for an intricate knowledge of the fashions of the early seventeeth century, I guess. But if you just tilt your head to the right.....this suit looks tiny, even if he's of "average" Vasa sailor height--5'5"! When we were on the upper gun deck (I know.) I was the shortest at 5'6", and I cleared the ceiling (definitely the wrong word, ceiling means the opposite on boats, but the word escapes me) by many inches. The man from INA is 6' and he just barely cleared it. With such a relatively (by our modern standards) short crew, Fred mentioned that he believes that's part of why the ship was less stable than it could have been--too much headroom!
And lastly, but certainly not leastly, stövlar, boots! And one of many awesome lasts that they recovered. Apparently, unlike the 17th c. (replica) shoes I've encountered, Swedish shoes were made to be lefts and rights at this time! Luckies. Don't tell the early Americans. These boots are so beautiful, and anyone who worked with me at P.P. will know my proclivity for the boots! I do prefer the ankle-length laced ones, but these are a whole different thing. Plus, that might just have been because the artisans wore them...do you blame me?
Of course I know that the museum is World-Class and all that, but as I said before, I don't think I realized the breadth of the museum's offerings. The many different approaches and aesthetic experiences are effective because of the singular overall focus of the material--which is certainly not to say that it would be ineffective otherwise, but the information is given to you to experience in to many different ways, all with a view of at least part of the Vasa. What I discovered today that I hadn't known existed (I'm not one to search for hidden stairways) is the "gallery" on the 7th floor. You ALMOST get a view as incredible a perspective as I did standing on the poop deck...almost. It's about the same height as the poop deck (no, this is not gratuitous), from the stern (seriously).
As with the whole city of Stockholm, whomever designed the museum created so many spaces to BE. Walking all over the city, people are so comfortable existing in so many places that would feel offlimits to Americans. Maybe that's because there is so much wonderful...coastline? So much kaj? I don't know how to explain it. Not only walking and sitting, but you can, like, DRIVE all over the quais, just don't hit the castiron markers that indicate the two lanes. And there people who run the beautiful wooden boat across the way from me have cars right next to their boat all the time! I don't know why that strikes me so.
Here are some more poorly taken shots (don't knock the canon powershot A40, man):
Now, this is exactly the example I was trying to make before: if you don't know what you're looking at, what a silly, ineffective photo! You can see the top of the stern in the top left hand corner, and that black door-shaped thing in the middle is...a door(way)! I've stood there.
And for Jack, if he's reading, this is as close as I can get you to the real officers' cabin, my dear.
This is an ok example of one of my favorite exhibit design choices at the museum: the vessel you see at the left in the foreground is shown, being used, in the contemporary painting. I am under the impression that it is almost certainly not the Same One (not everything can be a Laton Jacket), but I just love that concept!
Let's see, what's next? The promised guide outfit, although they're sneaky buggers and I couldn't get a good photo. Although, if you ask them, they would say none were good...or no photo is a good photo, if you're into paraphrasing.
Although I am 99.99% sure she is not reading, I apologize to this talented guide for this all-around unflattering picture. What is not as evident as I had hoped is that it is a SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DOUBLET/WAISTCOAT/WHATEVER THEY CALLED IT IN SWEDEN IN 1628! It makes so much sense! The guides almost consistently hate it, and call it Star-Trekky, especially because of the wings. To the point where I wasn't sure if they had realized what it was inspired by. It actually fits this woman rather well, under the three-sizes-fit all circumstances. I just love it! Too bad they don't require breeches and petticoats, but let's be serious--then it would just be a costume. THOSE are serious hosting outfits. But in all honesty, how much more engaging are those than dumb old polo shirts? Other than workmen and -women in overalls, they are the only personified representation of the musem, and usually the only ones who interact with the public, I think the innovation is great.
What follows is a long shot of the new exhibit that opened yesterday that I spoke about. It's in the corner underneath the entrance, so next to the bow. The second picture is a very flash-y picture of where I will hopefully be doing lots of work, although if I'm working with the buttons, I guess it's not very good for them to be changing climates that much, and they definitely need to be stored in the magasin full time.
So, afternoon. After work I decided that I would go to Gamla Stan. Then I got to my cabin and decided I'd take a look at H&M Sweden-style! so I looked up a way to potentially do both, and there is at least one H&M on Hamngatan, right off of Strandvägen that I've walked so many times! So I proceeded with aplomb and a bright yellow jacket.
I walked down Strandvägen, found Hamngatan right away, and kept walking. Bicyclists have their own pathways everywhere, and it's incredible the traffic they contribute--and how quickly you will get run over if you're in their pathway! Right of way, I suppose...there are a million other places to walk (remember what I said about spaces to be? They've also provided many avenues of transport). I found H&M, and it was pretty much what I expected. More...H&M-y than those in America....I feel like H&M America is to hipsters what Hot Topic is to goths. Maybe the Swedes feel the same way about theirs, assuming any of them have ever heard of Hot Topic, but this one was just different, meant to be. And somehow not as inexpensive as the ones in America? Maybe not, kronor are still beyond me.
Actually, I'd like to take this time to mention, for the benefit of my parents and grandfather, that I have spent just a little over 1300 kronor this past seven days, which is about 160 dollars, and that includes recent beer, a museum entry and some Swedish deoderant. I'm sure things won't progress this frugally as the weeks go on, but that ain't bad--a little more than 20 dollars a day. And we know I don't like to skimp on food.
What I ironically do like to skimp on is new clothing. So I spent a lot of time in the dressing room with these babies:
They actually look awful in the dressing room lighting. They're mens shorts, this incredible bright bluey purple. I've rolled them up, obviously. I was going to ask everyone else's opinion--they're 298 kronor, or $37.25. A deal, if they're right. But they look dumb and blue with this yellow light! My shirt is tucked in, that's how high they sit on my waist, seeing as they're men's. Anyways, something to think about. They weren't as flattering in the back. I'm actually more excited to see if I can find some secondhand stores, I think the Red Cross runs some Salvy's type places....we'll see.
So I said no for now, and walked out of the basement section of H &M, and decided to look around the crazy-big underground mall, which was a mistake. I went into NK, the beautiful department store, lured by the moleskines I don't need. When I tried to get out, I ended up in this weird partially-covered palazzo area, totally turned around. But at least I found out where all the 16-year-olds hang out...I walked up the stairs, and to the right, looking for the H&M I had originally gone into. But y'all, H&M must be their Starbucks, because there was literally one on every corner. Then some animal instinct made me walk to the highest place I could find....and then....to the right again, I guess....and I ended up on a bridge.....two stories up from the H&M I had started in. The Galleria by Escher.
I walked down and passed a silly mall cafe where I bought coffee for 25 kronor (ah, 3 1/8 dollars! I need to carry around a calculator with me!!) that ended up being serve-yourself on a yucky burner. God, I did NOT convert that the right way, what a waste. But I got some good writing done. I walked back along the road I had walked TO H&M on, and came immediately to the cross street I was looking for--the one with Systembolaget! The goverment liquor store! By law, grocery stores can only carry beer with up to 3.5% alcohol, and everything else can only come from Systembolaget. Until I searched on Googlemaps I didn't realize how few Systembolagets there were, and until I tried Pripps Blå I didn't realize how important SB is. I got two great Swedish beers, Wisby and Zeunerts something something. Wisby was better. If I'm getting my newly-discovered Swedish geography right, there is either an island with a famous town of Visby, or an island called Visby, but I'm pretty sure it's the former. I might try to get out there sometime, I guess it's a rather fashionable place to summer. I'm not sure if it's part of the archipelago or not; it's pretty far out, relatively, but I also don't know the scientific definition of archipelago.
So I put my two beers...literally, just two, they sell many by the bottle, not the pack or case, which is wonderful. They cost me like 37 kronor, just under 5 dollars...not so bad!...I put my two beers in my bag and walked along toward Gamla Stan. And as I was walking, not only did I find Gudrun Whatsername's store, Mother, but I also realized I have a day off tomorrow, and before Fred and Emma's barbeque I could have almost the whole day to bum around Gamla Stan, the Old Town. Plus it's sort of closer to the T-bana Centralen, which I also found in that grubby half-covered plaza I stumbled into, and which I will need to ride to get to F & E's house, as they so graciously invited me....reindeer meat and whisky, here I come.
I ended up arriving at the shore right next to the Opera House, which was showing what I believe is the White Swan tonight, a ballet. Although I'm sure I'm impulsive in ways I don't recognize, I'm very quick to shoot down my own ideas of cultural intrigue, but I figured that I should at least enquire at the box office, which was labelled to be around the corner. Two well-dressed men stood outside, debating something other other in Swedish. After I walked in, the one in the red blazer (yesss) followed me and told me if I was looking for tickets, he had two, and was "looking to sell them at a good price". Well, he said a lot in Swedish first. So I got really uncomfortable, because as far as I understand, scalping is, like, illegal. But here we are, in the box office with only one other customer, way within hearing range of the attendants. So I guess it must have been relatively ok. And I guess he wasn't scalping; he was going to lose money, he and his friend couldn't make it. Maybe I shouldn't believe it, but he was very upfront. anyways, once he left, I went up to the counter, and it was sold out, other than 60 kronor seats that even the attendant confessed were not worth the 8 or 9 dollars.
So I walked on, headed to the right, the east, since I was facing the water at what is sort of the "top" of the harbor. The king's palace was a teeny bit to my right. It's...nice. Very boxy. Biggest in Europe, I'm to understand, but honestly, I'm sort of more of a fan of the ridiculously over-the-top when it comes to palaces, not that I've seen more than one or two in real life. Maybe because I have no real concept of royalty. But I suppose it is fitting that he would have a simple structure with clean, straight lines. This IS Sweden. But I saw this:
He's hard to see here, but he's flyfishing, obviously. I asked earlier if anyone swims in this water, and apparently that's not all they do. A small part of the palace is visible on the right hand side. I totally was not the only person taking a picture of this crazy man.I identified the palace as the beginning of Gamla Stan, so I walked to my left, headed back home. I like to stick to the waterfront, and I quickly realized I was on my way to Skeppsholmen, which I believe means Ship Island. Which is in the middle of the harbor, and parts of it I look at every day when I sit on the main deck of St Erik! So I thought I'd see if I could get a clear picture of her from "across the way" before I went home. As I was crossing the bridge to the island, I saw the stern of this boat, and it just looked really neat. And once I got to her other end, the iron gate had me sold. It's not a great picture, but this boat is really something. The s/s Orion. And, sure enough, the message boards just to the right of this picture have a picture of my baby St. Erik. From what I gather, the preservation and restoration of this, the St. Erik and the Tre Kronor (which is a sailing ship) are connected somehow; I'll have to ask.
Anyways, I walked along the waterfront there, too, along the eastern side, to get a picture of my darling boat (ship? could she fit on a ship? probably not. she's probably a ship.), and I passed a few men painting the boats en plein air...although their subject choices were a little bizarre, some of the ugliest of the beautiful boats. Maybe that's the point. As my new friend explained to me afterward, no one can legally live on a boat, at least in Stockholm. From how he described it it sounds like it's too inexpensive to live on a boat and still live in the city, and that wouldn't be fair, or whatever. Socialism. So they have to have other addresses, and I'm sure people get around that. But they do have mailboxes! All nailed to a few different posts, it's really great. But my camera died before I could get a picture, right after I took this one!
There's the Nordiskamuseet half-hidden behind the Vasamuseet (one is 19th c. one is very much late 20th). And the red lightship Finngrundet, one of my neighbors, the two boats across the little wharf from me, and the stern of my dear Sankt Erik! I can see the spot I was standing at right now if I look out the compter room porthole!
Anyways, lets wrap this up. I walked home, not stopping to take a picture of my favorite boat in Stockholm, the Matilda, but stopping to get something for dinner. I got home, and my new bff Johan was here using the computer. I took one of my badly shaken, warm beers outside to read in the cloudy evening, and when he was done we talked a bit before he went home to make dinner. He used to be a marine archeologist, apparently, but it wasn't quite for him. Either before or after that he went to boatbuilding school on Skeppsholmen, and we could see it from my reading spot, I was apparently standing right in front of it when I took the picture. I explained to him a little bit about IYRS, since that's the only American one I'm at all familiar with, and he explained how different they must be, although let me disclaim right now that I probably didn't do IYRS its due justice. But these 10 guys (and occasionally girls) go out into the woods and cut their own lumber, dry it in the eaves of the school's buildings, and the second year of their time their they use that wood to build a little boat! As with many things in Sweden, it's not about yachting or the expensive Romance of a wooden boat--it's preserving the craft. Not that many boatbuilding schools in America don't; this is where I think I misrepresented IYRS, and certainly didn't make any arguments for other schools that I know little about. But they make exclusively traditional work boats. This coming week is apparently the launch date for this year's class, and he's going to keep me updated! Apparently it's a really big deal, which sounds appropriate, and they play music and cook sausage, if I heard right. So, sounds like heaven. What a cool thing to experience here, I can't wait!
Anyways, I guess that's it! I had a long day, and that's a long post! I hope that's to everyone's liking, because hopefully it'll continue like that. I feel a little sheepish when I'm taking pictures of everything I do, but secretly I love it, because then I have all this documentation I normally wouldn't.
So, thanks for being interested, thank you for all your kind encouraging words, because this really helps me not only remember, but also helps me to appreciate what an incredible opportunity this is, and how fortunate I am to be here (as if I ever forget!).
Love Always,
Arianna
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