Saturday, April 26, 2008

Gällnö 3







Gällnö 2





Two views from our picnic spot.






Gällnö 1

On Thursday, Jake and I went to an island in the middle archipelago called Gällnö, about ten minutes past the more well-known island Grinda. We saw baby cows and Falu red houses and had a picnic lunch sitting on some rocks looking out to another little island called Kärklö. On some archipelago islands there are public rowboats that you can use to get from one island to another, and you have to row from one island to the other, then attach the second boat to the first, row back to the first island and leave the second boat, then leave the first boat at the second island, so that other people can use a boat from either side as well. We were lazy, and it took great effort to drag the heavy boat down to the shore, so we just paddled around in one boat and then brought it back.

We bought a little book with detailed maps of the archipelago the day before, and we also discovered that for some crazy unknown reason, there is a strip of water - I guess it's a strait? - called "Danziger Gatt" in the southern archipelago between the islands of Nåttarö and Mällsten. Danziger is pretty much the last name you'd ever expect to find anywhere in the Stockholm archipelago, or anywhere in Sweden or Scandinavia for that matter. Jake, expressing great faith in his ancestors, suggested that someone named Danziger must have crashed a ship there or something. I'd like to think that one of his Eastern European ancestors simply decided to settle on a lovely Swedish island. Maybe they were friends with my Swedish ancestors.

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I want this house.



There's a big old anchor sitting in front of this shed.





Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich 3









Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich 2









Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich 1

Jake and I are big fans of succulents. So naturally, the Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich - the museum of succulents and cacti - was high up on the list the day before the marathon, when we could still walk like normal people. I think I read that it has 24,000 different types of succulents and cacti although maybe I'm thinking of the 24,000 islands in the Stockholm archipelago. Anyway, it was a lot of different types, and I have tremendous respect for the city of Zurich for having a succulents museum!










Friday, April 25, 2008

Rosendals Trädgård 3









Forget-me-nots (Förgät-mig-ej!)