The Stockholm Archipelago.

Last night neither of us slept well and Wednesday is supposed to be a bit rainy,  so we decided to take a leisurely boat ride to Vaxhall, an island about an hour and a half from Stockholm.

We started at the train station to get more money on our access card. This was after we both scoured the room for Bob's Oyster card, which we still have not located. Anyway, we waited in 3 separate lines until we got to the right person. Once the card was charged, we took a bus to the waterfront to buy our tickets. After missing the correct berth sign once, we located it but then had to buy the ticket at another place. I left Bob by the boat while I raced to the ticket booth and waited for the couple in front of me to ask a zillion questions and then decide against buying the tickets. 

Got the tickets and off we went! It was a gorgeous day and we watched the islands go by.

View along the way.

The Vaxhall Fortress

We had a huge lunch by the water while watching the couple next to us read and re-read blurbs about movies, I think -- and then we walked through the town.  I bought a tray in my new kitchen colors from a local artisan shop. I also chatted with our tour guide about our favorite Swedish TV shows, especially Annika Bengtzon. She said she'd check to see if there were more episodes while we were on shore. On our return she told us that we had seen all the movies. She also told us about a program called The Bridge to look for.

We decided to walk toward Sodermalm, which figured prominently in the Stieg Larrson series. Here are some of the views along the way. The Diplomat Hotel.

Another small harbor.

We decided that it was too late to do the Millennium Trilogy justice, so we walked to Gamla Stan and found a restaurant that served traditional appetizers: herring and roe. It also served another few microbrewed beers along with aquavit, which we were talked into by our server! He said it would cut the fat of the herring.  When I protested a little because we'd had some wine on the boat, he said something about this being Sweden - enjoy!!

Bob's holding our beers with his herring.

This is my roe.

We took the subway back to our hotel and had a Belgian nightcap. Bob had Golden Draak.

I had the beer that Nicole stood in line for at Total Wine!  Bed before 9.