23rd - 26th June Ingmarso to Arholma and Mariehamn.

We spent three nights at Ingmarso, mainly because of uncertain weather - according to the forecasts. From the harbour mistress Lena I got useful advice about TBE websites. In addition we spent time with Paul and Marilyn of Starship Sirius, very pleasant people with a very comfortable boat.
We left on 25th June for Arholma 59N50.532, 18E07.326 as this looked like a good jumping off point for the Aaland islands with the wind direction expected the following day. The track from Ingmarso goes through superb waters, past lovely small islands,between reefs and shallows. It is quite open with actually a low percentage of land but never far away from it. We had sunshine and a gentle southerly breeze behind us so enjoyed ourselves hugely.
However the wind failed us on the long passage between Blido and Yxlan and we found the rather suburban feel to the area unpleasing so motored on till we had more wind in the open main channels NE of Blido. Here the water was horribly cut up by fast ferries and even faster motorboats; by this time the sun had gone so it was cold as well. We were glad to pass Kapellskar and its ferry terminal to go north again in quieter waters and ever smaller passages till we arrived at Arholma itself. Arholma's beauty has been severely marred by the installation of a new floating 'poo tank with a toilet on top of it and a recycling can as well. It is positioned very close to the quay and also obstructs a fair amount of the water. We had supper on board.
Friday26th June
Up at 0457 and under way at 0555  for Mariehamn with the plan to find out more about the Bomarsund battle as we could. The wind allowed us to sail but with motor assist as we had a nasty cross swell and unpleasant motion, we saw few other boats on the crossing until much later on in the day. We found the newish bank of wind turbines clustered round Nyhamn light at the southern tip of the main island very useful as waymarks; much bigger and more visible than the lighthouse itself.. Turning north soon after the light house we had a tedious motor trip for about 10 miles straight into wind to get to the Eastern Marina. Here we had box moorings, tall wooden posts at regular intervals about 10 metres from the pontoon. These require a particular approach for a successful mooring which we managed. It has been a long time since we last used the method.
I went round to the museum to try to find my contact Graham Robins, who is the expert on Bomarsund but found the museum a mere shell with an immense redevelopment effort going on. I was directed eventually to an inconspicuous door where I found that Graham had departed to Sweden for the weekend. He was obtaining a sail boat there and had no real idea when we would arrive as we were unable to be precise about our schedule.
We then had a surprisingly good lunch at the marina restaurant and relaxed for the rest of the day.

21st -22nd June 2015 Malma Kvarn to Ingmarso

With a reasonable forecast of cloud and easterly breeze we decided it was time to leave Malma Kvarn and head north on our way to the Aland Islands. We made a neat exit from the harbour but found two problems getting the main up. Firstly the second and third reefing lines fouled each other - easily solved. The second was that the mainsail foot was not fully extended. We had to lower it a little on the halliard and winch out the foot using the mast winch. We soon got the sail fully hoisted and set off NE along Namdo Fjard. We used the motor as well as the main - so wind assisted motoring. We'd left harbour quite late , about 0930 so the motor boats were soon passing at high speed cutting up the water and slowing us quite noticeably.
We wriggled our way through to Kanholms Fjard, a big open area of water, completely surrounded by land, where Russian submarines were or were not seen a few months ago. It is certainly deep, we noted 99 metres on the echo sounder, but it was also choppy. At one point we had violent motion as Kristin was making lunch. We were in the middle of standing waves with peaks at 5 metre intervals in all directions; very uncomfortable. We also were crossing a big ship route into Stockholm but no ships appeared. We then dived back into intricate passage close to Ladna. Our only slight drama was a narrow passage at 59N25.4, 18E45.3 where we passed over a shoal between two islands where the depth reduced to 1.3 metres below the keel. We reached Ingmarso  after a very pleasant journey, mostly in warm sunshine of 18 miles.
Ingmarso has a very welcoming marina attached to a boatyard and with rowing boats available to make getting to shop (singular) and restaurant convenient.
Those of you with access to Google Earth may wish to  work out our route from Malma Kvarn 59N15.4,18E18.9 to Ingmarso 59N27.91, 18E45.41.
The weather is warming up a little . It's now 14C in the cabin at light and reasonably comfortable during the day. We will not be swimming yet but some children did so in Malma Kvarn yesterday.

16th to 20th June 2015 Malma Kvarn

We have been at Malma kvarn since arriving on Monday. The weather has been cold and has become increasingly wet so we are glad to be in a safe harbour. We have walked a little in the neighbourhood admiring both the countryside and the numerous holiday homes around. We have had two good barbeque dinners at the restaurant with chef Johan and his wife Blenda officiating. However this happy state may well not endure. Johan has had great trouble negotiating a new contract with the Swedish Cruising club and may well pull out entirely. His restaurant has brought many people to the harbour and it is stupid to lose such an asset. We took no real part in the Midsummer festivities because of more or less continuous rain. However the summer pole was duly decorated, people danced and sang round it in the rain and later a band plyed in the harbour under a small tent but we do not know if anyone danced to them.

8th to 15th June Stockholm

Monday 8th June
Missing our concerts, we had chores to do. Kristin washed clothes in Wasahamnen's machines which include a superfast commercial dryer. I dipped the fuel tank looking for diesel bug, dosed with Fuelset and refilled the tank from cans. I then replaced the fluid in the gearbox but had to bodge up a flexible connector out of rubbaweld tape as the original rubber connector on the hand pump had hardened and split with age and oil.
I also had to buy a small cycle pump to inflate a new and better bow fender.
Coming in bows on to landing stages a small misjudgement can mean a lot of gel-coat repairing.
Kristin needed to get routine blood tests done which has become a pain. The previous commercial operation no longer does them and it's suggested replacement requires a letter from a Swedish doctor. In the end the marina staff found the answer, a private hospital some distance away. Even then we had to visit three places before getting "served" and even then numerous conversations had to take place. Also the price had doubled and I had to go back the following day to get the results.
Just for relief I took this pic of Viburnums by the marina to prove to Nick there are infestations of them in Sweden too.
Tuesday 9th June
To Waldermarsudde (Prince Eugen's small palace) for lunch (good) and to an exhibition of Emil Nolde pictures. Nolde is a German/Danish Impressionist. We'd previously seen mainly his pictures of pre-war German cafe society which show his dislike of it. He also painted incredibly bright pictures ( called "colour storms" by other painters). We found these works wonderful. No pics for this page sorry. He also painted gentler coast and sea pictures. The exhibition was a revelation and we bought the catalogue.
The weather at this point was warm and sunny.
We had had the marina crew, Haakon, Taina, Janne, Helene, Tomas to have evening drinks and had a very pleasant evening. Tomas was off the next day for an operation but expects to take his very large yacht to the Carribean soon with Taina and Janne.
Wednesday 10th June
To Lilyvalch's Gallery to see marvellous sculpture exhibition of work by Hertha Hilfon ( 1921 - 2013). Now Lilyvalchs puts on some seriously wierd exhibitions and this was definitely not one of those. Hertha works in clay, mainly in slabs. Her work has some of the monumentality of Elizabeth Frink but also some fantasy.  The work is very large and some pieces were fired in separate chunks and reassembled afterwards. The exhibition was well staged with two rooms having as background, large photos of her house and courtyard. In a new policy for this gallery they are charging only 10 krona for entry. It must have been very expensive to stage, if only because the pieces are so heavy.
We had dinner in Gamla Stan at a Japanese restaurant.
Thursday 11th June
Good weather, rather wasted as we spent a long time arranging a sailing cruise around the Pelopenese in October. We were invited to lunch by Helena in her apartment in Sodermalm overlooking the route to and from Hamarby lock. The apartment is beautiful and has the most amazing views.
Friday 12th June
Visit to Sven Harry Museum in the north west of Stockholm. This disinctly modern building has a reconstruction of Sven Harry's country house complete with his collection of paintings and sculptures. It was an interesting idea but not in fact very impressive in appearance.
The museum also had a pleasant exhibition of 18th C domestic interiors with the usual dmestic tasks.
We also discovered a branch of Melanders fish restaurant and had a very good light lunch at a reasonable price. We also resolved to go there again.
Saturday 13th June
Domestic tasks and watched the arrival of a dozen large Grand Banks Motorboats for a rally. They appeared to do very little, sadly.
Sunday 14th June
To Fotographiska for lunch and three exhibitions:-
a. East African wildlife by Nick Brandt. Black and white close up pics of big game including lions and elephants. I don't know how he survived this. It was a lament for the slaughter of the animals annd depressing..
b. Photos by the Nordic  impressionist Anders Zorn, who seems to have been a dubious character with uncertain taste in his etchings but he has done lovely paintings.
c. A very corrupt feeling set of mainly fashion pics.
That evening we were off to western Sodermalm somewhere near where Alice and family stayed for a concert organised by a Japanese lady we knew from the Music Festival. This took place in an old country house rather marooned in the middle of blocks of flats. It also has a pleasant cafe with staff in period costume. The recital, harpsichord, violin and flute was good and the surroundings impressive. Our festival friend Derk had urged us to go and it was good advice.
At the end of the recital a large man in leather trousers and fancy dress stood in the only exit door and held fourth in Swedish about the house. We managed to find an exit through the artists dressing room and crept out shamelessly. That evening to Sambo Rombon for a rather disappointing dinner.
Monday 15th June
To Sabis supermarket for very large quantity of food. As we were early most of the staff were busy filling shelves so help was difficult to find and we had long queues at the checkout. Back to boat by taxi.
We said our good byes at the marina and were off in good weather towards Malma kvarn hoping that chef Johan would be there.
Our first stage, Stockholm harbour and the lead south to Baggenstacket were uneventful motoring with some assistance from a westerly breeze. We stopped to take on fuel and found after filling that one of the cans had a broken cap. We had to buy a another can and transfer fuel rather messily as the can dribbled.
There is always some anxiety as the canal is narrow, curving and used by big ferries and moderate sized ships. We had no problems in the event and unfurled the jib on gaining clear water.
We then had a simply lovely sail, downwind in a moderate breeze with Badger touching  seven knots from time to time. Our course was south easterly, we were reasonably warm and we thought summer had arrived.
Our route down Baggens fjard, Agnofjard and Ingarofjard is reasonably wide and with few hazards  so we are able to enjoy the sailing, particularly as we had a route plotted.
We continued into more open water passing the wonderfully named Klacknasgrynnan beacon and onto a route trnding northwest and well marked. It was only after turning north after Kofoten that we had to furl the jib and motor the last two miles to Malma kvarn. there was then plenty of room to moor in good shelter.

6th to 7th June 2015 Stockholm

We love wandering through Gamla Stan whether by day or night along the narrow streets between tall buildings with certainly ancient foundations and mainly 18th C upper parts. There is the occasional tree to aid navigation and a big pump to remind one of life in former times. The shops are special too and one of them had this grotesque small  stone head in it. I tickled my fancy and I thought it the sort of carving that could be made and sold economically.
I should also say that Saturday was Sweden's national day and there were parades, proclamations and speeches, which we largely missed.

Saturday 1030 Concert Rat-catcher in Stockholm
This was a children's concert although grownups were allowed too.  The Pied piper story was modified as young children were to take part. The pied piper also played the violin and two dancers, including Daniela, who we love. The children were both rats and piped children so the rats had to be transported to Australia and then released; which is why there are so many rats in Australia today. The children were take to a deep cavern and then released when the rat-catcher got his money. The children clearly enjoyed this and tried to imitate the dancers' movements.
Noon Concert Bastard Baroque
This was half successful, best when playing more modern music and rather marred by a young man making would-be portentious statements and clearly in love with himself. In addition members of the group read from a book at intervals. This could have been done effectively. Many of performers at the Totnes Music Society do so. This did not work. The music was good and the group are very young.
We missed the 1400 talk on unknown female composers but our friend Helena said it was good. We went home to have lunch and rest.
1800 Concert Roses and Mysteries
This was a marvellous recital of Biber violin sonatas with theorbo, cello and harpsichord accompanists. This was a superb concert and probably the best of the season. A pressman was just in front of us taking pictures very obtrusively until we poked him enough to get him to leave. It is perfectly possible to work unobtrusively and the SEMF photographer does just that. We will have to buy some Biber when we get home.
2030 Concert Gesualdo Madrigals Book 6 ( Bok Sex on the concert programme)
This should have been great and was in parts. Unfortunately the singers did not blend well and the first soprano was just too loud and at times harsh. The conductor was probably at fault but clearly loved his singers. The bass was superb. The music was unfamiliar and incredibly intricate.
Again we could have attended another concert at 2300 but instead had a late supper at Castana with our group of friends and went back to sleep.
Sunday Noon Concert Heinavanker ( Runic Estonia)
Back in the 18th C splendours of the Cathedral Parish Hall we heard an amazing group of Estonian Singers performing church music, partly of native Estonian origin and partly Lutheran hymns. They had an extraordinary ensemble style and we have now bought three of their records which should indicate the impression they made on us. Alice should have had one delivered to her by now.  interestingly the male singers had their music on tablet computes while the female singers used conventional scores.
1500 Concert Nova Europa
This took place in the House of the Nobility, a very impressive building in Gamla Stan where all the walls are covered in smallish copper plaques each painted with the Arms of a Noble family. The custodian insisted on giving a lecture, mercifully short.  the group were young and the music came from South America, mainly 15th and 16th C. This was a super concert too and they played with great energy and talent. They too read at intervals but had take their material from contemporary records and the extracts were relevant and interesting.
1700 Concert NeoBarock
the previous concert overrunning we had to hurry to the Finnish concert which was basically a disaster. the leader, Par Lindh, has written music " in the Baroque style". His picture, clearly taken many years ago shows a tall willowy and "romantic" youth. He is still the same height but considerably wider, and conducts from the harpsichord where most of the players cannot see him. The first piece for oboe, violin and strings had him adding tings from a cymbal from time to time and had some very vulgar twinkling star noises from the harsichord for Christmas Night. The oboe and violin playing was good and players took their time from the oboe.
The second piece was a harpsichord solo which he played perfectly competently but which had no content that I could discern.
2100 Concert Sacred Bridges
This concert was by two groups; Sarband and Ave of sacred music from Judaism and Islam. It was mainly a service and we were asked not to applaud. During part of the time a whirling dervish rotated on a platform. When the concert finished, we all applauded and the dervish basically ran away. We felt he was at best made very uncomfortable by the applause. He, at least, was not performing but worshipping.
The music came from a great variety of sources including a polish man turned Muslim, Eastern christian, 4th C Syrian, Sephardic Jewish.
The concert was continuous and built in intensity throughout. Personally I was unable to keep track of which piece was being played. It was in short a wonderful and impressive concert.
We'd never seen a dervish before. He followed a set routine of movement, bowing beforehand, pausing with arms folded, beginning to rotate and gradually extending his arms. He turned with head on one side, eyes closed and one could see a knee come up high under his skirt as he moved.  Rate of rotation 30 rpm. ( I am after all a scientist). I would have liked to have heard and watched it again. It was so strange and complex I could not take it all in in one go.
After that, and feeling a bit flat now that the Festival was over, we moved off to a Tapas bar for supper with our friends. Duncan had two full days of consulting work still to do so he had to work on Monday and we needed to rest.

4th to 5th June 2015 Stockholm

While out in the streets large lorries pass at intervals each filled with a group of school leavers, shouting, blowing whistles,shouting, waving sprinkling pedestrians with beer, each with a loud rock music system. It is a rite of passage that has been developing since we first started going to Sweden.
Thursday
Early lunch at Stadtsmission then encountered festival director Peter Pontvik and a helper putting up signs for the 1200 event. Peter took Kristin aside to enquire anxiously about the ticketing problem. I said that the placement was an intelligence test that we had all failed.and helped to put up the posters.
The noon event was a record recital by Vassily Bolonassos who did the same thing on Swedish Radio for many years. We enjoyed the music. Kristin sayed for the 1400 talk; about music teaching methods in late 18th C Naples but as it was in Swedish I went off. Kristin reported that pupils were expected to be able to compose a two part fugue after three months.
he evening concert was an organ recital at the German Church designed to show off both the player and the instrument. We were warned by another festival friend that the organ was tuned to "mean temperament". As far as I can grasp this, notes with particular frequency ratios 1:2 ( octave) 2:3 etc. are agreeable. Regrettably when moving from octave to octave exact matches are impossible. 2:3 goes to 9:4 and so on. Thus compromises must be made. The mean tone compromises make for a hard sound on the organ so much of the playing was, I found, harsh. From where I sat the organ was to my right. However I was getting loud harsh tones from 45 degrees high left which was very disconcerting. Altogether a bit of a miss in concert terms. Even so the after concert gathering, a repeat of the previous night plus Helena was very nice.
Friday
Friday started as usual at Stadtsmission and then on to the Catheral hall for a harpsichord recital at midday. The player, Nicoleta Paraschivescu was pretty slightly tubby and when she sat down or moved on the stool it creaked a little and worried us. She played 18th C music by Marianna Martines  with works by Paisello for comparison. The Martines orks stood up well. Incidentally works with no known composer are now described as Anonyma to emphasise the skills of women in composing and the probability of ther names being suppressed.

Replica lithophone

At 1400 we had a lecture by Jean-Loup Ringt on Stone Age Music. Jean is a geologist and has made a study of Stone Age instruments; pointing out to begin with that one has great difficulty in recognising such instruments. HE showed a replica Paleolithic 4 hole flute from a swan bone and played it making a tune.
Even more impressive was a flint lithophone. See attached picture.
at 1800 in the Finnish church we heard Anglaskonket ( Angels Music) mainly Italian songs of hopeless love. Another excellent concert.
At 2030 We had Il Gardelino, a string and flute ensemble playing Handel, CPE Bach, Vivaldi etc. Another great concert.
There was another concert at 2300 but we were simple too tired to go so went home by the penultimate ferry to bed. A really great day.

 

26th May to 3rd June 2015 In Stockholm

 Saturday
We started our stay in Stockholm with simple chores I had to buy a new multimeter so I could wire the mast instruments correctly, we did some washing and stayed indoors in bitter wind and rain which mainly affected the Stockholm Marathon. In  recent year on one bridge, runners suffered a -16C wind chill factor with many suffering hypothermia.
Sunday
To Biological Museum close to Wasahamnen. This is in fact a display of stuffed animals from the 19th C, housed in an impressive Viking style building. We went there mainly because Kristin noted that the background paintings were by Bruno Lillefors.  On the ground floor are two dioramas featuring respectively  a walrus and a polar bear. A gigantic musk ox head hangs in the entrance hall. Both walrus and musk ox are genuinely impressive. The first and second floors are a single case. We stood on one of two central circular platforms reached by two spiral staircases. The paintings covered all the internal walls. The displays here were impressive but many of the animals pelts had faded. Lillefors paintings of rock, sea and sky were excellent but he'd been rushed over the woodland scenes and these were just sketched. Regrettably the whole display is old and some of the canvas has become detached. There is no budget for restoration - rather sad.
We went from there to a Lebanese restaurant for a very large lunch of cold meze dishes, warm meze dishes and grilled meats following, all washed down with wine. The result was that we staggered on board a tram to get back to Badger and collapsed. We did emerge later for drinks with Ian on Starburst in return for drinks on Badger on Friday evening.
Monday
Wet and very windy. To Gamla Stan, anxious about Festival tickets, nothing happening, ate at Stadtsmission, which is very good value with super salads then to the English bookshop which was about move to Sodermalm.
Tuesday
To Gamla Stan again for good lunch. We were first in the queue for tickets like last year. the main organiser, Anna Katarina, commented that we, who had come furthest, arrive first. The Festival passes had no marked places which proved distinctly irritating. We then went off to the Science Fiction bookshop.
Wednesday
Wednesday
To Moderna Museet for very good lunch and then the exhibitions. The permanent collection has been rehung and some old favourites are back but we did not like the new hanging much.  Good temporary film and video exhibition on the hitory and horros of Lebanon unde Israeli attacks.
Back to Badger to rest then early evening for 1930 start to Stockholm Early Music Festival. Meetings with old friends, Derk Dam our expert on music, Duncan a distinguished consultant medical scientist and our elderly friends form Sundsvoll also enthusiastic attenders of the festival.
We had great problems with seating and finally sat in the wrong seats.
Usual presentations, remarks by distinguished guest and at last the first concert.
This was by La Fenice (international) and Vox Luminis (Belgian) of masses for the dead by Charpentier. A really lovely concert with superb singing. Afterwards to La Castagna with Duncan and Derk for a bottle of wine and cheese and bread as Duncan had not eaten all day due to an intense work programme at the Karolinska. The musicians ate there too and we thanked them briefly.