Our Trip to Stockholm and Järna

Stockholm, baby!

We just returned last night from a trip to Stockholm and Järna. We had always planned on visiting them, Stockholm because it is Stockholm, and Järna because it is an important place in Sweden for sustainability and also the center of the anthroposophic (Steiner/Waldorf) movement in Sweden. However, we had always thought we would go just before heading off to Norway. For various reasons, we decided, quite last minute, to go down on Wednesday. After a car, two buses and a train, we arrived  at Stockholm Central. There, we bought 3-day passes for City Bike, the bike share scheme they have there. Lucy's toe is still not 100% so having access to the bikes was great.

by the canal, with our city bikes

After arriving mid-morning, we spent some time cycling around the city, unfortunately with Adie carrying a big (borrowed) backpack full of our stuff. While having lunch in a park, we happened to see the changing of the palace guard.

Then, after some trial and error, we found the Stockholm Stadsbibliotek, or Stockholm Public Library. Designed in 1920 by Gunnar Asplund, it is one of the most famous buildings of the twentieth century in Sweden.

Early Modernism, classical forms, stripped of ornamentation

Pulling up on our bikes, we were surprised to see that a 7/11 supermarket had been built in front of it! Fortunately it didn't detract too much from the modernist geometry of the exterior, and the beautiful central reading room did not disappoint either.

Books surrounding the central reading room

After that, we headed over to our hostel, on the edge of the old city, Gamla Stan. We dropped our bags and then walked around the old city before cooking dinner at the hostel kitchen (a large part of why we chose that hostel) and then heading back to the windy streets of the old city. We planned on going to watch a street theatre performance we had seen fliers for, but when it turned out to be in Swedish (and that it required following the actors as they walked down the streets...Lucy's toe was not feeling up to more walking) we instead decided to sit on a bench in an old square and read.

Stockholm skyline...

Old City

The following morning we headed out to a park on a nearby island to read our books before the museums opened. First we went to the maritime museum, which was ok, but unfortunately the main exhibit was only in Swedish. Then we headed to the Architecture and Design Museum, which had an excellent exhibit on bicycles. It was part history of bicycles in Sweden (did you know that in the early 1900s a nationwide bike path system was planned, with 10,000km of bike trails? Only 500km were built, and those are mostly reforested at this point) and part demands for major changes in transport infrastructure under the framework of 'Copenhagenize EU.' Then we had lunch in a cool cycling cafe, full of vintage bicycles, screening the Tour, and charging lots of money for sandwiches. Stockholm is indeed an expensive city! After an early dinner at the hostel, we biked over to Kungsgården, a small park that was having a free concert. When we picked up the bikes, there was a City Bikes employee loading bikes onto a truck from the already-full stand. He said that after a nice summer day, they have to move 300 of the 1000-odd bikes in the program. The concert was weird, but it was fun to see everyone out and about. 

The following morning, we biked into the outskirts of town to see the Skogskyrkogården, or woodland cemetery. It is unique because essentially all the graves are simply in amongst the trees of an admittedly quite manicured forest. We also got a glimpse into the Skogscapellet, or woodland chapel, another famous Asplund building. Also interesting was the nearby mortuary, built partially underground, in the same style as the underground root cellars we have seen across Sweden and Finland. Sorry there are no photos of the cemetery, but the atmosphere there was such that it didn't even cross our minds to pull out the camera!

Late morning, we took a commuter train south, about an hour, to the town of Järna. We were met at the station by a man named Peter. Lucy had contacted him earlier to see if we could come stay at the ecovillage where he lived. He was an incredibly friendly guy, constantly laughing at his own statements. After stopping off at a bakery/cafe, we went to the ecovillage, which turned out not really to be one! Peter had bought a farm 20 years ago, and started a sort of housing cooperative, selling off buildings to people. So it's a weird blend of coop, farm and a Waldorf kindergarten school. Weirder still was that Peter himself left to go sailing for the weekend, so we only spent four hours together before he headed off. In that time he showed us around the farm, showed us where we could pitch our tent and gave us several sets of keys. First, to his family's house so that we could use the kitchen, second to their spare car, and third to their bike locks in case we wanted bikes. Crazy! He also put out some paint and creosote, some wire and other tools so that we could do a few odd jobs on the farm in return. We also met Marit, a woman who teaches at the kindergarten and helps on the farm. She too was leaving for the weekend, but said she would be around on Sunday morning and we could do some work together.

In the morning we did a couple of hours of work.

Hard work

 Then it got really hot, so we drove to a lake, but the parking lot was full! So we headed out the other side of Järna to Ytterjärna, the true center of anthroposophy in Sweden. There we checked out the cultural center and other buildings. For Lucy, it felt like Waldorf on steroids! It is a very extensive place, with multiple Waldorf schools, farms, a medical center, housing and facilities for work and dance. After exploring we finally got our swim, but in the fjord at the edge of town!

The clay church in Saltä.

The visitor's center, with a living wall made from old shipping pallets.

The next morning we did a couple of hours work repairing fences with Marit, then she took us over to her house (hand built by her husband, a lumberjack, and really, really beautiful). We made lunch together with food almost exclusively from their garden, chickens, etc. Marit and Anders were some of the nicest people we have ever met, and were very open and talkative.

Finally, Peter returned, and gave us a ride back to the train station. We had a hell of a time getting home, because severe thunderstorms had caused flooding. The train to Stockholm wasn't running, so we took a bus to the nearest main station, then caught a train there. It, however, stopped short of the city, and with the assistance of a kind older woman, walked the 5 minutes to the nearest subway station. At this point we were already late for our train back up north, and were thinking about where in Stockholm we could illegally camp if we had to. But we realized that perhaps all trains were affected, and sure enough, when we arrived at Stockholm Central, the waiting hall was packed, and we waited for our (delayed) train to show up on the departure board, then ran to catch it. At the other end, we just missed the bus we were meant to be on, so had to get the next one. That meant we missed our second bus, the last one running that evening. So Lärkan kindly drove 20 minutes to pick us up. Needless to say, we fell straight to sleep!