Sunny dips in Hornsberg

Finally summer has come to Stockholm. It took awhile - a long, chilly June - but July has brought the heat so let's forget about whatever cold summer once was and focus on the now  because it's here and it won't be for long.

NS and I rode our bikes the 3 minutes from our apartment to Hornsberg after dinner tonight where there was a slow hustle in the air. People passing, boats passing, ducks passing by our perch on a grassy knoll - no one in a hurry, just enjoying the evening light and warmth. 

After awhile, we worked up the nerve to take a quick swim, sans wetsuit and sauna close by this time. It felt amazing. Exhilarating. And wasn't even that bad biking home either. 

Please, summer, stick around for awhile now if you don't mind. I think I speak for this city as a whole when I say that we'd be ever so thankful.

Celebrating the start of "summer"

This past weekend, we bundled up and celebrated what is meant to be the start of summer. In such high latitudes, the longest day of the year - June 21 - is a big deal. 18 hours and 37 minutes of daylight is certainly worthy of pomp. Bring out the trumpets, let loose all reason. Will there be games? Yes! Should I have a whiskey at noon? Absolutely! Indulge to your heart's content - it's Midsommar!

And so we did - although under the most un-summer-like conditions. Clouds covered the sky for most of the day and the gorgeous island we were welcomed to was a wind haven. But no matter - we (15 of us in all) hunkered down in whatever clothing we could get our hands on and made the best of it, with a roaring fire in one of the three tiny cabins to bring back the feeling to our toes and fingers when we could no longer deny our numb digits.

a roaring start to my lap around the island

That fire was especially critical for me after swimming around the island on Saturday morning. The water was just under 60 degrees F (about 15 degrees C) and the air was a bit cooler, made more so by the rain spattering throughout the day. But I'd lugged my wetsuit all the way from Stockholm - 5 hours by bus, 35 minutes by car, and 10 minutes by boat - and by God it wasn't going to be for nothing. It's only about 500m around the island, but in such temperatures (and with the fear of whatever creatures could be lurking in those treacherous waters), it was a feat.

the sky just a bit before midnight

Thankfully the spots of rain let up in the evenings so we could sit on the north-facing deck and enjoy long dinners with this view. It is truly an incredible place to be in any weather. Now for some summer temps please!

Roadtripping through Southern Sweden

Our journey started in NS' hometown, Västervik,

which lives up to its motto, "The Pearl of the East Coast" - especially in the summertime.

Our next stop was Nina's family island, in the archipelago outside Västervik

where we swam and sun-bathed, explored and relaxed, ate good food, and drank wine

until the sun went down.

Back in Västervik, we watched thousands of motorcycles in the annual parade of HojRock

Northern Europe's biggest motorcycle festival.

We had some amazing family dinners

late into the evening,

followed by fresh night swims

in the moonlight.

After 9 days on the East Coast,

it was time to venture way out west - to Steninge.

We visited Halmstad, a beautiful, windy coastal town

full of surfers and beach-lovers - my kind of place.

Family gathered together in the family cabin on the ocean, surrounded by fields of cows,

and ran around the yard until we were warm enough to jump in the brisk waters.

For a few days, we did this

and I enjoyed every second of it.

As always, it was time to go home too early.

But just as we've barely arrived back in

Stockholm, we leave for the US to see

American family and friends - 

and get some true summer heat.

The Splendor of Västervik's Archipelago

Serene and beautiful, Sweden's archipelago - the skärgården, they call it - is truly magnificent. During our week-long holiday in Västervik, we ventured out to one of the islands overnight - my first true island experience, you could say. I visited to tourist-riden Fjäderholmen, just 20 minutes by boat from Stockholm, 4 times last summer - and promised I'd go further than that first stop-off this year. And now I've done it - beyond Stockholm to Tjust skärgård!

The island was small - enough so that I could leisurely swim around it in about 15 minutes (Michael Phelps could probably do it in 5, tops). We spent the afternoon lounging on this dock (see photo), soaking in the streaming sunshine on one of the few gorgeous days this summer has brought, and taking a dip before we ever completely dried off.

In the evening, we re-located to the westward-facing dock, perched on a small cliff above the water, from which we sat with bar-b-qued pork and boxed wine, watching the sun set and the moon rise.

When the sky was nearly dark - around 1030pm - and our mosquito spray could no longer ward off the swarming bugs, we took a late-night swim before crawling into our bunk beds by candlelight (no electricity or running water on the island). Ahhhhhhh the Swedish summer!

Beautiful Fredhäll

I know it's been waaaaaaay to long - but that means it's been a good summer, right? It absolutely has, and as much as I want to catch you up on all the happenings, it's a bit too much for me on this Tuesday night as my eyelids are starting to droop and it's not even 10. So for now, I will leave you with a photo I took this evening as Nik and I traversed the rough terrain of Fredhäll's cliffs only a couple blocks from our apartment in search of a perfect swimming spot.

We passed this little boat, where a couple was having dinner on deck in the sunset. (No, I wasn't spying, I just casually took a shot of the view which happened to include their romantic  meal). 


We weaved our way along the cliffside to a little swimming dock where I did a quick 'Swedish change' as I call it (Swedes are ever so fond of changing into their bathing suits beneath their towels by the water's edge, which takes quite a bit of practice to accomplish and is even harder in reverse taking off a wet bathing suit) and we plunged in. After the initial shocking chill, the water was incredibly refreshing, more so after my 90-minute hot Bikram yoga class, which I managed to complete only by dreaming of my swim. 


Nik keeps saying it could be the last swim of the year, but another good day always seems to come along - hopefully there will be many more.

Ringing in 2010

Some people start their New Year with a health-kick. Or a work-out spree. Maybe a resolution to cut back on spending. We go swimming in the ocean. And this year we did it on a clear Sunday morning at a temperature of 21 degrees F.

For the last 6 years, this dive has been a tradition, a polar bear plunge of our own you might say. Most years we actually do it in late December, sometimes just before Christmas or just after. We drive down to Rehoboth Beach early in the morning. It's usually on a weekday, and the 2-lane roads winding through the brown frosty farms are empty, as is the beach once we get there. I love the retreat of winter months by the sea.

We head to Rehoboth Avenue, driving to the end for our first glimpse of the flat infinity that awaits us. It's always cold - there's no getting around that - but some years looking out at the ocean, we think is this really a good idea?  maybe we should come back next week instead....

But no one ever said it's a good idea to jump in the ocean in the dead-middle of winter. That's not why we do it.  We are chasing a rush, a feeling of exhilaration. Even the breathless run back to the car, lungs stinging with every inhale - there's something about it that draws us back every time. There have been years when we go in twice, dragging our bodies out and then hurtling them right back in again.

This year Allie went in a second time. Jennie's hands were so numb after the first plunge that they couldn't hold onto anything. And my excuse was my barefoot run back to the car after the first dip - I mistakenly thought it would be better to get back sooner to what little warmth there was rather than take time to pull on my Uggs. My feet literally felt like they were going to fall off, those hundred meters never felt so long.

We stayed overnight at the Delaware Inn on Delaware Avenue this time. The alarm I set never went off in the morning, but we made it to the beach by 8. The only person in sight was a man walking his dogs along the shore. We stripped in the car to just our shoes and coats over our swimsuits, and made our way down to the sand. I despise being cold, and if I were to stand on that sand long enough, I probably wouldn't go in the water at all. Even in the summer I have a hard time taking the plunge. So I use my "lifeguard technique": I pretend someone is drowning and I have to save them this very second. The technique works - in both summer and winter.  And at least in the winter, the icy water keeps my mind off my feet pounding the painful stones on the ocean floor.

We were in the sea for maybe 2 seconds, and out again. On the drive back to the Inn, the tingling of the cold eased up and the warm shower brought back feeling to my toes. For the next couple days, I had an itching in my throat and felt a cold coming on - but it was completely worth it.