riddarholmen.

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My friend Jonas, at whose work studio I was staying while I was in Stockholm, told me that one of the things I should see and do was to head out to the little island of Riddarholmen, smack dab in the middle of the city, and watch the sun set.  (He’d also told me to bring along something fun to drink, as everyone else does while they’re out there, but I’d failed to remember this important tip.  Ah well!)  So one afternoon during my week in Stockholm, I took my sick, bedraggled self out of the house and into the afternoon sun.   The walk from Norrmalm, the center of town, over the water and into Gamla Stan, the old part of the city, was a lovely affair, with the noisiness of downtown fading away as the cobblestone streets took over.  Then a walk across a small bridge and onto Riddarholmen, full of old buildings and a gigantic church, and then to an outdoor area where others had also come to take in the sunset.  I pulled out a printed-out crossword and fiddled around with it as the sun slowly fell towards the horizon; every so often I’d look up to take a photo or two.  It was a mostly quiet crowd, save for the gaggle of German sightseers on a Segway tour (no really!) and a couple of tour buses that stopped long enough for passengers to come out into the plaza and snap away. 

It was a perfect afternoon, and as the day turned to dusk, folks started to wander away from the water’s edge, and towards the restaurants and bars.  I lingered for a wee bit, to take it all in for just a few more moments. 
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