Sweden

We had two intense days between St. Petersburg and Stockholm, filled with classes, VIP dinners, lectures and presentations (one by one of the curators of the Nobel Museum), and preparations for the coming weeks (auction, alumni dinner, TedX event, final exams). This is the view from our balcony.

Stockholm: OMG, what a city! Clean. Crisp. Green. Gorgeous. Manageable. Stockholm has it all. We ventured out and walked about 45 minutes from the dock to the harbor area (with Kirk), enjoying the scenery and good vibe of the city. (The city busses are decked out with Pride Flags for the Gay Pride celebrations this weekend. How often would that happen in Richmond?).

We strolled the city --a collections of islands connected by bridges-- by foot, meeting up with Casey Eriksen, a grad student from UVa, who just happened to be here (how random is that?) for the weekend with his boyfriend David.

Shopping, strolling, a nice Italian lunch, and a bus back to the ship for a nap before we ventured out with Fernando and Carrie, Rick and Tina Barnes, and Randi Sue Quat and John Rosenberg (UCLA) for an incredibly fun "shrimp" dinner cruise through the canals of Stockholm (for 3+ hours).

Spent most of the next morning at the enormous and elaborate Royal Palace, had lunch and a nap before meeting up with Barbara and Seppo, who are joining the ship as my Interport Lecturers from Finland.

600,000 people for the Pride Parade on Saturday (joyous and long), then a lovely dinner with a colleague at his home in the center of town.

Kirk left for Iceland on Sunday (waaaa), but we had a terrific time with him. After lunch at a vegetarian restaurant with a panoramic view of Stockholm, we spent the afternoon at the impressive Vasa Museum, dedicated to a major vessel built in 1628 but which sank immediately and was perfectly preserved until salvaged in 1961. At first I resisted paying a lot (prices are HIGH in Sweden) to see what I thought was going to be "A Ship in a Box," but it was absolutely breathtaking.

Now, off we go to Helsinki.