The world is a boat - lost at sea...

Stockholm behind, the Baltic sea ahead

As autumn blues rush to town, and sun light becomes ever scarcer, I was on the look today for something majestic, poetic and powerful. So I walked along the shores of three islands in Stockholm's Archipelago, only to get home to a house that has been on fire. I had spent the night at a friend's place, where we had wine till we dropped and where I slept like a rock. The morning after was pleasant, a high time for the sinful pleasure of sipping hot coffee by the window and looking over a carpet of golden tree leaves.

Reaching the shores of Oslo, on the North Sea.

I washed off my drowsiness and headed for a long walk - the beauty of Stockholm is that it is just small enough to walk everywhere, and wherever you walk, you walk along water canals feeding off the Baltic. At one point I was standing over a bridge , overwhelmed by the beauty of the sea reflecting cold sun rays, that is when I decided to write a post, dedicated to the sea and its melancholic magnificence. I collected photos I took on top of different boats sailing in Nordic seas. The first one is a personal souvenir from a trip to the farthest Fjärd in the Stockholm Archipelago, a small island where there is nothing but a camping site and a sheep farm. I snapped that photo as the boat departed from one of the central docking points in Stockholm. The second one I took last year, after a boat trip around Oslo's Fjords.

The house on the hill.

The third one I took of a side of Södermalm, the south central, bohemian island. I live on top of this hill, behind the big white church. But despite living so close to the sea, many days pass shamelessly without a glimpse of the water front, just being stuck in a house of concrete. In any case, the coffee by the window in the morning makes up for the loss.

A ship with real sails in the Stockholm Archipelago

Not too far from where I live, a friend of mine docks his house-boat near one of the high end streets in Stockholm. But more often than not, he takes it around different parts of the city depending on his plans that particular evening. Sometimes his little mobile pad is overshadowed by massive, 7-to-12-floor ships sailing daily to Finland, the Baltic nations and St. Petersberg in North Russia. Them boats are known as "party boats," as the sole purpose for people to go on board is to party all night long, where they can buy alcohol free of duty fees.

A real viking boat at the Stockholm Archipelago.

Net net? Today was a refreshingly a good day. A day of reconciliation and bonding with the sea, which bears a history of love and mourning, of enchantment and divinity, of desperation and melancholy, of longing and meetings. I had one thought taking form all day: this sea is so big, I can feel everyone else on another side of it. And now as I gather my final thoughts before I lay my head on a pile of soft pillows, a softer sea breeze is tickling its way through my window, and unto my bed. And with this note, I bid you all a good night.