I used to say with great pride that the Philippines has "7, 700 islands depending upon the tide". But the Swedish archipelago consists of 30,000 islands, rocks and skerries . Many of these islands are inhabited all-year-round or as summer residences. From the month of May, the tourist boat traffic to several of these islands and within Stockholm city's nearest waterways attractions gather momentum and reaches its peak in the month of June.
The boat trips offer varied destinations and time length, from regular passenger trips to "hop in, hop off", to special sightseeing ( 7 bridges under ) or a 1 and 1/2 hour trip with an English-speaking guide mainly for foreign tourists who want a bit more info on the historical landmarks and buildings along the way.
The state through the "landsting" operates a regular ferry service to several farther islands. These are bigger white boats moored infront of the Grand Hotel. They serve food. And then there are a few privately-owned shipping companies that have been serving the Swedish archipelago since many years back, which owns boats as old as 100 years. They say that it is part of the charm of the archipelago with these aged boats.
Many boat trips are chartered fór many celebratory reasons: corporate parties, weddings. birthdays, student parties, even funerals - spreading ashes in the lake. Weddings are done either in the boat, in the Stockholm city hall, in a church in an island or in one of the many castles near Stockholm.
Last June 1, my significant other (SO) who is a ship captain drove this 100-year old Gurli boat from Stockholm city to Västerås city, a trip that started at 4 in the morning and ended at 22.00 in the evening. It took six hours to negotiate the distance, counting some five bridges of which three had to be opened for the boat to pass through.
All these bridge openings and closings were very interesting for me, in particular the Hammarby-Slussen or lock. The boat waits inside as the lock opens and water fills the narrow passageway. Then it closes again.
Västerås city I know from few years back when I was actively chairing the Women Rights Forum or Kvinnorättsforum. I travelled to these places to meet Filipinos, get to know them and introduce the association. A very good friend of mine, Monica Dahlström Lannes lives here. She was a police commissioner who became an ardent advocate of children rights. In 1994-95, we worked together on my SIDA-funded project - a one-month training program for senior Philippine social workers involved in the rehabilitation of sexually-abused children.
Historically, Västerås which is one of the largest cities in Sweden is today a major industrial area with ABB and Atlas Copco among others. In 1947, global company HM started its first store here.
And in the 16th century or so, Sweden's powerful king Gustav Vasa decided to take away the powers and riches of the Catholic church and established Lutheranism as state religion.
The boat trip I got myself into - for a new sightseeing experience was chartered for a wedding party by some wealthy people who all came in fine formal gowns and tuxedos. The caterer was a Thai company that served Thai delicacies and fruits, as well as bubbles opened by a sable.
Today, the Stockholm archipelago is a tourist paradise where the locals and tourists can visit any of the 50,000 cottages in different islands and have boat trips in any of the 150,000 pleasure boats and ferries that are available for short days trips, as well as water transport to various places of interest in the city such as the Djurgården park, Vasa museum, the new ABBA museum, the palace on Skeppsholmen, Grönalund-Stockholm's Disneyland, the Fjäderholm islands - are just some landmarks in the sighteeeing tour.
