Our ride to Stockholm yesterday was into a strong headwind.
This is our most dreaded weather condition, far worse than rain. It's like
biking uphill all day without the benefit of coasting down.
Our time in Stockholm – Friday evening and a rest day on
Saturday – coincides with the major Swedish midsummer holiday. Friday ("Midsommarafton"
[Midsummer's Eve] and Saturday ("Midsommardagen" [Midsummer's Day]) are
celebrated each year between June 19 and 26, and are national holidays on a par
with Christmas and New Years. We had expected, based on what we had read prior
to arriving in Stockholm, that it would be a ghost town with all stores and
restaurants closed, but the city is thronged with tourists and full of
activity.
We joined the crowd as tourists for the day, leaving our
bikes holed up in a storeroom of our hotel. While we are not museum-goers, we
broke with this pattern and paid a visit to the Nobel Museum. Our interest was
piqued by the special exhibit entitled "Making Peace", in part
because Carol's maternal grandfather Henry Cadbury accepted the Nobel peace
Prize in 1947 on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a
Quaker organization [click here for a link to his acceptance speech]. The award
was given for the work done by the AFSC and the British Friends Service Council
providing help for the needy during and after World Wars I and II. We saw the
commemoration of this award during our visit to the museum, and also the
commemorations of Nobel prizes in Medicine and Physiology awarded to relatives
of our friend and colleague Beryl Benacerraf: her uncle Jacques Monod in 1965, and her father Baruj Benacerraf in 1980.
Inside the Nobel Museum
More tourist pictures
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