The Swedes make the most of every pleasant hour of their short summer; when they slept we never knew, for even at midnight, as we went to our hotel, the streets were filled with people, and many were still sitting beneath the trees in the gardens; perhaps they hibernate during the long winter, and sleep enough for the whole year.
The Djurgard (deer park) is a delightful public park, occupying an island two miles long and about a mile wide situated a short distance down the Baltic Bay, and is reached by horse-cars and several lines of small steamers. It contains many restaurants and cafés, where concerts are given both day and evening, the finest of them all being the Hasselbacken, a favorite resort for dinner parties; there are also numerous summer theatres and places of popular amusement, among them a Tivoli, which is a very inferior copy of its model at Copenhagen.
The park has mostly been left in its natural state; drives and walks extend through its stretches of grassy lawn and natural forest, furnishing views, through occasional openings, of the rocky islands and shipping in the Baltic. A royal villa called Rosendal is situated on the northern side of the park, and upon a hill has been built a tower called the Belvedere, from which there is a view of Stockholm and its surroundings. Many private villas have been built on the island, and at one end near the water is an asylum for the deaf, dumb, and blind; yet a few paces away the rocky ledges and leafy solitudes give the impression that one is a long distance from civilization.
As in Stockholm water is so plentiful and bridges comparatively few, there is an abundance of little steam launches taking passengers for a few öre across the water, or up and down the bay from one island to another. The multitude of these little boats, the steamers running to places on the lake and up the fjords of the bay, together with the large sea-going steamers going out upon the Baltic and to foreign lands, present a scene of ever-changing variety and animation.
The delightful excursions one can make by steamer are the chief charm of Stockholm. They seem innumerable, and I think if one passed the entire summer there he could take a new excursion every day. The long lines of steamers drawn up to the quays, and the lists of places to which they run, were perfectly bewildering; our limited stay permitted us to visit only the most attractive points.
Sight-seeing at Stockholm furnished a restful variety. The mornings were devoted to the museums and sights of the city, the afternoons to steamer excursions up the lake or down the bay, returning for dinner to one of the garden restaurants, and the evenings were passed at the open-air concerts.
The trip by steamer to Vaxholm occupies an hour and a half; we pass down the Baltic Bay, full of small islands, at many of which, and at points on the mainland, the steamer touches to leave passengers, bound for their country seats scattered along the beautiful wooded shores. The whole family are on the wharf awaiting the steamer’s arrival; paterfamilias is kissed and embraced, the olive branches seize upon his baskets and bundles, and as we steam away the little groups disappear down shady walks, or gather on the wide piazzas of their summer homes. Vaxholm is a small island of rock, a favorite resort of the residents of Stockholm for sea-bathing, who have built here small wooden houses in which they pass the summer. A fortress covers the greater part of an island near by, which commands the only practical approach to Stockholm for large sea-going vessels. In a field beyond the houses of Vaxholm several companies of soldiers were being drilled; from a platform crowning the summit of a rocky ledge we overlooked their movements, and enjoyed the view of the Baltic, thickly strewed with islands and detached masses and ledges of rock emerging from the dark waters.
The royal castle of Ulriksdal is reached by steamer, after a journey of constantly increasing beauty of scenery as we ascend the fjord, with its fertile and wooded shores; the fjord becomes very narrow as we approach the castle, situated on the water’s edge, embowered in trees, with a pleasing prospect of blue waters framed in by green hills. We walked through a fine avenue of noble trees called the Ulriksdal Allée, extending for a mile to a lake, which unfolded lovely views as we crossed by steamer to Haga, and took the horse-cars back to Stockholm.
Another enjoyable excursion is by steamer among the islands of Lake Mälar to the palace of Drottningholm, built upon a large island, where the royal family generally reside from August until October. The palace contains an imposing double staircase, and handsomely furnished apartments commanding views of the gardens and lake. One hall contains portraits of Oscar I. and his reigning contemporaries, among them a very flattering one of Queen Victoria. Near the palace is a theatre, and a Chinese pagoda containing a collection of Chinese curiosities. The gardens are laid out in the old French style, and are adorned with statues, fountains, and parterres of flowers, while the park, with its fine old trees and greensward, abounds in pleasant walks and drives.