Dear Jean-Philippe:
Greetings from Skansen where, on account of the hot, sunny weather, the place is overrun with young Swedish couples and their impossibly beautiful and adorable Swedish little kids. And why shouldn't it be? As the world's first open-air museum "featuring 150 buildings representing different periods in Swedish history from the Middle Ages on," it's both fun and educational for children to see all the authentic period structures and all the old trades and handicrafts practiced right in front of their eyes by real artisans in real period costume. And not far away is the Vasa Museum -- where you can survey from tip to toe the Vasa, a completely intact, royal warship from 1628. Even jaded yours truly was fascinated by that.
I'm presently repeating my one true Skansen delight from when I was here last year: the cold gravlax and mustard dill sauce platter at Petissan, that charming little salon de thé next to the old apothecary. The food is just as good, but they have taken to slicing the salmon thicker. Details, details. The sauce is as heavenly as ever, and far better than its equivalent at Café Opera for three times the cost.
Yesterday's tour of Gustav III's Pavilion at Haga Park went off without a hitch. I once again fell in love with Louis Masreliez's interior decor in the Late Gustavian style, which, of course, is precisely what the place is famous for. The friezes, the moldings, the wall details, the colors -- despite alterations in the last century, one still gets a strong sense of the original 18th century look and feel: a purity of an almost classical nature; a definitive rejection of the Rococo; nearly austere, yet always exuding a calm, airy luminosity. In short, typically Swedish. I love the grotesques of the large drawing room and the beautiful scarlet and blues of Gustav III's study.
But my favorite room is still the first floor Mirror Room, at the far end, its far wall composed entirely of glass, giving on to a view of the Park and the canal beyond. One can only imagine how lovely it must have been to attend the small musical recitals given there, surrounded by depictions of Apollo, Minerva, Homer and Virgil, and accompanied by a dizzying feel of light and space.
Will write again soon. Je t'embrasse.
-- S.
    |