Signs of Spring...

Back in Stockholm after two weeks in Denmark, I found that there was a change of season in progress. The long, long winter was finally coming to an end and signs of spring were appearing all over the city. The trollies had been rolled out of their winter storage shed to be fixed up and readied for the tourist season....



The ice in the harbor was finally breaking up and the little construction company barge was able to force its way out into the open channel (although it had to make a lot blue smoke and white water to get there through the remaining ice)


Over by parliament there was no ice at all and the sun was starting to feel a little bit warm. Meanwhile all the streets were tranforming from snowbanks into 'extensions of the harbor'.


The steamer Stockholm was beginning to bustle with activity as the crew came aboard and started packing up the winter tarps, unwrapping the temporary insulation put on the pipes and faucets, and began setting out the chairs in the ship's restaurant.


Across the cove at Nybroplan, the other historic passenger steamers were getting ready to take down their winter coverings and were even running the steam engine at slow revolutions to loosen up the grease, warm up the bearings, and clear the prop of algae and ice.


Oh what a thrill it was to see smoke whisping from the funnels of these ships. I could hardly wait for the coming of summer when the waterways would be alive with these venerated old craft.

And alas, Nybroplan and Djurgården no longer appeared to be one land mass; the ice was breaking up and Stockholm was again becoming a city on the water.