Sverige

I just wanted to be sure that everyone can see the wonderful photos of Utö taken by Ove Nilsson and published on the Näsudden website at: http://www.nasudden.se/uto_stuga_galleri.htm

The main harbour at Utö, and the place where you will find most of what you need for your stay on the island is Gruvbryggan.

There you will find a clothing store, a bakery, several restaurants, the tourist office, a bicycle rental shop, a children's playground, a grocery store and other shops as well.

I have taken some photos of the area, which will give you a good idea of what it is like, and what you can expect to see if you visit Utö, to help you plan for your trip...

Visitors to Utö's famous windmill who venture inside and walk up to the second floor will see some photographs taken of people and places around the island around the turn of the 20th century.

I could not help but be struck by the contrast of then and now, as I am sure you will too, upon seeing these photographs. I took a pictures of some of them in order to share them with you, though I apologize for not taking note of the particular details of each photo (on the lower-right hand corner of the photos is a description of them). For that I can only recommend that you visit the windmill :)

I therefore will present you my reproductions of these photos, without comments. If you visit Utö and go up to the windmill, I would be happy if you could note the descriptions of the photos and share them with everyone here...

So the stuga that I have chosen this year is called "Mariehäll". Initially, as I briefly mentioned in the first stuga hunting article, was set on a bed and breakfast near Näsudden, but being taken for that week, this would not be possible. However, two alternate possibilities were provided to me, one of which led to this cottage, the other was a really nice loft run by the Lien family.

This particular cottage is very well referenced on the internet, and a simple Google search will display quite a number of pages for it, notably http://www.utostuga.se/mariehall (this is the "homepage" of the cottage, with a description, practical information, directions (see mine) and booking information (in Swedish)) and www.sweden-holidays.com, where you can see some more information.

But here are some detailed photos of both the exterior and interior...

Such a simple question - so many consequences. Before I pack my bags, I first want to be sure that I bring just the right clothing for a week in the middle of July.

Word has it that Utö is famous for its sunshine.

But if there is anything that I have learned from my time in Sweden, or even from my Norwegian heritage, is that Scandinavians are quite fond of adding "the best in all the land" to just about everything! So my initial instinct is to place this claim along with others such as "The biggest festival in all of Sweden"...

So let's see what the weather really looks like - who knows, perhaps it will indeed be "the most sunny island in all of Sweden"!

I have had some relative difficulty finding information on Spränga Brygga from the internet, though in the end, the pieces have started to come together, and I will soon be able to present quite a lot of interesting facts about this harbor!

This entry documents what I anticipate finding once I arrive at Spränga, which will be interesting to compare and augment with what I encounter at location.

One element that I find particularly interesting from the start is how such a small location can handle such a large number of tourists without being completely worn out. This is to the credit not only of the local inhabitants, though also the tourists that arrive.

So I have it all planned out - I will be interested in seeing how well my plan will resemble what actually happens once I begin this trip.

So I am presenting this as how one can go from the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport to the island of Utö, though on a theoretical level, based on timetables and facts that are readily available on the internet.