Scandinavia and the Baltics - Post 3

On Wednesday morning, we were up bright and early and Irving and I went to shul. There was a scheduled minyan for 7:30 AM.

When we arrived at the Bajit centre, we were buzzed in and could not find the shul. After a few minutes, another minyan goer arrived and he led us up to the third floor in an older part of the complex. Apparently, there was an original school (name of the school is Hillel) in the older building where we davened, and while it is still being used as a school, the school population grew (currently around 350 kids) and they built an adjacent modern building attached through interior ramps. 

When we got into the shul, it was really an empty meeting room with an Aron Hakodesh. 

There were 5 men in total including us and then over the next 20 minutes, two more arrived. One of the men explained to us that the room was used for weekday tefillah, and on Shabbat they daven in a larger room on the main floor. There is another shul in town, Adat Yisrael, and they also have a daily minyan. During the summer months, the two minyanim combine because of people being away for the summer school break. The break is over and therefore there are now two minyanim. Adat Yisrael has an easier time with a minyan and Adat Jeschurun struggles. 

We never did get a minyan. The men there invited us to the free breakfast that is served for the minyan goers, but we wanted to get on with our day, so we said our goodbyes and told them we would see them again on Thursday, when they said there was a better chance at a minyan appearing. 

On our way out, we met a man who struck up a conversation with us. He told us that he was on the board of the shul and he explained a number of things to us. The shul had originally been in the older community centre/school which was right next door. The community decided to build the new centre building and sell the other building, which, on a main shopping street in a very expensive area of Stockholm, likely provided much needed funds for the new building. 

The shul itself has a fascinating history, which I will share in a future post.

We walked to a branch of the Fabrique Bakery, just down the street from the shul.

The Rabbi endorses this bakery. They have an amazing array of artisan breads and sweet rolls. We bought enough for the day and headed back to the apartment. 

Our first stop of the day was a free walking tour of Gamla Stan, the old city. We took a cab to the meeting point at the Gamla Stan Subway stop. Taxis in Stockholm are plentiful but are very expensive. 

At the meeting site, there were about twenty other tourists who were taking the Free Tour. 

The guide, Alex, was very knowledgeable about the city and presented the material with a bit of humour. On the two hour walk, he led us thru the Old Town and pointed out all the important buildings in the area, all the while educating us about the history of Sweden and specifically Stockholm. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a walk in the city. 

Our impression of the Swedish people has always been a non violent, pacifist, and compromising people. But the walk certainly changed that story, as we heard about the many wars and the bloody history of the monarchy in years gone by.

Gamla Stan is visually beautiful as the old city and all its buildings have been preserved in their original state. The cobblestone streets and narrow alleyways with low rise buildings takes you back hundreds of years to Stockholm’s roots. It is an island, one of the many that make up the municipality and does not stretch for more than ten blocks in any direction. 

We ended the walk at the Royal Palace, one of the largest in the world with 600 rooms. 

Today, no one lives there. The King and Queen decided a while ago to relocate as they wanted their young children to grow up with accessibility to the outdoors, something that would be impossible in Stockholm. 

Every day at precisely 12:14 PM throngs of spectators gather near the palace to witness the changing of the guard. The procession of army, mounted police, and marching band begins at noon from a location north of the palace and at exactly 12:14 they arrive at the palace for the changing off guard. The band generally plays the Swedish National Anthem, but on the king’s birthday they play a melody by ABBA, as the king is a big fan.

We ate lunch at the harbour next to the Royal Palace. Stockholm seems to be a place where residents and visitors love the outdoors. What is not to love? A clean city surrounded by water from all sides is welcoming to those who want to experience the outdoors. Wherever we went over our 5 days in Stockholm, the outdoor cafes were filled with people. I guess this works well in the summer when the weather is good. I wonder what it looks like in the cold of winter?

We walked thru the narrow shopping streets of Gamla Stan on our way to Ericcson Globe. 

Ericcson was the company that revolutionized the mobile phone. We hopped onto the Subway toward the southern island of Stockholm, and exited at the stop for the Ericcson Globe. Just minutes from the subway stop, we entered an area with the Ericcson Galeria, and three state of the art sports arenas which host hockey games, live theatre and musical performances. The most imposing of these is the Globe, the largest spherical building in the world. The building houses 14000 people for a hockey game. 

On the outside of the globe, there is a gondola ride that transports visitors to the top of the globe where you have an unobstructed view of the entire area. The view was amazing.

From here we hopped back on the subway and went to visit Fotografiska, a very popular photo gallery right next to where the daily cruise ships dock for their Baltic cruises. They were featuring the photography of the famous documentary photographer George Santayana, who covered disasters all over the world and who famously coined the phrase “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. His graphic depictions of 9-11, famines in Africa, suffering of immigrants the world over, etc. were very moving. One of his most famous was this shot of Nelson Mandela.

The second part of the gallery featured a variety of portrait photos and creative whimsical photos by various artists. 

In the back of the main gallery was an area where someone was giving a tour in Swedish. The exhibit was called Fading Stories and the person doing the tour was the photographer herself, Sanna Sjosward. Sanna was born in Iran but was adopted by a Swedish family and raised in Sweden. 

The exhibit, representing 3 years work by Sanna in interviewing and photographing 23 Holocaust survivors, was a joint project of Sanna, the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and Fotografiska, and will be made available to schools throughout Sweden as a means to emphasizing that we must never forget what happened. As Sanna wrote, “The survivors won’t live forever, but their stories need to”. 

When we heard what the topic was about, we went over to Sanna and introduced ourselves and shared Fran’s roots with her. She was so pleased to spend some time with us and asked that I photograph Fran together with her and with one of her subjects. 

She said “By remembering the stories of the Holocaust we can prevent one of humanity’s darkest moments from repeating itself”. She told us that the exhibit was opened the night before with over 500 guests in honour of the Swedish national day for equal rights, and civil courage, recognizing the amazing contribution of Raoul Wallenberg of blessed memory. 

As we were exiting the gallery, she presented Fran with a memento: an photo album of the Gallery’s last 8 years of featured exhibits. 

We ended a very busy day with a wonderful vegetarian dinner at Herman’s, a restaurant endorsed by the local Orthodox Rabbi. The food was natural, fresh and delicious. Highly recommended.

On Thursday we continue our tour of Stockholm....

All the best, 

Fran and David