The Twilight Report

We were hungry after training up to Linköping, so after checking into our hotel we strolled into the square for a burger and ginger beer in the main square.

(day four) On our first full day in Linköping we took the 13 bus out to the Flygvapenmuseum^[1]. It was interesting compared with other airplane museums in that it houses a number of non-American, non-Russian vehicles, which dominate the air museums that I usually have access to. In one half of the museum, they had little mock living rooms on display, I think to contrast the flying tech and the cold war with the way that people were living at home at the same time. I had to laugh at the one pictured above with the American and Soviet missiles sticking through the floor. The most interesting display is the DC-3^[2] shot down by the Russians in the Catalina affair. In 1952 the Russians shot down a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft over international waters. All eight crew members were killed. During the search, the Russians also shot down a Catalina PBY-5 engaged in the search effort. The pilot managed to ditch the aircraft and the crew were rescued by a German ship. In 2003 both aircraft were discovered, and the DC-3 was recovered. Remains of four of the eight crew members were identified. The incident and the remains are especially interesting to me because of the intersection of interests, underwater recovery and air crash investigation^[3]! They also had a junk DC-3 outside of the museum so you could compare what a long life under the sea and out in the yard did to the hull of the craft.

For the evening we went over to Maria's house for a barbecue. Maria is a long term friend of my mum and knew me when I was a teenager back in Los Alamos. She worked with my mum to have her come out to Sweden so she is sort of the reason that we are even here. We met her son Hugo, but her other son, who is interested in computers was not there, which was too bad they said, because I am also a computer nerd. Actually they used the term “art of computer programming”, which is a funny turn of phrase that I am pretty sure that I used when I met Maria way back when.

(day five) The next day we took the SJ train into Stockholm. Our first stop was the Vasa museum. This museum is dedicated to The Vasa that sunk on her maiden voyage back in 1628, and salvaged more than 300 years later. Thanks to the brackish waters, it is in remarkably good shape. We had lunch in the museum. I am used to museum food being bad, but the baseline for food quality in Sweden, even in places where you have no expectation for quality is quite high! In the afternoon we wondered around Gamla stan, the old town. There were lots of cobble stones and cathedrals and kitschy stores. There was a photo store that I wish we had in Maryland, they had film, paper chemicals, used film cameras, the whole shebang. It was probably more expensive than B&H or Adorama, though I didn't check the prices.

(day six) Yesterday we strolled over to Gamla Linköping. It is a sort of open air museum, made up of buildings that had been moved from the city center. When we got there it was raining quite a bit, but after lunch it eased off. My favorite display was the printing press and book binding museum. A lot of things were closed, but a lot of stuff was open. We had afternoon tea at one place which consisted of hot chocolate and this beautiful raspberry custard tort. When I tasted it I was in heaven. That kind of desert is one of my favorite things, and that one was particularly good.

In the evening we went to Norrköping to see the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra give a performance for the honorary doctorates being given out today. We were in the second row, which is as close as I have ever been in a concert. The music was wonderful. Lena enjoyed it so much she wanted to convince her choir to play one of the pieces. The only downside was that we hadn't eaten, and finding a time to eat with the bus schedules and so on was a bit awkward. We had a burger late in the evening, in the hotel after we got back to Linköping.

1. or Swedish Air Force Museum
2. Swedish Air Force Tp 47
3. I like to watch this Canadian produced show called Mayday (also Air Crash Investigation in some territories) and read about airplane accidents because of the sleuthing and technical aspects. I think Lena finds it a bit morbid, or scary to focus on it given the amount that we fly, but the more that I read and watch about the subject the safer I feel. Sure there have been some big cock-ups, but the effort that goes into determining the cause and applying recommendations is far greater than what goes into making the roads safe.