Took a half-day and went kayaking after work with a friend.

I’ve never done kayaking before. Canoeing, several times, and SUP paddling once, but never kayaking. It’s been on my list for several seasons and just never happened. My friend was in a similar situation, so we tried it out together.

We rented kayaks at a rental place on Långholmen, right in the middle of Stockholm. Great views of Stockholm as soon as we set off.

It was a strange experience, seeing the city from this angle. It’s like all the waters that previously were (normally are) non-places, in-between-places, suddenly became the real thing, and vice versa.

Kind of being outside of everything, looking in.

It also felt odd to be looking up at everything. Houses, bridges, waterside shrubberies – everything was above us.

There’s an entire boatyard in the middle of Stockholm, that I’ve never paid any attention to. At one point, we met a towboat was pushing a barge transporting a small car. Why? Where in Stockholm would you want a car, but not drive it there but take it there by barge?

The rental place gave us instructions to stick close to the shore of the island, both to avoid waves and to not get in the way of any largr boats. We didn’t need to worry about any of that. There was no wind at all, and no waves. In the middle of a Thursday there was also no other boat traffic, so we had a very calm and quiet first ride.

My friend found the kayak seat quite uncomfortable for his back, so we weren’t out as long as I would perhaps have chosen to be on my own. I enjoyed it more than he did, and will surely do this again.

Photography was tricky. I wasn’t worried about the camera – I don’t drop my camera on dry land, so why would I do it here? – but it was a bit challenging to also balance the paddle at the same time. And as soon as I stopped paddling, the waves – which were tiny enough to be invisible – started turning the boat sideways.

Afterwards we circled most of Långholmen again, this time on the ground.