As I crossed the bridge in pursuit of museum hopping, a single scull caught my eye. He gracefully slid across the water. The sun was out and the water was flat which made for perfect rowing conditions. I was reminded of traveling as a teenage in Italy with my mom and asking the local boat club if I could row on the Florentine river. In broken Italian and made up hand language that resembled a seizure, they understood me and let me row a single shell.
Basking in the memories of my Italian journey, I hastened my pace and followed the single oarsman. However, I lost him around the corner when I could no longer keep up. I then spotted a female rower in a pink tank top and successfully followed her to a quaint boathouse ("Roddföeningens kaffeservering") at the bend in the road.
I politely asked the young woman if she spoke English and if I could rent a boat. She said that she didn't know but that she could introduce me to the owner. "His best friend is visiting from Canada," she mentioned as she introduced me. The owner and his friend were Iranian and speaking Farci when I approached. The owner was on the phone so I spoke to his friend. I explained that I was a rower, had gone to school in Canada, went to row for Cal, and followed the girl and now wanted to row here in Sweden. He then shared with me the he was visiting his friend and that they had known each other since first grade. We chatted for awhile, discovering similarities, sharing our experience of the city and then he told me to enjoy the sun until his friend was off the phone. It turned out that the owner didn't speak English so his friend shared my story while I found a lovely spot on a bench and took a deep grateful breath in.
About ten minutes later, he returned and said that his friend said "Yes!" I jumped with excitement! "Really?!" I exclaimed. "Yes," he repeated. I just so happened to have packed a workout shirt in my purse and quickly did a swim locker change right then and there Superman Style. I was geared up and ready to row in less than 20 seconds.
We carefully placed the boat in the water, popped in the oars and I was off. I waved to the gentlemen on the shore and they waved back, knowing that they had made my day.
My legs pushed against the foot boards and my oars powered through the water. As I glided across the stillness, I could hear the boat lift from underneath me. I looked around at the landscape from my unique perspective and at that moment, I became present to how I, like Djurgården, was my own island - full of character and peace.
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