June 2023 Program Information
June 2023 Program
Program - Presentation: Mike & Karen Pabst traveled across the big pond to Stockholm and he shared slides of their trip. They flew to Amsterdam and traveled on the cruise ship Rotterdam. After docking near the scrapyard & industrial area, they boarded a ferry that took them to downtown Stockholm. They traveled on the subway, which is like going through a museum with lots of murals on the walls. The city demonstrated prosperity and was very clean. The campus of the University of Stockholm was gorgeous. Europeans walk & ride bikes to get around, and Mike & Karen averaged walking 10 miles a day!Their goal was the Swedish Museum of Natural History. The museum is also a research facility, and the entrance was exquisite. Mike took 2 photos of many minerals - one with the name, and a close-up. Several of the minerals were new to them, especially those from Sweden. One display was on fluorescent minerals - NOT from New Jersey- and displayed brilliant neon green and bright orange colors.
Mike was very impressed with the glass display case that was made of side-by-side slide-out sections. The cases were 10' tall and around 6' in depth and 2' wide. They were heavy, and each mineral was loosely held in place with plastic pegs at the bottom. A light came on as the "tray" was slid out.
The final area was a room that was re-created to resemble the home of Sten Sjogren, a Swedish geologist. He collected minerals and displayed them in beautiful wooden handmade cabinets. Most had beveled glass tops and drawers or shelves on the bottom. He had a new one built every year for 10 years.
Some of the minerals from Mike's photos were: (go to mindat for more info about them - spellings are Swedish) sarkinit, tefroit, chalkofyllit, alkaktit, florencit, thorit, rhodonit, gonyerit, helvit, crocoit, & a fantastic piece of amethyst from Amherst county, VA! ( Mike told Liz that many of JMU's mineral museum exhibits are much better quality than some he saw there.)
Not that their eyes were strained, or that their brains were tired, or that the camera battery was exhausted, but they decided to go outside to the botanical gardens. After 15 minutes of looking at some flowers, their hunger pangs took over. They enjoyed a thick piece of homemade bread, slathered in butter and topped with cheese & meat. The pavlova dessert had meringue & berries. And Mike mentioned that in the morning they enjoyed a leisurely cup of cappuccino and a cardamon roll. (The Swedes don't just drink coffee, they enjoy it as a ritual.) Of course they were treated like royalty once they returned to the ship and enjoyed Dutch pancakes.
Thanks to Mike & Karen for taking us on this virtual trip to Stockholm. Sounds like the minerals & food were worth the trip!
Mike’s excellent presentation can be found here
