For life in Stockholm on a starvation budget, let us now introduce you to the “Af Chapman,” a three-masted sailing ship, and the most unusual youth hostel in the world. Years ago, the “Af Chapman” was a training ship for officer candidates of the Swedish navy. When the navy tired of the “Af Chapman” and announced it would scrap it, an idea came to the brilliant head (Mr. Erik Thor) of the Stockholm Tourist Office. He bought the “Af Chapman”, moored it to a dock on the centrally-located island of Skeppsholmen, and turned it into a youth hostel. There it has remained ever since-a fixture of the city to such an extent that all the maps of Stockholm now contain little drawings of the “Af Chapman.”
You can spot the “Af Chapman” from the verandah of the plush Grand Hotel (what a contrast!), and you can also easily walk to the ship from the Grand. It is a real-life, massive sailing ship-straight from an Errol Flynn movie-with crow’s-nests, portholes, towering masts, and sea gulls circling above. It’s open all year around, charges exactly 165.00 kronor for a bunk, is so popular that it imposes a five-day limit on your stay, and theoretically requires that you be a member of a student or youth hostel organization.
Incidentally, any member of the public can eat on the Af Chapman; and you ought to pay it a visit, even if you don’t plan to stay there. At lunch time, when there’s good weather, tables are placed on deck and sandwich meals are served. At all other times, the ship’s dining room is open for snacks. Hope and I had two large pieces of cake and two teas. And as we munched away, the ship’s bells sounded!
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