Skansen

BUILDING AT SKANSEN


COTTAGE AT SKANSEN


TURF-COVERED BUILDINGS AT SKANSEN

We both slept well last night in our comfy bed. While I was showering Brad went down to reception to retrieve our luggage which was returned last night after we went to bed. To comensate for the inconvenience of our misplaced luggage, we are getting a coupon worth 25 Euros towards another flight from KLM. The hotel puts on quite a wonderful spread for breakfast: a selection of yogurts and cereals, eggs (scrambled, soft-boiled or hard-boiled), sausage, Swedish meatballs, a wide range of cold cuts and cheeses, many different types of bread, fresh fruit, juice, coffee, sweet breads... Everything I had was delicious. We both ate well so we could get by with a light lunch during the day.

Last night they took down the flea market in the square next to our hotel. This morning a fresh flower and fruit market sprang up in its place. The square, Hörtorget, is where the original Hay market used to be. We browsed through the market before making our way to the Tourist Info office. From there we caught the number 47 bus to Skansen, the world's first open-air museum. Skansen is on a large island where there are several other museums as well, notably the Vasa museum (which we visited last May) and the Nordisk museum. We decided to hit Skansen first and if there was time, go to the Nordisk museum. We ran out of time, even though most of the attractions at Skansen were closed. Skansen is somewhat like Colonial Williamsburg: the buildings there are historical recreations from different time periods and the staff members who work inside the buildings dress in period clothing. We visited an iron monger's shop and house, several old farmsteads, a general store and a few others I can't remember right now. The architecture was wonderful -- so different from other European and English architecture we are used to. Also part of Skansen is a Nordic Zoo: we saw wolverines, wolves, foxes, owls, otters, seals, moose and reindeer. The brown bear was evidently in hiding or maybe already hibernating.

It was clear, windy and extremely cold today. At one point in Skansen I felt that my fingers were going to fall off. We had a tasty lunch in one of the restaurants there. The restaurant reminded me of the restaurant at Ikea: the special of the day was Swedish meatballs with potatoes and lingonberries. We each had some delicious goulash soup.

We did not leave Skansen until 2:30 p.m. By 3 p.m. the sun had already set. We made our way back to our hotel. Before returning to our room we checked out the department store on the lower floors of the hotel building: PUB. It's a nice store and we had a tasty snack in the store cafe. We're resting up a bit now and will head out for more shopping in a few minutes.