description

Ships, Planes, Trains and River boats taking us through Asia, Middle East, Africa, Baltic, England, Paris and Amsterdam through to Budapest...

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

53 Stockholm, Sweden Day 2

Today we planned to go to Skansen on the island of Djurgarden.  By the looks of it, this is where to go in Stockholm for a day out.... All within walking distance of each other you will find the Tivoli Grono Lund (amusement park), the Vasa Museum and the Nordic Museum.  If you are in Stockholm for the day it would be easy to fill in your day there....

When we got up the weather looked ominous... no rain just grey and cold.... well, the grey went away but the cold didn’t . We readied ourselves for the chill and did the 30min walk back into town.

Just in front of the old town, in an area known as Slussen, there is a ferry Terminal clearly marked “Djurgarden Farjan”.  You buy a ticket for 45kr, or 30kr if you show them your pension card... this is only one way.  This will get you on the ferry marked Djurgarden that comes every 15 minutes.   You can also do this on the No 44 bus or the No 7 Tram which are cheaper options.

One thing that we have noticed is that here in these Nordic and Scandinavian countries are the amount of children that seem to be out on excursions; and I am not just talking about School age but a lot of preschoolers.  They travel in small groups hanging onto a rope and dressed in their yellow vests.

It doesn’t take much time at all to get around to Djurgarden, and once there you just head off in the direction you want.  Skansen is the world’s first open-air museum. This is where they have brought old dwellings from all around Sweden to create this park.  They have set it up to look like little villages.  In the Town Quarter you will find the glass blower, potter, baker and many other trades you would find in this era.  People are dressed up and talk and behave as they would if they were living in that time.  In one particular section we came across a couple of women cooking some of their traditional flat bread... We watched her roll it and roll it until it was thin enough to throw into the very hot wood fired oven.  She then turned it and turned it until it cooked.  She pulled it out and then let us try some.  Yum especially when you added the butter.

They also have a zoo there where you can see elk, brown bears, bison and wild boars.

We were starting to tire by now and we started to make out way back down the hill, back onto the ferry again, and that long walk back to the ship...

By this time the wind had picked up and so did the wind chill factor making this one of the coldest days we have been out in.  If only the kitchens would realise that all we want when we get back on the ship after a long day is a nice hot bowl of soup.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment