7 months, day 7 - Skansen

We've done very little sight-seeing here in Stockholm. We've done tons of wandering around and neighborhood exploring, but I'm almost embarrassed to say that we've seen almost nothing of the Stockholm that people come to see. Today we set out to change that. We set off to visit the Vasa Museum in Djurgården - the Vasa was one of the most fearsome warships ever made, and it set sail in 1628 only to sink twenty minutes later - but the line was ridiculously long and, if you've ever met me and James, you will know that we are ridiculously impatient, so we walked right on past.

Instead we plunked down our hard-earned kronor (that's not exactly true, neither of us have actually ever earned kronor, we've only withdrawn them from ATMs) at Skansen, a massive open-air folk museum showcasing original buildings from bygone days brought from all corners of Sweden. It also includes a handful of native Scandinavian fauna - we saw wild boars, bears, big ol' owls, wolverines, lynxes, and even a baby goat jumping out of a pond (who knew baby goats jumped out of ponds?). People dressed in period costume hang out in the houses, knitting and tending fires and chopping wood, and, in perfect English, answer questions from visitors. It was all fairly fascinating, and I probably would have loved it if I hadn't visited with a 7-month-old baby and a 33-year-old-ridiculously-impatient husband. When you come to visit us after we move to Sweden, we'll leave the husband and baby at home and check out Skansen on our own.

We did, however, find another fantastic cafe - Rosendals Trädgård - after we left, and then we walked through the park in the sweetest early evening light until we caught a bus back home.

Oh! I forgot to mention the mini amusement park in Skansen. Here's Augie in the "Baby Trotter", looking as thrilled as I'd be to have that clown trying to hitch a ride behind me:

A family with 6 kids lived in this one room in some long-ago day - makes me feel better about our real estate prospects in Stockholm (note the ghost in the window):

Pausing to feed the babe in the backyard:

No idea what this is, didn't have time to stop and read the sign (must visit without ridiculously-impatient husband) but I really liked the flora growing on the roof:

Goodies at the cafe (the ones at the left were gluten-free, yipee!):

Enjoying the walk along the canal to the bus:

Across from the bus stop is the most beautiful restaurant with deck chairs overlooking the canal that borders Djurgården; one of these days we'll stop there and have a ridiculously overpriced glass of wine and a plate of potato salad and watch the aspens across the water quake in the wind and evening light - so come visit, and join us.