Hej Stockholm!

Today we woke up ridiculously late and made our way over to Hörtorget, a square with an open air fruit and veggie market as well as an indoor gourmet food market. I tried the Swedish Bläbar, a dark blueberry, and ate a raw reindeer meat sandwich. Mmm. Blood.

After spending some quality time at H&M we made our way to the Nordiska Museet, the Swedish culture museum. There was a fascinating exhibit on the Sami, the native peoples of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, a charming display of wedding clothes, halls of traditional interior home designs (think IKEA, for real) and all of it was within a gigantic castle-mansion in Djurgarden.

From the Museet we headed toward Ostermalm and spent hours just wandering around, looking at the architecture, walking into small stores and people watching.

Yesterday, we spent a ton of time museum-ing, beginning at Junibacken. Junibacken in the children's museum, located on Djurgarden. We quickly checked it out the other day but didn't get to see the main attraction- an "it's a small world" style ride through Swedish children's books. The ride wildly exceeded my expectations and I found myself tearing up as the stories were told to us. In the end, it drops you off at Pipi Longstocking's house. I have plenty of pictures. I know you are concerned.

After Junibacken, we walked in the gorgeous weather to Skansen. Skansen is a living history museum that is GIGANTIC and is supposed to be a miniature Sweden. We spent literally 4.5 hours talking to the people about the history of Sweden and exploring model farmsteads, a furniture factory, a church, a Sami camp, and so much more. I learned so many ridiculous things about Swedish history. For example, they didn't come out of the dark ages until the LATE 1500s. A little late, huh? Basically, they moved from the Medieval era to the Protestant Reformation. So, that means a lot of disease for a really long time and no good art. I also learned that they tried to make their own silk, to no avail, as part of their effort to be economically independent.

Still a great trip. I think I am done eating herring for a while though.