September 13th, 2012

     September 12, 2012 took us into Stockholm with Abby, Becca & Scout. Jesper dropped us off at the  tube and we ventured into Stockholm to go to the Vasa Museum, to get there we took the ferry. The harbor is a busy place, boats and ships of all kinds, sailboats, cruisers, classics, ocean liners of all kinds.
     The Vasa is the world's only 17th Century Ship preserved. The ship sank on it's maiden voyage, only traveling around 500 meters before capsizing and sinking. The rise of the Vasa was a miracle on its own, but the restoration is a a sight to behold!



     Stockholm similar to New York, is on 14 islands(you can fact check any of my stats and I won't be offended), and the Vasa Museum is on one of them, along with some other museums and parks. We went next to the Skansen Museum and Zoo. Traditional ways of all trades are demonstrated, some are bread making, glass blowing, wood working, mechanical, etc. No photos are allowed inside each display. The zoo consisted of a petting and traditional Nordic animal displays.


     Lots and lots of walking brings us to our final stop of the day, dinner at the "Den Gyldene Freden", which has served food for over 350 years. Well, the food was great, the beer cold, and the wine was splendid! I had the traditional, what I would call this nations dish(at least to this American!), Swedish meat balls, mashed potatoes, & lingon berries. For appetizer's we had sour dough bread, lingon berry bread and the famous rye crisp. Also several kinds of herring: one marinated with sea buckthorn  (pickled of course- that's the preserving method); strömming (west coast herring) in a cream and chile sauce; and another pickled herring with toasted hazelnuts . Our best herring of the day was at the Vasa, where we got a sampler "swedish tastes" plate. It included "stekt inlagd strömming", which is fried before it is pickled; regular marinated herring, and my favorite "senapsill"- this one had a mustard and dill sauce and was very tasty! I have never really tasted herring to this point in my life, the herring you see on the salad bars in the USA looks way to nasty for me to try. The lady's had "Gnocchi", which is a garlic, goat cheese, and hazelnuts, and "Crawfish soup with smoked, "Sik", part of the salmon family.

     This was Scout's first day long excursion and she did wonderful! So this trip's blog must include a photo of my "Min lilla dotterdotter", my little granddaughter, daughter, & "mormor" which means mother mothers!

     Thursday is a rest day and then it's off to the inland retreat of Jesper's father's. More to follow.....