Parents in Town!

My parents came for a visit in August, their first time to Scandinavia.  We spent some time in Stockholm and then took the train to Copenhagen for a day.  Here are the highlights!

We went to the ancient Viking city of Birka, which used to look like this:

And this:

 But now it looks like this:

It was a fabulous visit, despite the lack of anything left.  The city is on an island on Lake Malaren, so there's a boat involved in getting there (love!) and once there our tour guide was tops.  We learned about the history of the city and the Viking ways of life.  Highly recommended for your next visit to Stockholm!

My parents in (at?) Birka.

A little medley of the island.

 In CPH, we went to see the Little Mermaid statue.

 I love this shot of all of the goings-on there.

Here are my parents with a Danish fancy lady.

Bird apartments.

Doesn't this guy look more simian than feline?!

Damn, I love Copenhagen.

 And then it was back to Stockholm, where we spent a lovely afternoon at Skansen.  I think I love Skansen a little more each time I go.

We were at the front of the fence at wild boar feeding time.  Those pigs were delirious!  Being that they're my favorite animal at Skansen, this was the best part of my day.

The cotton candy stands alone.

Linen!

There are red squirrels at Skansen, which is totally cute in itself.  But then we spotted this guy who'd paired him up with the candied almond maker, who was slipping him nuts on the sly.  Best.  Team.  Ever.

Midsommar

B was off to Tokyo for midsommar this year, so I was on my own.  Sorta.  Victoria and Stefan were lovely enough to let me tag along with them (and Baby Daisy!) and Victoria's sister, who was visiting from the US.  Instead of going to their country house (as most Swedes do for Mid-Sums), we hit up Skansen, which is sort of a classier Scandi-version of Silver Dollar City.  OK, maybe not.  Skansen is part zoo (featuring Scandinavian animals, mostly... keep it local, yo), part historical village, and part garden/walking park with really good food options and a killer not-at-all cheezy gift shop featuring Swedish handicrafts (reindeer leather necklaces, anyone?).  Oh Skansen, sorry to even mention a Branson theme park in this paragraph.  Total mis-play.

Well, we had a bang up time at Skansen!  There was a glorious midsommar pole aloft, and loads of Swedes dancing and singing around it!  What more could one ask for?  Per tradition, I had a large plate of herring.... and then snaps.  We ended the day at Gröna Lund (OK, maybe this is fairer cross-reference to Silver Dollar City) and I even went on a roller coaster.  (I must confess, I was cajoled into it, it was paid for my aforementioned cajolers, it was a baby wooden one, and I hated EVERY freaking nanosecond.)

And now I give you, Scenes from Midsommar:

Bears!  And baby bears!  With fresh carrots!  

You wouldn't believe the luck with had with the animals on midsommar.  It was like they juiced 'em up/witheld food/something-else-enticing-to-animals to prep for the holiday throngs.  Because les animaux were on POINT!  We're talking lynx, wolverine, AND owl--front and center!  We even caught a glimpse of a grey wolf; even if he was sleeping, that totally counts!

This really sums up Skansen.  Charming, right?  The place is full of historical buildings that have been relo-ed to create a new/old village.  The only thing this joint is missing is some goats on the roof.

Snaps!  Some flavors are definitely better than others.  This is the "bitter" flavor and this Fernet-loving gal couldn't even handle it.  YOUCH, is it BITTER.  Give me an aquavit any day.

How cute is this sheep-ish playground at Skansen???

Beautiful old door carving just outside entrance to Skansen.

Grona Lund greeted us with this sunset.

A glimpse of Grona Lund.

I was home maybe by 11-something PM and this was the sky.  Longest day of the year, indeed!

This guy was already getting his Midsommar sleep-off on.  This is how the whole of Sweden feels the day after Midsommar.