Berlin to Stockholm Part II: Trip to Skansen

My hosts took me to Skansen, which is like an open-air museum in Stockholm.  It is a very popular place, not only for tourists, but also for locals.  

The map of Skansen - and you need it as there is so much to see

A closeup of the area we went to as I wanted to see bears and wolves

First we went for a meal.  I tried the most traditional Swedish thing that they had on the menu which is meatballs (I just ignored that nobody knew what kind of meat these meatballs are made of) with potatoes and lingonberries.   While Anna-Karin though my meal was "boring" as it is so typical of what people eat, to me, the tourist, it was interesting and authentic.  Interesting what an effect your point of view has on a meal.  Here is a picture of my meal.  Note the amazing pancakes the kids ate!  It looked fantastic and Emile couldn't wait until I took the picture - he just dug in as we sat down!

The family Steinholtz sans dad Erik who was still trying to find a parking spot for the car (from left, Emile, Anna-Karin, Gabriel and Emma)

 


Then we were off to see the animals.  There is quite a choice in this corner of the park.  

I must first say that I'm usually hesitant to watch animals in captivity.  Although animals are not kept in cages at Skansen, it still makes me sad to see wild animals in captivity.  Anyway, I wanted to see the wolves and bears as these predators are not indigenous to South Africa.  

This wolf was patrolling the boundary of their enclosure.  

It was very hard for me to watch these two brown bears play fight while watched by smiling crowds.  I just felt very sad that these animals will never know what true freedom is - even though they have a brilliant enclosure, it's just not how it was meant to be.  

At the park they have Elk (which is apparently the same as Moose in North America).  There were two males born in May and they were friendly towards the children.  

Emile and the moose child.

This park is a totally amazing place for children and the kids had a good run around and climb-fest.  Gabriel especially is crazy about climbing and I got pictures of him climbing things everywhere. I thought my nieces would love this rope climbing thing. 

Gabriel right at the top

A very feminine Emma

Gabriel balancing

Gabriel climbing again

Gabriel climbing, Emile following.  Those birds are peacocks

There are a number of relocated traditional Scandinavian buildings at Skansen.  Unfortunately the pictures I took didn't come out clear enough, but here is a sign that explains one of these. 

The Vasveit Storehouse came from a farm in Norway...parts of this building dates from the 14th century.

The older buildings in Stockholm are very decorative.  As it got later in the day, I shot some nice silhouette pictures. 

Anna-Karin feeding a peacock.

The longest escalator I've ever been on.

On our way home - walking to a rendezvous with Erik who had to fetch the car.   

It really was a great day and I had a lot of fun.  It wasn't that cold - I think around 10C and my Oros man jas is very effective.  I still have enough pictures for two more posts, which will follow soon. I also went to Berlin's festival of lights and I will post pictures of that soon.

At the moment I have a bit of flu, which isn't surprising considering that it's cold outside and hot inside.  So, my body has to cope with the constant temperature changes.  I'm still homesick but also enjoying my time here in Berlin.  Miss my dog, probably because I can't Skype her.  Very grateful for Skype - so easy to keep in touch with everyone.  

PS:  Sorry for the wonky picture layout.  Blogger doesn't seem to be WYSIWYG in their layout.  Hope the content of the pictures make out for the layout!