Journal no. 3

after lunch in the indoor picnic area of the Nordic Museum (basement painted with charming scenes from a classical kid's storyboard), we decided to go on the canal tour that was included in the Stockholm Card.
i think it was wonderful that they provided such a space for visitors, with napkins on the table as well!
of course, you have to leave it as clean as you found it.

we took the tram to Kungstradgarden and wandered in the park there.
there was a public Spanish dance lesson.

a huge fountain for the kids to run around in.

the canal tours were crazy popular and we had to wait on 1 hour + for our boat, which was packed with foreign visitors.
we were so pooped out, we dozed off whilst on the hour-long tour.
C had already shown us most of Stockholm anyway, so i don't think we missed much :P

after the nap, we went back to Djurgarden by bus and got off at Skansen, a zoo and open-air museum.
they had a late closing time that day but unfortunately most of the staff demonstrating ye olde time skills stop work at regular closing time.
oh well.

Skansen was h.u.g.e.
lots of flowers in pretty, set in the nice greenery, and a few visitors here and then.
its selling point is how they save actual historical houses from around Sweden and set them here.
so it's like a human zoo specialising in Swedish farm life, with a urban town quarter as well.

this is the glass blower's house where we would be able to see a craftsman make glass. even the pavement outside was peddled with blunt glass bits.

grand olde farmstead.
i think this was an example of Sami (people from Lapland) architecture - watch tower of sorts.

there was a big open field of geese.

the urban area - brick and mortar vs wood.

another cute farm house.

we got tired because the area was so big, with zoo animals kept in the north side of Skansen and interesting buildings in their picturesque settings everywhere.
the animals we found were the giant cows, pigs, rabbits, sheep and friendly goats.
apparently there were reindeer and other nordic animals that my mom wanted to see but we couldn't find them.

i made my mom stay for the folk dance at 7.30 pm (?) because i read online that this was fun to see.
and it was!
the performers were sweating thanks to their thick traditional dress and warm summer temperatures,
but they put on a good show.

the MC spoke in Swedish and English to the small gathering of visitors, introducing each song that would be played by the 2 fiddlers, and a bit of background to the dance.

these traditional folk dances seemed a lot of fun!
the dancers were of different ages and their dress was not completely uniform and had interesting variations too. there was a short-haired lady performed the male role too!

 we were energized by them, and amused by the silly pranks the leader with the hat done mid-dance, like randomly switching partners and striking funny poses.

i think they only have the folk dance performance in summer (duh) - they have different activities for different seasons and festivals!