Day 146 – Road trip Sweden (Stockholm)

The next stop on our Stockholm tour was Skansen. Once again, my reading had told me that this was a sight that we must see if travelling with kids; and after a wonderful day of fun I have to agree.  Today we knew where we were going and had mastered the public transport system so we arrived at Skansen without issue.

What is Skansen?  It is the first open air museum and zoo in Sweden, founded in 1891.  The museum and zoo cover 75 acres and include a full replica of a 19th century village with tradespeople on display e.g. glassblower and best of all the zoo with Scandinavian animals including moose (elk), reindeer, brown beer, lynx, wolf and wolverine. Many of the animals had babies that were born just in the spring which were really cute to see. We were lucky to have fantastic weather as we walked around outside for hours.

We enjoyed a picnic since we were prepared with our own food and drink today.

On the Skansen grounds is an Aquarium complex.  It costs extra to be admitted to this ‘other’ zoo but with our Stockholm card is was free. You would think we have been to enough animal/aquarium parks but every time we go to one we see something different e.g. the mole rats here. It was also a good excuse to have a rest inside out of the sun and have an icecream.  We really enjoyed watching the baboons in the large enclosure.

Mole rats – ugly but interesting!

After icecream we called it quits for the day and headed back to our hostel; via the shops to buy new shoes for Harris and to look at the toyshop they had spotted. We enjoyed another nice evening relaxing in the hostel and also got our laundry washed!  We met a young Australian couple, just one year out of high school, that were staying in the hostel. They were only 3 days into a 3 month tour of Europe – oh to be so young again!

 Last night in Stockholm …

 

1 Comment »

  • Win Bartholomai July 10, 2011

    Hi everyone,
    Sweden sounds great. Love the horse photos. The zoo looks interesting – how big are those mole rats?

    love to all Mum & Dad

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