Stockholm visit

We felt at home in Sweden, and maybe it had to do with the way people there greeted us -- with a "hey, hey" (hej, hej). It felt like they knew us already. We enjoyed our weeklong visit to Stockholm over Easter, a relaxing and sunny city trip.

Although April is still early in the tourist season, we found lots to do.  Must-see's in the city include the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan (which means "Old Town", but for some reason we started singing Gangnam Style whenever we said it).  The Vasa museum was well worth it to see the massive ship inside that was underwater for over 300 years. The boys were really interested in learning about what life on board may have been like and how the ship was resurrected out of the harbor. And another favorite was a trip to the Östermalms Saluhall, a food hall where we enjoyed a traditional seafood meal. The meal of choice more than once for the kids was authentic Swedish meatballs!

There are lots of parks to explore in Stockholm as well, that stretch along the water and offer a lot of space for the kids to run. One day, we rented bikes and cruised around Haga Park, north of Stockholm. There were plenty of bike trails that passed by interesting buildings, through woods and by lakes. The park was established by royalty in the 1700's, and it had an old-fashioned feel to it. This was one of my favorite days of the trip.

We spent a day taking a boat ride in the archipelago, visiting the island of Sandhamn. Very few people were visiting the island, and we had a beach to ourselves where the boys could play by the water. I imagine the island becomes very busy in the summer, and locals were preparing their boats and cottages for the season.

Easter feathers

One interesting thing that we noticed were the bright and colorful feathers for Easter decorations. Apparently, the feathers tied to sticks were first used as a symbol for Palm Sunday (being that palm trees are nowhere near Sweden). Nowadays, the feathers in their bright colors also symbolize the start of spring and breaking out of winter.

We thought Stockholm was a beautiful city, and would love to explore more of Sweden for another visit. For now, we'll have to visit IKEA every once in a while to see some of the language or have some meatballs. To be honest, we couldn't help thinking of the Swedish Chef every now and then. We're not familiar with the language and its pronunciations, so at times, we would relate something to the Muppet character. I'm quite sure most people in Sweden would be offended if I mentioned this, so apologies. The kids and I did enjoy watching a cooking show with a real live Swedish chef!

Wishing you also a beautiful Spring -- Farväl! ("Farewell!")