As I’m in a time-crunch before I head off to college, this one’s by Mom

We flew from Helsinki to Stockholm and could look out the window and see the beautiful archipelago beneath us. We checked into the attractive and comfortable Comfort Hotel Kista. The location was very convenient for economical groceries and public transportation to the city center. We took advantage of the lounge area and good wifi for home school and business tasks. And each day we had a delicious buffet breakfast with a wide variety of fresh and prepared items. We also found Swedish people to be friendlier and chattier than we’d been experiencing in other parts of Scandinavia.

On our first full day after a few hours of school and work, we met up for drinks with some old Swedish friends we’d met 20+ years ago on an African safari. Love how this trip comes full circle–all the time! They took us to a great rooftop bar with a gorgeous view of the city where the young and hip come to relax after work (I’m sure we fit right in our ratty clothes we’d been wearing for 10 months). Then they gave us a bit of a tour through Stockholm and we stopped for dinner at the quirky and fun circus-themed Pinchos. A very modern way to dine–you order from an app on your phone. We had a wonderful time catching up with our friends.

We knew we had to hit the ABBA museum while we were here and it surpassed our expectations. It’s fairly new, built in 2013, and is just packed with costumes, behind the scenes photos from the Mama Mia! movies, and so much detail and history of the group. We spent so much more time there than we’d planned. Next, we walked to the nearby Skansen open air museum. It’s kind of a mix between a theme-park, zoo and a living history museum. We first checked out the Baltic Sea exhibit and learned about the sea creatures and geography of the area. Then we walked on and heard live country music and were happily surprised to see a couple dozen older folks two-stepping away to songs by Patsy Cline, Elvis and more. On we walked through the exhibits of old buildings, like a farm house from a hundred years ago, a soldier’s cottage, and an example of a Sami (native from the Lapland area) yurt. We also enjoyed the live Nordic animals–the wolverines, moose, reindeer, brown bear, bison and otter.

On our last day, we weren’t flying until almost midnight so we got a late check out, then stored our luggage so we could take advantage of a couple of more must-see spots in Stockholm. We took the train into town to see the Nobel Prize museum which was really nice. Located in the cobble-stone area of old town, it’s not overwhelmingly large and is definitely doable in an hour or two. We took the tour of their special exhibit, the Martin Luther King display, and it was very interesting to hear a non-American speak of our country’s history and struggles. The display was quite extensive. There were loads of photos, interactive activities, and videos where you could watch several of King’s speeches, the progress of civil rights over the years in America, etc. Later we took a general tour. The museum had many objects which were given by the prize recipients that mean something to them. It was nice to learn about the selection process and the history behind the awards.

We realized we hadn’t had a traditional Swedish meal yet, so we took the recommendation of the museum clerk and went to the Golden Peace restaurant, located in a building dating to the 1700s. Very pricey, but we had tasty Swedish meatballs, salmon, and lingonberry. Then it was time to head back to the hotel to collect our luggage and use our metro cards to take three buses and two trains to the airport–our last train of the trip! We’d be flying to our final country before returning home!

Next up–our final country–Iceland!