You are going to want to take a five-minute tram or bus ride to Skansen, the world's first,
and still the best, outdoor museum. Sweden-in-a-nutshell, this vast park features
about 150 houses and farmsteads that have been collected from all over the country and
brought together in an exquisite living exhibit. For many visitors this transplanted chunk
of old-fashioned life will be the main highlight of Stockholm. Most of the houses are open
only from 11:00am until 5:00pm, so you don't want to get here when the park gates open
at 10:00am. You could arrive at mid-day and if you are hungry, recharge your batteries
with lunch at one of the many fine eateries in the park or just outside the gates.
Skansen's buildings date from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and show how people in
different social classes lived, worked and were housed. There are costumed local guides
dressed in historic outfits ready to explain the story of each display and tell you about
life as it used to be lived in the buildings you are visiting.
Now when you're in these buildings and see the local guides in their costumes, don't
be shy. Just speak to them and ask them to please tell you about the place – a simple
question like "what have we got here," or listen in if they are in the middle of telling
someone else. They don't mind at all. That's why they are here, that's their job, is to
explain it, and they all speak perfect English. "And what's above your head here? What's this?
Ah, this is dried bread. The only bake for a couple of times each year, and then they
hang it to dry out, save it from the rats, and preserve it. Really, and cut it last for
two months? Yeah, probably even more I guess. And then they had to soak it in soup or milk
or something when they want to eat it. Oh, it's too hard. Yeah. So they'd make a porridge
maybe, too? Yeah, exactly, a porridge. And then the family lived in this room, this is
their bedroom, and their working space. So everybody slept in one room? Yeah."
"So what is this house? This one, uh-huh. And this was the main room here, the living
room? Yes... Living room, bedroom, kitchen. That's it, 1750.
And there is a village center with a blacksmith, carpenter, silversmith, druggist, printer,
weaver, gift shop, windmill, and a school. "What is this store? Hardware store from the
1930s. So what would be the main kind of things that would be sold here? Tools of many kinds.
For the farming village, the farmers live nearby? Yes, and the carpenters...oh, tradesman,
yeah carpenters. You will also find animals in the farmyard,
and a naturalistic zoo with bears, bison, elk, wolves and reindeer, and a variety of
other animals. Notice these frolicking bears, European brown
bears. We have is image of bears as being vicious and mean and evil but look at how
they are frolicking and playing. Of course you would not want to go down into the bear
pit, so it's good to be up above looking down. Some other people playing this day at Skansen
were a whole field of young people who turned out for a concert. It was a free pop concert
that was being videotaped for their national television, with some of the young rock singers,
rock musicians out for the day, and so these young blondes, notice all the blonde hair
here. Well these young folks are out having a great
time for the afternoon at Skansen. There's a whole wide variety of kinds of entertainment
that you might run into while you're at the park, and of course they publish a schedule
as well. You could check online or check when you enter the park, get the handout of the
day's activities and find out if there's any special events like this one happening. It's
a nice chance to mingle with some locals [singer], do a little bit of relaxing and in this case
listen to some pop music. Very casual atmosphere here among the Swedes,
casual dress, casual fashions, friendly people, and fortunately most Swedes speak some English,
especially the younger ones, so we can communicate. On your third and final day in Stockholm you
will want to see some of the modern downtown in the morning, visit the fine art museum,
eat in a stylish café, and then walk along the main shopping street back to the Gamla
Stan in the afternoon and stay there through the evening.
Start at the center of Stockholm's modern downtown, it's a vast traffic circle called
Sergels Torg. It's a modern post-war design with interesting streets and squares around
it. Have a brief look as you walk past heading for the nicest shopping block of Hamngatan,
and that's where you began the two are at the Information Office a couple of days ago.
If you want to peek inside NK department store, go ahead. It's a large fancy store with a
café. Across the street is the huge Gallerian shopping
mall, covering two city blocks. This Gallerian shopping mall is right in the heart of town
next to Kungstragarden. You cannot miss it – and it's huge. It's like a self-contained
city, and of course they have places to eat and drink, they've got all kinds of clothing
stores, children's toy stores, sporting goods, you name it. This is the biggest shopping
mall in the heart of downtown. And it's a lot of fun to walk through but we would rather
be out on the streets. Now we are going to loop around here and there
for about 15 blocks walking, starting out with a stroll through the pretty park called
the Kungstragarden, the outdoor living room of the city. Here you will find locals relaxing,
kids playing, fountains gushing, statues standing and flowers blooming. This park is really
a perfect urban space - you've got the greenery, there are cafes, there are places for the
kids to play, and beautiful benches, there's the big chess game and just different activities
all in this one central park. Walk back another two blocks to Birger Jarlsgatan
and take a left into a beautiful five-block section of trendy shops and cafes, ending
at the modern mall of Stureplan. Of course Sweden and Scandinavia in general are famous
for their design, modern design, when it comes to furniture and lighting, interior furnishings,
fashion, so it makes a nice treat to step in there and have a look. And then we continue
on to the Stureplan shopping mall. Just out front is a very trendy restaurant specializing
in fish, really popular at night. This whole Stureplan neighborhood is very much the nightspot,
but in our case we're will here during the day and it's also quite lively. Stepping into
this wonderful modern shopping mall. The outside of the buildings look so old, like 19th century,
and you go inside and everything has been renovated and rebuilt – there's a beautiful
atrium and chocolate shop, bakeries, and clothing stores. Some of these buildings look like
they used to be exterior walls and they have been converted to be part of this new interior
shopping mall . One of our favorites is this kitchen gadget shop Cordon Bleu, and inside
there's a wide variety of goodies, in particular these oil pour spouts for your olive oil,
really great control when you're pouring oil through these particular French spouts, so
look for those when you're traveling, it's a special kind of spout.
And then detour a few blocks behind to Ostermalmstorg if you would like to grab some take-out, or
just look at the lively Sluhallen food market. You can buy some food here, eat it at some
of the café counters inside if you like, or you can buy food to go and walk out to
the adjacent city park, sit on the benches and have yourself an inexpensive picnic. And
then double back to Stureplan for another look at this recently renovated intersection
that is one of the most popular centers of town, day and night.
Well continue a few blocks along another busy shopping street, the Kungsgatan, where you
just might find that Swedish crystal vase you've been craving. Turn left into the busy
outdoor market of Hotorget, where you will be immersed in flowers and veggies, with noisy
hawkers enticing you to buy. Rather than returning to Sergels Torg where
we began, walk a block over to the busy pedestrian shopping lane of Drottninggatan.
This is truly one of the world's great streets! It's always filled with locals - it's a perfect
spot for a stroll and people-watching. And make your way south for ten blocks of retail
heaven. As it leads you back to Gamla Stan, the street gets narrower and then becomes
the Vasterlanggatan, that's the Old Town's main pedestrian street that you were on already
in your first day. All together this route is about one mile long, offering a happy experience
you must not miss - a long pedestrian street connecting the modern downtown with the heart
of the Old Town. Just before arriving in Gamla Stan, you will
pass over a canal and through a couple of triumphal arches at the back of the Parliament,
where you can take a brief detour if you want another glimpse back into the past. The Museum
of Medieval Times, underneath the Parliament, recreates the atmosphere of old Stockholm
including a section of the city wall in its original location and many artifacts from
the Viking days. This Medieval Museum was constructed rather recently. They were going
to build a parking lot and when they were digging they found the ruins of that original
wall, and so they decided to create a museum on the spot which illustrates life back in
the Middle Ages, back in the 11th century up through the 15th century. This is how people
lived in the old days in Stockholm, and you walk through this cavernous vault to get there.
It is great to be back in Gamla Stan, the best part of Stockholm. Things to buy here
include the famous Swedish crystal and related glassware, wooden toys, silverware, handicrafts
and anything that shows Swedish design. Non-shoppers can wander into those little side alleys once
again to explore four centuries of ancient buildings. The more you stroll around the
old and new sections of town, the more you'll appreciate how much variety of architecture
there is to enjoy. Other diversions to squeeze in: If you are interested in fine arts, consider
a visit to the Moderna Museet, opened in 1998 with an excellent collection of 20th century
famous artists. For a more traditional collection, visit the nearby National Museum, which holds
a decent collection of Old Masters and Impressionists. This is a very good museum -- definitely worthwhile
for the art lover. Well it's always a pleasure to visit a fine
art museum when you're traveling, especially when it's the National Museum of the country
such as Sweden. And their collection is quite pleasant and the building is fabulous. The
building itself is worthy of a visit, and of course the gift shop is excellent too – you
have a whole range of art history books and stationery, toys for the kids. And here's
a trick if you want to find out what's in a museum, go to the gift shop and find the
museum book catalog and then just flip through it, and that will give you a quick preview
of what's there, perhaps pick out some important pieces that you don't want to miss and that'll
help you decide if you want even go in the museum and how much time to spend there.
After the museum, enjoy some refreshments in the opulent Grand Hotel, one block over.
You should try their world-famous smorgasbord. You can have it for lunch or dinner! One of
the main specialties here at the Grand Hotel buffet lunch is pickled herring, about a dozen
different kinds, and they have lots of other foods as the waiter tells us. "Chard, different
kinds of herring, eggs and shrimp, all different kinds of salmon, here you put sauce with it,
smoked salmon, other salmon, take one of those three there, mustard or onion, fried chicken
with mustard sauce, veal and it's sauce with onions, and behind you here you'll find the
cheese and desserts, non-fattening...hah hah. Ah, this meal was really one of the highlights
of our entire Scandinavian tour, just fantastic. Of course it's a little pricey but you can
take your time, you can stay here for at least two hours, maybe three, and just enjoy some
conversation and fabulous food. Even if you don't want to pay the price, sit
in the hotel's lobby and rest for a while amidst the plush setting. Another nearby restaurant
is the very famous Operakallaren in the Opera House. And just another block beyond the opera
house is yet another museum. This museum of Mediterranean antiquities has a wide range.
Ancient Greek and Roman, you've got Egyptian in the basement in a beautiful small building.
It's very easy to see the collection in even a half an hour. Canopic jars from ancient
Egyp, t and hieroglyphic slabs with the original paint still visible after all these thousands
of years. They have got a couple of spectacular mummies down in the basement, so be sure to
get downstairs if you make it to this small museum, and it's really worthwhile, a really
excellent collection of history on display. There so many museums in Stockholm it's really
hard to keep up with them all. And if you take a short bus ride just outside
of town you'll reach two more museums. There is the Ethnographic Museum which might sound
a little dry, but it's the history of humanity. You have a wide range of different cultures
represented here. There's the North American cultures with the Indians of the Plains and
the Pueblo. They've got a full mockup of some villages,, and teepees and outfits, and clothing
of the American Indians, and some of their fishhooks, and wood carvings, and totem poles,
and tribal ceremonial masks, as well as a significant Asian collection. We have a variety
of statues of the Buddha on display here, along with more clothing and photographic
displays, richly illustrated to give you a feeling for some of these ancient cultures.
Just next to it is the Technical Museum, which may or may not be your cup of tea, but you
can at least pop in the lobby and have a quick look.. They've got old airplanes hanging from
the ceiling and all manner of machines and when you're done just step right outside,
the public bus will come and sweep you away and take you right back downtown. It's an
easy ride. And there is the Royal Palace, and in the
basement is yet one more museum, it's the old stables, and inside we've got a variety
of costumes and we've also got some of these old carriages with a lot of Baroque decor
as well as some fancy armor from the old, old days right in the basement of the Royal
Palace.