Stockholm - Day 5
Our last day in Stockholm, how sad.
We have a slightly better crack at the hotel breakfast this morning but still don't dare try the coffee. We check out and get a short Uber back to Tomas and Sarah's where we are staying for the last night due to a booking administration error (our fault) that we are pretty happy about, to be honest.
We drop our bags and get another Uber across town to the Swedish History Museum. It would be good to try and learn a bit more about this beautiful place before we move on. Of course it doesn't open till 10am. Late starters in Stockholm, we've noticed. Hard to find a café open before 8am. I guess us Aussies are the outliers here though.
We head to a nearby café for a good coffee before then tackling the museum. The main exhibition is laid out very sensibly, making us follow the track from the year 1,000 to 2,000. We see some overlap with the history of Denmark documentary series we watched recently, noting Margaret I making an appearance.
We now need to hustle across to where the ferry leaves to meet the rest of the gang for our trip to Fjäderholmen, a nearby island which is good for day trips. Its only about a 25 minute trip, giving us some good sights as we go, including giving us a better perspective of how big Djurgården is.
We step off the ferry to a set of small shops and restaurants before wandering away through the island. There are some old fishing sheds with some history of the place, including an old boat that used to be used to send the cows out into the water to stop them eating too much of the grass.
We accidently wander into a whiskey aging cellar where private customers store their whiskey for a number of years. The lady there is taking samples to send to customers for them to decide if they want to take it out of the barrels yet.
Its hatching season, apparently. We see many pairs of big birds around the island, one sitting on the eggs, the other standing guard. Some of them have already hatched so we get to see lots of little chickies fumbling their way around after their parents. Very cute.
Time for a picnic. We setup on a table and get stuck in to the lovely spread. Tomas pulls out the Swedish quiz game and we do miserably (except for music and sport, of course).
We find a bar on the edge of the island with many tables and chairs and hammocks setup in the various natural nooks and crannies of the terrain. The sun is shinning, the sky is as blue as I've ever seen. Its the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Add a beer and some backgammon and it doesn't get much better. Some smooth French jazz is playing in the background.
Something we've noticed in Sweden so far is that they like to keep things pretty low-key and a bit classy. For example, this bar on the island here could easily have become THE APEROL SPRITZ ORANGE ISLAND BAR with everything branded in orange, and the bar only selling aperol spritz for $25 a go. But no, there is rarely any major branding or sponsorships for places like this. Its chill and simple and classy. Very refreshing.
We call it a day and get the ferry and bus home. All very easy.
Tomas cooks us up some home made pies, one mushroom (secret recipe) and one cheese. Both sensational. We feel very blessed to have had such generous hosts. It has made for such a special Stockholm experience for us that most people will never get.
