Going in Circles and a Smorgastarta Experience

Wednesday morning, we explored the local shops and met a lovely clothing designer who works with linen in a knit form. She had some beautiful knit linen shawls and only recently opened her store. We thoroughly enjoyed learning about linen from her and seeing genuine enthusiasm for her craft.

We happened upon the militia on parade with the horses for the changing of the guard outside the Palace. Thursday is Ascension Day which is a national holiday and all government offices are closed.

Jon and Lucas met up with us at the Historica, the History Museum of Sweden. The museum was laid out in a challenging way to tour. Not surprisingly, we got lost going in and coming out, and it was tricky to get around, especially with a stroller, but we loved the ingenuity in how they displayed the history.

With everyone in our group's food intolerances we haven't experimented too much with local food but yesterday we got adventurous and tried the food from Cafe Schweitzer which we highly recommend. I had a delicious Swedish Smorgastarta Sandwich Cake which is an open-faced smoked salmon style of sandwich with apple strudel for dessert. They cook with lots of cardamom here which doesn't work for me so it was a treat to find a dessert without it. We haven't been for fika yet which is not really translatable into English but it basically means a Swedish coffee break with cake where you go for coffee and socialize. It is said that taking fika refreshes the brain and replenishes the body. It's a very important part of Swedish culture and is respected by most employers. Most of our meals have been in our suite with foods we've sourced from the grocery store and a favourite bakery.

The Stockholm Marathon is here on Saturday and we've already started seeing athletes training in the area and staying in our hotel. There's also a big Diamond League Track and Field Athletics Meet on at the Olympic Stadium but we don't think we can fit that into our schedule this time.

Thursday we were in charge of Lucas for the day so we organized a hike to the Uggleparken` which translates into the Owl Playground. We kind of got off course but eventually found our way there and back. The route we chose was along the waterfront and there was park after park, the whole way there. The owl playground was on school grounds where they actually had three different playgrounds, complete with a boarded playing field for hockey and other ball sports. It's such an active lifestyle here. Young men were setting up for a bubble wrap sport but we missed the actual competition as they were finished playing when we came back.

The use of space in Stockholm is interesting. Underneath one of the bridges, the concrete area was set up as a skateboard park and basketball type of courts. Everyone takes to the parks on holidays and today was a sunny day so parents just parked their lawn chairs and watched their kids at play. A lot of the outdoor playgrounds in Sweden have a rubberized surface which is so nice for kids, especially the little ones prone to tumbles. The temperature dropped about 8 degrees this afternoon and the wind picked up, with some rain, so we changed our dinner plans to eat in the hotel rather than venture out.