Baltic Cruise Day 2: Stockholm

We slept in today.  At least, I did.  But we still made it downstairs for the complementary breakfast, which was excellent.  All but the herring.  I'm not going to say much about it, but I could not use my knife on other foods after using it on the herring. After breakfast, we searched for, and finally found, the bus stop for the tour line we took yesterday, and this time I stayed awake the whole time.  The city was established in the 1200's.  The Swedes are proud to say that their country has been at peace for over 200 years.  Not bad. Next, we boarded a tour boat, which was much more enjoyable than the bus, and quicker from place to place.  The boat ride was a "hop on, hop off" tour just like the bus was, so we disembarked on Djurgården, an island that was once the king's private hunting ground.  (Don't you like how I put in the little circle over the "å"?  iPads are amazing!)  We entered Skansen, a 75-acre outdoor museum that was established in 1891 to showcase Sweden's history.  It is a fabulous place, especially for those with small children.  There are quite a number of refurbished buildings that have been moved from other places in Sweden, including a church, several farmhouses of different centuries and levels of wealth, a small zoo with animals native to Sweden, and some nice restaurants.  We had a wonderful time, especially since each structure has several docents who were extremely knowledgeable about their locations.  They were all dressed in period clothing, as well, and as everywhere else, they spoke flawless English. We had lunch in one of the restaurants, and let's just say they do a better job with history than with food. After several hours in Skansen, we went to Junibacken, also on Djurgården.  It is a children's museum Denise wanted to visit because of its association with Astrid Lindgren, the author of the Pippi Longstocking books.  Her work is celebrated through much of the museum and bookstore.  The museum was opened by the Swedish royal family in 1996.  We got in for free because we were too late for the Story Train, which is the main attraction.  It was all very cute, and made us wish for the presence of grandkids. From the museum, we walked back to our hotel.  I think we must have walked 8 or 10 miles today.  At least, that's what my feet told me.  At that point, it was time for dinner, to we trudged back to Gamla Stan, the old town (that's the meaning of its name), and found a nice restaurant where Denise had a lovely filet of beef, and I had salmon.  Denise's meal had scalloped potatoes that would make you cry, they were so good.  Our meal made up for the not-so-good lunch. We returned to our room with the intention of watching some of the Olympics.  However, Denise is sacked already, and I'm about to be.  Tomorrow, we intend to see the Vasa Museum.  It's all about a ship that was sunk in 1628 on its maiden voyage, and was salvaged in 1961, then restored to its original glory.  It was a royal ship, and 95% of the current ship is original.  Apparently, there is something about the waters in the Baltic that keep wood from rotting.  Now, one might question the wisdom of touring a shipwreck the day before boarding a cruise ship, but we just won't go there.... Good night.