Our Scandinavia Adventure: Day Six (5 August)

After an excellent sleep and a breakfast to match (you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see photos of breakfast, since I forgot the camera this morning--hard to believe, I know, with the number of photos I take, but it happens), we were ready for another full day in Stockholm. Good thing we got our beauty sleep or we might have thought we were imagining things when we came across this sight:

We started off the day at the Museum of Modern Art, a lovely space (photos aren’t allowed inside, alas) where Alexander Calder’s The Four Elements greets visitors as they enter the museum.
We spent quite a bit of time in the museum and the adjoining Architecture Museum, before heading back down the hill, where a sculpture garden
was filled with strange sights that reminded me of the sculptures in Paris’s Pompidou fountain. It was a scenic walk to the National Gallery,
where we browsed through the collection before returning to the hot sunshine. Since our Stockholm Cards included two different canalboat tours, and we were very close to one of the departure points, we decided take a fifty-minute Royal Canal Tour.
On our way to join the queue at the dock, I noticed this very practical use of space, in the form of unsightly machinery concealed under a waterside bench:
The tour was very nice and allowed us to get some perspective of the city from the water.


With so much water, waterside cafés are a common sight in Stockholm!




Our tour informed us that one of the richest men in Sweden lives in this house, which is mostly hidden from view.
We glimpsed some of Skansen from the water; Skansen is a kind of concentrated historical Sweden, with 150 buildings relocated at the end of the nineteenth century from all across the country to show how Swedes of the past lived. (The park itself is even organised like a mini-Sweden, with buildings from the north and south of Sweden in the north and south of the park, respectively.) Actually quite well-done and surprisingly untacky, we went there for a quick visit later during our trip.
The giraffe cranes (not part of Skansen!) were a surprise—and this photo doesn’t really do a good job of showing that there was a herd of giraffes at work here.
Heading back toward the dock, we got a good view of the bridge that connects the National Gallery to the Museum of Modern Art. It’s a nice view, but an even nicer walk between the two buildings.
The Grand Hotel’s flags are said to indicate the nationalities of the guests currently staying there, and we noticed the flags were removed at night and new ones went up the following day, so it seems that they do maintain an accurate display, but what happens when more nationalities than flagpoles call the hotel home?
We spent the rest of the day wandering around Södermalm, and the more we saw, the more our fondness for the neighbourhood grew. Pretty parks and dramatic fountains,


along with picturesque streets, plenty of hills, and striking views




made for a peaceful walk. When we got to this street,
we noticed that many people were walking up the hill, carrying bags of picnic supplies, and we guessed that meant that they had a particularly nice park as their destination, so we followed them up this craggy path
and were exceedingly glad we did, as the views were spectacular!

Tonight wasn’t a picnic night for us though, so we descended from the crowded viewpoint and got a nice glimpse of Södermalm's double-towered church
on our way toward our dinner destination.
Pelikan would normally be out of our price range, but Bob’s parents recently gave us an anniversary present of some money that they said they wanted us to use for a nice dinner, and although we were going to have that treat in London, we decided to save it for this trip, when we knew that Scandinavian food costs would be a bit scary. So, Bruce and Dianne, the rest of today’s photos are courtesy of your gift—thank you!! Pelikan reminded us of Polidor, a Paris restaurant that we also enjoyed; both places are steeping in history, in terms of their lovely interiors and their traditional menus. All during this trip, we were reminded of how seriously Scandinavians take their bread, which was consistently textured and flavourful, no matter where we had it. Even the crispbread seemed nuttier and tastier than usual!
We shared a starter of two types of salmon, along with some lightly vinegared cucumber, potatoes, and a creamy dill sauce. (I love dill, and it was nice to be in a part of the world where it’s used so much and so well.)
Bob had a delicious variety of filled pasta and salad for his main course
and I went for the Swedish staple of meatballs, lingonberries, and potatoes:
And for those of you out there like me, who have found themselves starving after a particularly long time at Ikea and have had the bargain Swedish meatballs platter to refuel with enough energy to face the long checkout lines, Pelikan’s meatballs are quite a bit nicer. As an added bonus for Bob, they were also far too filling for me to tackle the entire plate, so once Bob finished his dinner, he got to finish mine too! We were tempted by coffee and dessert, but by the time we finished our main courses, it was too late for coffee and we were too full for dessert, so we just sat for a while, enjoying the ambiance of the beautiful room, which had been full with chatter and food anticipation when we arrived

and was practically empty with quiet satisfaction by the time we left.