Sweden: Day eight

It’s been a while since I wrote about our trip, but the photojournal is not yet over! Day eight found us back on the train to Stockholm, where we took some photos of Klarakyrkan, which is just a few blocks from the central train station. We then hopped back on the train and headed to Östermalmstorg, where we met the daughter of our friend Johan. Stefanie had met my parents a few years back on their last visit to Sweden, and she was eager for the chance to meet us and show us some of her favorite Stockholm sights.

We began with a walk through Salu Hall, a giant indoor market at which she used to work, before she took us to lunch at a nearby outdoor cafe. Then it was back on the train and over to Skansen. Earlier in the morning, we had bought Stockholm cards, good for free admission to all museums and on most forms of transportation for 48 hours, so it didn’t cost us anything to get in.


Skansen, on the island Djurgården, is a large outdoor museum that has a zoo, aquarium, shops, and a replica of a 19th-century town, complete with actors in traditional dress performing jobs of the time. We walked through the zoo, where we saw lemurs, apes, bears, moose, and seals. Before leaving Skansen, we stopped at a cafe for coffee and a sweet treat.

Lemuren (the lemur)

A mama moose

Skansen architecture (above and below)

The homes of foreign diplomats

A crowded bus brought us back to Salu Hall, where Stefanie treated us to a variety of herring and what we would later learn was one of the most delicious shrimp salads ever made. After another train and another bus, we were at Stefanie’s home, where her father, Johan, greeted us with open arms. His younger daughter, Denise, welcomed us warmly and introduced us to her friends Tina, Elin, and Isabelle.

Johan gave us a tour of his home, which was built four years prior (my parents saw it in its early stages of construction), and then poured us each a glass of wine to sip as we sampled the herring and shrimp salad. Johan grilled as we sat on the deck and got to know his family and their friends.

As we ate dessert, Johan's older son, Henry, came home. He was kind enough to drive us back to our apartment, as we were too far away for a quick train ride home.

Stefanie, Henry, A-M, David, Denise, and Johan

It was so nice to spend time with these friends, and we look forward to when they come to Chicago again (or for the first time, Stefanie!).