We finally made it up to Stockholm for a quick weekend getaway.  We left Almhult on Friday at 10:30am, and after a very enjoyable ride across a decent sized swath of Sweden, we made it to our destination at 6pm.  The navigation program said it would take just over 5 hours, but with kids we made a few additional stops and detours.

Friday night we spent with our host, the most wonderful Ms. Cinderella and her family.  Saturday, they took us out on the town.  It was quite cold, 0 degrees C but we were able to bundle up the kids and make do.  In the morning we walked along a canal and made it onto a ferry-boat for the trip to Skansen.  Skansen used to be the King’s hunting grounds and has now been turned into a historical park/nordic zoo.  As Stockholm/Sweden began to develop in the 1900s, some folks thought that they should try to preserve the traditional homes from around the country.  They took a variety of homes from diverse parts of the nation and shipped them all to this island in Stockholm; they then added a zoo containing nordic wildlife, such as moose, wolves, wolverines, and rabbits.  (The park provided a great opportunity to explain the cycle-of-life as we watched the wolverines and wolves  both eat rabbits.  Particularly fun since there is also a kid tunnel system with lookouts in a bunny enclosure too.)  This is definitely something worth bringing young kids to.  There is a replica 1800 village with artisans plying their trade, a couple nice cafe options, great views of Stockholm, playgrounds, and the nordic zoo described above.

Following Skansen, we walked along the canals of the city, hopped on a bus, and made to the central square that led us to the island of Gamla Stan, or Old Town.  This is the original settlement of Stockholm dating back to the 1300s.  With both boys snug in their snowsuits, they were kind of enough to nap in their strollers allowing us to have a wonderful couple of hours getting lost in the old cobblestone streets that wind every which way across the island.

Following this, we made it to Soderman Island, which is the current hip and trendy “artsy” section of town.  We stumbled across a Halloween Costume Parade at the museum, and managed to finish our tour of the city by walking pass all of the diverse ethnic restaurants that litter Soderman.

We woke early on Sunday, played on a frost covered playground before piling back into our car and making the long journey back.