Stockholm 2.0: The Swedening

It continues to be such a joy to have been here long enough to actually have traditions - or make traditions, really. One of the traditions we've decided to make is taking the night ferry to Stockholm during week 8 (ski vacation - the kids have the week off school). Jeremy unfortunately did not have the week off, so I took the three kids to Stockholm by myself.

When you take the night ferry from Turku, you arrive in Stockholm at 6.30 in the morning. The ferry back to Turku doesn't leave until 20.00 the same day. It's February; it's cold; you have three kids, a stroller, and 13.5 hours in the city. Ready, set, go!

Since most activities are only open from 10.00-17.00, you can really only choose one or two major things to do. Last year, it was Junibacken and the Army Museum. This year, we went for Vasa Museum and a more extended visit to Rum för Barn than we got last year. A final treat (and strategic coup, since it filled the post-17.00 hours) was catching the Lego Batman movie at a gorgeous theater downtown. Sterling is not old enough to see that movie in Finland, but Sweden said it was fine as long as I was there with him.

Vasa Museum. I said last year that every museum is my new favorite museum, and the Vasa is no exception. Even if it didn't have any interpretive exhibits, it would be worth the admission price alone just to see the beautifully preserved 17th-century ship. (Bonus: there, um, actually isn't an admission price for kids - they're allowed in for free!) I had thought we'd spend a token hour or two here before the kids begged to go to Junibacken next door; we ended up spending most of the day there. This museum is so well done!

Rum för Barn. A treasure, if you can hit its opening hours and manage to slip in before it fills up. It was full when we arrived, but we stuck it out in the take-a-number queue and were admitted after 20 minutes or so. It was worth it. I still don't know quite how to describe this place - adventure library it is! Plus a little bit Children's Museum, maybe?

We walked 12.5km (7.7 miles). It was -6C outside. By the end of the day, we were already talking about how much fun we had, even though our feet felt like they were about to fall off. We're already looking forward to next year!