Stockholm, Sweden 3
Our hotel begins serving breakfast at 6:30 am on weekdays. That fit us who wake up early. The breakfast room was the cellar of the renovated 18th century manor house hotel. I thought it would be only us there on that early time, but surprisingly a few other guests joined us. I usually had lemony green tea, a couple of slices of warm fluffy loaf, jam, scrambled egg, some fresh veggie, and yogurt with strawberry compote and walnuts. Simple but tasty and satisfying.
We headed toward the mainland via the Old Town as usual but we chose some different streets to see something new.
The large Neoclassical style building was the Parliament House that dominates the islet of Helgeandsholmen, which floats between the island of Stadsholmen and the mainland. We must have seen the building as well as the Royal Palace at least once a day during the trip.
Our destination of the day was the island of Djurgården! Located east of the city, we walked for about hour from our hotel to the island. It was a little far but walkable. I enjoyed the morning exercise under the beautiful sky.
I found a different version of concrete lions!
Eventually we arrived at the island of Djurgården.
First we visited the Vasa Museum on the island. The museum houses the world's only preserved 17th century warship, Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor in 1628 and was salvaged 333 years later in 1961. As soon as we enter the museum, the huge ship loomed before us!
Amazingly, more than 98 percent of the vessel is original. There was also a model next to the original that shows what the Vasa once looked like with sails.
Painted in bright colors and with over 700 sculptures and decorations, Vasa wasn't just a warship but also an advertisement for Sweden and King Gustav II Adolf to make the rest of Europe admire and also intimidated. Vasa didn't have time to play its roles in the 17th century according to its fate, but the ship looks magnificent today in the 21st century even without colorful paintings and at least succeed to make me impressed.
Our next stop on the island was Skansen, the world's oldest open-air museum, founded in 1891. It's like Sweden in miniature, where you can find "historical buildings and environments from all over Sweden, traditional crafts and folk culture, as well as Nordic wildlife and exotic animals."
Over 150 houses and buildings are set in Skansen. The oldest dates from the early 14th century, while the most modern is from the 1950s. First we walked through the City Quarters, where some shops and craft shops gather together.
There was an example of a bakery from the 1870s. Pastries and cookies were available alongside with coffee and tea. We bought two cardamon buns and hot tea (did J had coffee instead?) and had a break at a picnic table outside.
We also popped into a pottery workshop from the mid 20th century, a glass studio from the 1930s, and the Engineering workshop based on a factory that was founded in 1889.
You can find more cute houses outside of the City Quarters.
The Älvros Farmstead shows an early 19th century farm from Härjedalen in northern Sweden, with buildings taken from various places in the region. The storehouse, located back of the dwelling house, dates back to 1470, which was the oldest building and is very well-preserved.
The red wooden building was Seglora Church, built in Västergötland in 1730. It was abandoned when a new stone church was erected in 1903, but luckily found Skansen as a new place to stay.
By the way, the sky was getting darker and darker around that time...
We walked around the Zoo area. Many animals were resting or sleeping. Some were hiding somewhere or simply weren't there. We saw a relaxing moose, for example.
A sleeping(?) seal...
Red squirrels were friendly. I don't think they belong to the Skansen zoo, though.
A group of snuggling lynxes didn't care us.
The most active animals we saw were wolverines. At least two of three were moving around. Probably they were the first wolverine I have ever seen.
Brown bears were napping or being lazy.
A forest reindeer was munching something. Maybe I haven't seen a reindeer in person before.
We were going to explore natural parks on the island. However, it looked like it was about to rain at that time and we didn't have any restaurant we would like to try on the island. We decided to go back to the mainland and have a lunch at the Östermalms Food Hall that we both were interested in visiting.
Founded in 1888 and renovated recently, the Östermalms Food Hall is a beautiful and upscale gourmet market. The hall was very busy around lunch time.
It looked like a particular fishmonger occupied at least one third of the hall. Lisa Elmqvist is a renowned fish and seafood shop in the city. The Elmqvist family has been in the hall since 1926, offering a daily-fresh selection of the highest quality and being trusted as a purveyor to His Majesty the King.
The fishmonger also runs a restaurant in the hall. It looked crowded but we were seated at the counter immediately.
I chose steamed halibut with Kalix bleak roe (Kalixlöjrom), butter fried chanterelles, mixuedbeans, croquette flavored with spiced cheese and a crown dill Beurre Blanc. Superb!
Boiled potatoes were for both of us.
J had steamed back of cod with egg, shrimps, horseradish and Beurre Noisette. He was surprised at a mountain of horseradish, but I believe he liked his dish overall.
Princess Cake or Prinsesstårta at a pastry shop in the hall caught my eye. It's a classic Scandinavian torte with layers of sponge cake, raspberry jam, vanilla custard, and whipped cream, all covered with a thin sheet of green marzipan. That sounds like my dream cake and I knew I wouldn't go back home without eating Princess Cake. The traditional shape is a dome while a large round or a long rectangle was apparently common in Stockholm. Those at the hall looked well-made but there wasn't a space to sit down and eat there. We moved on to a patisserie that is somewhat known for serving the best cakes in town.
Vete-Katten was founded by Ester Nordhammar, a visionary Swedish female entrepreneur in Stockholm in the 1920s. The legendary pastry shop and cafe is located in several places in the city; we visited one on Kungsgatan 55, which was their original location at the heart of the city center.
Their various baked goods and fresh cakes distracted me a bit but I stuck to my primary target: Princess Cake. The slice was huge and very rich in cream, but wan't too sweet or too heavy actually. The raspberry jam layer, which was more like fresh raspberries, brought out the overall flavor, which was otherwise dominated by cream. I liked the cake; meanwhile I wondered whether this was really the best I could find in the city...
J ordered a cookie called Hallongrotta, which means "raspberry cave" in Swedish. Hallongrotta is the origin of a thumbprint cookie in the States. J kindly gave me a half of the cookie. It had a lovely buttery shortbread texture and tasted wonderful. By the way, the Swedish have a tradition to have a coffee break to recharge as well as connect with others several times a day, which is called "Fika." It typically involves coffee and sweet treats. I believe that's why there are so many bakeries and cafes in Stockholm. That was convenient for me!
To be continued...
