Stockholm: vikings, Birka, Vasa, Skansen and Pippi!

First step in our tour, Stockholm, we did spend 4 full days in the city and here is what we did:

• Day 0: late arrival at our appartment in Gamla Stan
• Day 1 (rainy): viking museum and Vasa museum
• Day 2: Skansen
• Day 3: boat trip to Birka
• Day 4: street wandering & Junibacken
• Last day: taxi to car rental and road to the North

Viking museum

We started the day visiting the Viking Museum (GMaps). It is a small museum as are all vikings-related museums we visited in our tour. One cannot actually expect anything more because it appears that there are not much pieces left of that time. Many stories were reported through celtic litterature a few hundred years later. If you want to learn more about the actual knowledgde of this period, buy a recent well documented book.

Although it is small, it features a very nice timeline of the viking age. There is plenty of stuff for children to play with. Our girls liked this museum. You will end the visit with a train tour and approx 15 minutes. There is some violent tension in the air (sound and lights) but it was OK for our 4 years old daughter.

We should have planned a guided family tour.

Before you leave, take a look at the shop. We noticed a very nice step by step guide to braided hairstyles book but did not buy it because of luggage weight expectations for the return flight. We still have to order it on the Danish website.

We had lunch at Glöd (GMaps-Tripadvisor). Meatballs were not the best. I suppose because of poor quality meat.

Vasa museum

We spent the afternoon at the Vasa Museum (GMaps). The boat itself is impressive. With children, take a look at a small kids-dedicated cartoon displayed at -1 floor. The story itself is funny. Grumpy is still happy imagining the King's face when the ship sank. Actually, I am not sure he was there to see it. The ship is now a flagship for Stockholm.

For those with older children interested in sciences, pay attention to all the scientific aspects regarding Vasa's restoration.

Skansen

Take a full day to visit Skansen (GMaps). It as an open air museum about stockholm's suburbs life at the beginning of the 20th century.

Take a look at some glasswork (at the entrance, go left, take automatic stairs and look for it). Visit some antique shops. Talk to some older ladies in their little cabins. Do some oldstyle games. So much fun!

At a moment you will arrive on a big square with lots of food corners. If not hungry, start by doing a train tour of the park. You will see you have seen nothing so far. Then, eat one the following salty treat. It is a pancake filled with beek slices, cheese, potatoes, some herbs. It was delicious.

You will likely spend the afternoon walking around the park and its animals.

There are a Baltic Sea Science center and an aquarium that were closed by the time we arrived.

Skansen is definetely a very nice museum/park to visit.

After an exhausting day, we grabbed some food from a takeaway and thought about the day after.

Boat trip to Birka

Stockholm is made of islands, boats are everywhere. The most difficult part is to choose a destination. Not too far away so that you do not stay for 8 hours on a a boat and to some distination where there is some nice activity to do. We decided to visit Birka (Tickets), a middle age pagan-viking city that resisted Christianity.

The boat ride is 2 hours forth and 2 hours back. The start is a little bit north-west of Gamla stan, before the city hall. On the river, you will see some nice houses. Upon arrival, go straight to attend very interesting guided tour.

Have lunch at the local restaurant. The place is nice and the food delicious. Do not miss it.

Then take your time to visit the old village and its scenic harbour.

It was an unplanned beautiful day.

Junibacken

Because of covid, access to Junibacken (GMaps) has to be scheduled and you are given a fixed timeframe. We went for 2pm and took the morning to walk on the commercial streets and finally had lunch at Bap Burgers (see below).

Junibacken is a nice place for children to play, grab things, climb on everything. Our girls loved it.

However it is quite expensive. On a normal day (without covid), the place must be overcrowded. You have to pay additional fees for shows. There is not a single Pippi children could meet.

About the story train, it is very beautiful but damn, the story is so sad. Are the books that sad? We have not read anything about it; it is not in our culture so apologies to all nostalgic mums...

Sleeping

We slept close to the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan (GMaps-AirBnb). We could spend the late afternoon hours choosing a diner place and walking in this beautiful area.

The apartment itself was well equiped, beds were big and comfy. However the shower room was tiny and smelled badly. Grumpy had to argue with the owner. Finally someone came to clean a disgusting syphon he had to disassembly himself (Grumpy). Grumpy also noticed right before we left a half-eaten cookin underneath a bed. We do not eat cookies...

You have too consider alternative given location and price.

We walked to all our attraction mainly on the opposite island. Plan for 30-60 minutes walks. Some days we walked 15 kms.

Eating

We did not regret staying in Gamla Stan because it is the place where you can find the most restaurants of any kind. Restaurants density in other blocks is lower.

Having said that, we did one of the best burgers ever (lifetime) at Bap burgers (GMaps-Tripadvisor). Lunch happy hour is a good deal.

There is a bar restaurant with vikings menu in Gamla Stan, we should have tried it ...maybe on a trip with older kids or with friends...

Afterthoughts

Although Cristel liked the city a lot, Grumpy is not willing to visit it again.