Well, we are back in the snow! Waking up and looking out the window we were greeted with a snowy vista. We are staying on a street that is opposite a hill with an adventure park (climbing) and ski lift too! Quite the novelty given we are also well and truly still in the main part of the city.
After some exciting news from mum and Graeme about having secured a place to move to in Ainslie via whatsapp (great technology that), and a yummy self catered brekky, we made a plan to head into Stockholm to see one of the many museums in the city. A google map plan of a ferry and a short walk was hatched and we set off on foot for a ferry towards the Djurgarden area.
We just missed a ferry so had a very chilly 40 minute wait at the ferry station...my clothing choice had assumed that there would be more movement than this early stop required! Oh well, swallow some concrete pills. On boarding the ferry, our next rookie error of realising that this route was not part of the public transport network, so an additional ticket was required. All learning!
On arrival at the ferry stop we walked along the waterfront in light snow towards the museums. From some positive reviews we selected a Viking museum. A welcomly warm foyer greeted us, along with a friendly Swede in Viking costume who directed us towards the exhibits. It was a great collection of artefacts and as we had seen at earlier historical records of this time, there is much better information now to dispel the nationalistic perceptions of Vikings as violent raiders, rapists and pillagers dominated by a male patriarchy replete with horned helmets etc. The picture of the Viking era in a more measured way shows a people who travelled extensively with the view to finding wealth and farming lands. The stories of their movements to the East even earlier than the raid at Lindisfarne c795 (typically considered the beginning of the marauding Viking Age) has been supported by recent archaelogical evidence. Indeed, the Viking legend came about as Denmark, Norway and Sweden were in a quest to find a footing in 19th century Europe that was dominated by other countries and their geographical quests for supremacy. So, the image of a past culture from here with violent, fearsome warriors fed their need for identity. It was also attributed to the work of Wagner with his Operas (the ring sagas) where he identified characters both with music and costume (Ride of the Valkyrie) and the horned helmet was born!
We also really enjoyed hearing about Viking history from a local who also had Icelandic heritage (see photo). He was 2.09m tall, some 38cm taller than the average Viking warrior, who were taller on average than the typical Brit, but the difference between then was about the same as it is today. The museum concluded with a ride on journey through Harald's eyes as he sought fortune in the East. We also learned that the bluetooth symbol on phones is a rune combo of H and B (common practice in Viking runes) in reference to Harald Bluetooth. The gift shop was patronised as was the lovely cafe where coffee, delicious cheese/crackers/honey plus a choccy ball gleefully consumed.
Outside into the snow and an explore of a nearby graveyard with very slippery ground for some eerie photos in the wintry light before heading back to the ferry (public transport this time) and back to the accom, via shops for dinner supplies. We decided to sample some of the local food, meatballs, along with pasta(spinach and ricotta), cherry tomatoes and spinach...washed down with a local IPA (Tim). Some tasty choc for dessert and delight at finding we could cast Netflix to the telly!
Tomorrow, heading out to see the subway station art that Stockholm is famous for, but with quite a bit of snow forecast we'll see how we get on. Temperature...minus 2.