Day 184: Vasa Museum — Junibacken — Last Day in Europe
[Again publishing from Mongolia where the internet is super slow — more pics later.]
Jason and Zia joined us for the breakfast buffet and we plotted our morning.
I peeled off to meet up with Swedish friend Maria at her office nearby by while the dads took the kids to a playground conveniently located near the one wash n fold laundry place Teddy was able to find in town. We wanted to get everything washed before packing for Season 4: Asia.
Maria works for a startup called Swedish Posture, which makes those back harness and posture t-shirts you see advertised on social media. I got to see her WeWork-type office, which was beautiful, and meet her colleagues. Also got to take home a tee and a harness!
Always wanted to try these things and Teddy and I are constantly talking about our posture.
I subway’d to meet up with my crew, and found them at a playground that would be amazing to have at home (for smaller kids) — an entire little village of tiny charming farm houses and shops that kids can walk into, go upstairs, come down on slides, etc. Heaven for a three-year-old.
Our kids loved it too, actually. They got in a few more minutes with Zia, then she and Jason had to make their way to the airport. He is a good friend for making the very short trip over to see us.
We had an hour to kill before the laundry was done so we got a bite to eat at a cafe the laundry lady told us to check out. It was very cool! Once again recommendations from real locals come through. We’ve had our best, most random experiences doing what people in town tell us to try.
We also walked to a nearby shopping center with a small to-do list: Some new packing cubes for further organization of the kids’ bags and some replacement tees for me. Success.
Meanwhile Teddy had gone to grab our three big shopping bags of clean laundry — and reported that the whole thing had cost SEVENTY-FIVE AMERICAN DOLLARS. We almost fainted. This city is heart-stoppingly expensive. By far more so than any place we’ve been.
Once we recovered from the shock we subway’d back to the hotel to drop the bags and set out for some quick tourist stops in the afternoon.
First: The Vasa Museum, home to a gorgeous 17th-century Swedish ship that sank on its maiden voyage. Archeologists pulled it up from the waters in 1961 after 350 years and put 40k pieces of it back together again. 95% of the ship is original.
It’s in perfect condition and takes your breath away when you see it. Much like the mummified Nile boat found near the pyramids.
Willa was being a little bit what we’re now referring as “Womp.”
Complaining about having to do museums. We’re now docking one minute of flight iPad time for every “womp” uttered. The girl is so cheery but can go to a dark negative place in a way that puts fear in her parents about the teenage years…
Next door to Vasa is Junibacken, a kids museum/place dedicated to bringing the beloved stories of Swedish author Astrid Lindgren to life.
The kids had fun riding the story train (a slow-moving train that takes you through 15-minutes of miniatures and dioramas of Lindgren stories with piped in narration (none of them were familiar but it was charming), and playing upstairs in a model of Pippi Longstocking’s house!!
I for one LOVED that part.
We ferry’d home to a night of packing ahead. Tomorrow we leave for Mongolia, and a continent change comes with a big de-cluttering sesh.
So we ordered room service (Swedish meatballs again), put on some Abba and got to work throwing things away and putting other stuff in a send-home pile.
By the end we had four light-again suitcases, and felt ready to wake up and make the journey to….Asia!!!
