Today we finally settled into a more normal rhythm with Stockholm. We slept regular hours and actually got up a bit later than expected. We always look forward to breakfast at our hotel, which is included with our room, and has such a variety of delicious foods that we certainly don’t start our days off hungry.  After eating, we decided to head out first to the ABBA Museum. We both enjoy their music but haven’t really known a lot of details about the group. We figured that Stockholm was a good place to make that learning happen. We have been walking everywhere we go and haven’t used public transportation even though they have a good Metro system here. We just enjoy walking! The route to the museum was similar to the one we took to the Vasa Museum yesterday – just follow along the harbor and take a bridge over to another one of the islands that make up the city. Go past the Vasa Museum and in about half a mile you’re there. One of the nice things about staying in one place for a while is that you start to feel like you really know what you’re doing. The museum isn’t big but they’ve made it so interactive that you can spend a good while seeing it all. There are recording booths to try out, simulated concert appearances where you appear to be on stage with the group (and actually have a microphone that works!), mixing machines to fine tune the sounds you want recorded, electronic games to display your knowledge of ABBA, and so forth. Of course, we didn’t partake in any of the ones that could lead to major embarrassment, despite Ryan trying to get Clint to go up on stage and sing and dance! All in all, it was good fun. For our afternoon destination we chose to go to Stockholm’s open market, known as Östermalm Saluhall, which is in a tony neighborhood we hadn’t walked through before. The market has been in operation since the 1880s and looked quite good when we checked it out on the internet. Unfortunately, it (and much of the rest of Stockholm it seems) is being renovated so you could only visit it in a smaller temporary building they’ve put up during reconstruction – not nearly as impressive as the original brick building whose exterior we could see.  Still, we enjoyed exploring a new part of the city and the buildings and parks there were quite gorgeous.

There is a restaurant and even a hotel that make up the ABBA Museum. We guess you have to be a hard core fan to do all three!

Now we know that the members of ABBA are, in order: Björn, Agnetha, Anni-Frid, and Benny. Can you see how the group got it’s name? Too much information for some of you?

Still not very hungry at lunch time, after our big hotel breakfast, we stopped at a pretty waterside cafe for a small bite. The weather has been stunning every day.

Even though the open market is in temporary digs, their food selections were varied and amazing. With the growing season not having been underway for very long here in Sweden, the fresh fruits and vegetables are imported from countries along the Mediterranean mostly.

Seafood is plentiful in the waters of Scandinavia and we were surprised at how many varieties they had for sale.

For you meat lovers out there… how about some moose patties?

We found a pretty park in the Östermalm neighborhood to sit and people watch… how about the guy in the far left with the high water pants? (BTW, we’d have to say that, as a whole, Swedish men are quite good looking!)

Oh yeah, I got distracted there for a moment… but the main reason for sitting a spell in this park was to have a fika! (see earlier posts if you don’t know what I’m talking about)

Continuing with our food theme for the day… after having a rest back in our hotel room, we headed out for dinner. This restaurant is highly rated and known for its traditional Swedish cuisine. It’s even had a Michelin star in the past. It doesn’t hurt that it’s only a block from our hotel either.

Here we are, ending our day with some Swedish meatballs, potato puree (mashed potatoes to us Yanks and not in the photo), pickled cucumbers, and lingon berries (used like cranberries would be in a Thanksgiving dinner). These were no Ikea meatballs…so much better! We decided we may have to come here tomorrow night and try some Swedish seafood dishes… it was THAT good!