Wander & Nest

Our Stockholm trip was next up on the packed April-July itinerary. We took the super easy fast train up from Gothenburg. The fast train was so much nicer than the regional train, note for future – book the fast train even if it means a change rather than direct regional with a million stops. Mara watched Moana on repeat which is such an amazing difference than when her attention span was only the length of a YouTube kids song video and I’d have to change something every 3 minutes. We got to spend a whole week in Sweden’s capital, and experienced at least 3 seasons while we were there. We started in Spring with the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

The first few days was the just the 3 of us. We got an airbnb on Södermalm and did a bit of exploring, but mostly we were just doing life in Stockholm. On one of our exploring days we took a metro ferry to Skansen, the world’s largest open-air museum. It has tons of old traditional buildings that are open to explore and interact with… supposedly. We went on a Monday and it was very very quiet, so quiet that 90% of the attractions were closed! Still, Mara enjoyed the weird little carnival rides and the grounds were really pretty. And luckily the non-depressing Nordic zoo delivered, especially the brown bears who were having a great day.

We explored a few more parks and then hunkered down for a day of winter. Of course we forgot the rain cover for Mara’s stroller (wishful thinking that the forecast of sunny weather would hold!), so we improvised!

For the second half of our week we met up with friends from Illinois who were visiting Europe. Wylie and Rachelle did undergrad together and her and her husband, Jay, have been friends to me since I met Wylie in grad school, so we all go way back. Rachelle’s brother and his wife came too and it was great to get to know them a little better! We stayed in a very old (500 years!) apartment in the center of the city on the island of Gamla Stan. It was a cool place albeit a little sketchy with a toddler – 3 floors with ancient and steep stairs! Luckily the only incident was me falling UP the stairs.

We had a great time going on little excursions in Stockholm. I got to meet up with my boss who lives in Stockholm. The first time we met was a few weeks prior when she came down to Gothenburg for lunch! So wild that she lives in Sweden and we are here too.

While I hung out with Liz, Wylie got to visit an axe maker he’s been following in her workshop. Wylie has gotten into wood carving and Sweden apparently is the place to be for this hobby. He finished his carving tool collection with a handmade axe by Julia Kalthoff.

We found more parks and places for Mara to run wild after quack quacks. We attempted a museum visit but that was a bit of a bust because we completely missed the interactive section for kids and didn’t realize there even was one until an epic toddler meltdown had already ensued… you win some you lose some. But we did manage a pretty awesome moment of Mara cracking herself up over ice cream. Thanks Rachelle for capturing this amazing video.

Mara had a great time with Auntie Rachelle and Uncle Jay. Like with our other visitors, it takes her a little while to warm up, she very sweetly says “I feel a little bit shy” and then suddenly she doesn’t anymore.

I’m really glad we went to Stockholm, especially because we got to spend time with friends, but I was really happy to return to Gothenburg too. We have come to realize that midsize cities (or subtle cities as the brilliant Finn McMahon coined – see kiwis and croissants) are the sweet spot for us – you still have all the basics of a city but in a smallish non overwhelming package.