Skansen, the open air museum

On Wednesday, we awoke not only to sun but also to a good forecast for the day, but that didn't stop us taking rain jackets and umbrellas.

We took the bus and then walked through the town past the shops, dropping into Georg Jensen for a browse and purchase.

Towards the tram, we stopped to take photos of the impressive buildings on the waterfront constructed at the end of the 19th century.








These are the towers of the Nordic museum, Swedish towers are quite distinctive.



Helpfully, some of the buildings have blue plaques which describe their history. This, the Bünsowska building, was constructed in 1886 for a timber magnate of the same name and designed by Gustaf Clason.



John was interested in this method of maintaining buildings. We saw lots of temporary structures like this where buildings were being renovated - typically two stories high and made of portakabins.





Our museum of the day was Skansen, an open air museum of Swedish days gone by. Skansen was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius. These two buildings, a shoemaker and a bank, were not open.









This is Boberg's Observatory.



The windmill and grain store were close to each other, of course.







This was a wealthy household (Manor) that provided two knights to the king.











I don't think that the plastic containers for garden refuse are authentic.


The garden had its own windmill and potting shed, below.



The peacock, on a roof, and peahen were wandering around.



There is also a children's zoo with owls, bears, moose and seals.















The Vastveit storehouse is from Telemark in Norway and is the oldest building in Skansen; some parts of it are 14th century. The storehouse was moved to Skansen in its first few years when Norway and Sweden were one country. When the countries separated in 1905, Skansen decided to concentrate only on Swedish history.




This is a Sami (a nomadic tribe) house complete with a stick reindeer outside the door.


This is a typical farm house.



The wall paintings are original and date from 1819.



This shows the family tree starting at 1789.



This part of the house was used by the farm workers









We returned to our hotel for our customary rest and then ate in a small french restaurant close to the hotel.





Pat and John on tour

City Hall

On Monday we had more heavy cloud and rain, so we decided to see City Hall.




Although it looks older, the building is only about 100 years old. It is in use as a town hall and so one joins a tour to see it.

The entrance hall, known as the Blue Hall is an enormous space and is best known as the place in which the annual Nobel prize dinner takes place. It is called blue as the architect intended to pain the walls blue but he changed his mind and left the brick unpainted.




A table setting for the Nobel dinner with Nobel medals.



Our guide then took us to the council chamber. Like Cambridge the hot debates are all about the traffic and cycle lanes!





The chamber has an unusual ceiling: the blue represents the sky and the structure was kept as it was during the construction process symbolising an upturned Viking boat!




This is in an anteroom




The 14th tapestries in this small circular room were a gift from France and the room was designed around them.




The room is used for marriage ceremonies. Apparently there are two versions of the ceremony, the long (3 minutes) and the short (30 seconds).

The Prince's hall was used for meetings with the Prince





This wall was painted by a prince and represents a reflection of the view through the windows so that people on both sides of the table had a view to see.





Finally, we saw the Gold Hall which is used for the ball following the Nobel prize dinner. It records Swedish history and was not universally acclaimed when it was unveiled.











After the tour, we bought our tickets to climb the 365 steps of the tower. While we were waiting, we took photos outside in the gardens and were blessed with the occasional ray of sunshine.













The climb up the tower was worth the effort. The second half of the climb was easier as it was mostly slopes rather than steps. Here are some views from the top







This shows the transport system





After our customary rest, we set out for another island, Södermalm, which was once a working area, but now much more upmarket.
















We ate in a local restaurant where there were no menus in English and we had to be helped out by our neighbours.

After dinner, we walked around the area before heading back to our hotel.




Pat and John on tour