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It was the perfect day to go to Skansen so that was exactly what we did. Sun and blue sky, not much wind to speak of, and the likelihood of rain at pretty close to zero. And we were not alone in our thinking. A few other people went to Skansen with us.
This was our third visit to Skansen but the first when everything was open. Lots of the buildings welcomed visitors to come inside and look around. People dressed in period costume stood about, ready to answer questions.
While the buildings were great, the Baltic Sea Science Center (sic) was really what we’d come to see this time.
It is an amazing building filled with not just fish (there were even brown trout) but also information about how the Baltic is suffering and what is being done to help it survive. Possibly my favourite exhibit was the one regarding the improvements being made to the Henriksdal Wastewater Treatment Plant. Coincidentally, one of the books I’m currently reading has a chapter on the improvements being made to the sewer system in London, so it’s a somewhat fresh topic in my head.
The Henriksdal improvements are very different to what’s happening in London. However, both projects are massive and extraordinary. The short video at the Baltic centre is amazing and well worth a watch. Even if you have to wait for the Swedish version to finish before the English language one starts five minutes later.
But, of course, it wasn’t just waste treatment we’d come to see. Obviously, I discovered some interesting facts. For a start, who knew that fish could cough? Apart from Jonas, I mean. Apparently they ‘…move their gill covers back and forth to get rid of particles in their gills…’ and this resembles a cough. Apparently.
Out of the water and back on the land, however, there were the two little buildings from Tanto to visit; the ones I wrote about the other day.
Brilliantly, they’ve not just included the little buildings, but they’ve also made the plantings match the period. The 1920’s allotment is a bit different to the 1940’s one, both in terms of plants and style.
Personally, I really enjoyed the recently renovated school house. The fact that the teacher and his family lived in one side and the actual schoolroom was in the other, was beautifully explained by the two women standing in them. Interestingly, the teacher was well off but only because he worked three jobs (teacher, insurance guy and beekeeper).
Mirinda was constantly amazed by the wallpaper and how colourful it was. According to the woman in the house, it was an exact reproduction of the original paper. Of course, I realised it was because of Mirinda’s new eyes. All colours are now bright.
Speaking of renovation, the schoolroom has had a new floor laid. This made me think of HMS Victory and how almost every bit of it has been replaced over the years, making me wonder when it becomes a new ship. Or schoolroom, in this case.
At the entrance, we discovered that, you only had to visit Skansen twice in a year to make the yearly pass worth getting. This was a total bargain. There’s no way we’d see everything, and will definitely return. For one thing, I still haven’t visited the snus and match museum.
So, we’ll definitely be back.
While that was about it for us today, there was, of course, the very important choice of international cuisine. And, unlike yesterday, we managed to get a British meal at the Churchill Arms.
Which, of course, brings our tally to ten: Spanish, Peruvian, French, Italian, Thai, Greek, Lebanese, Japanese, Austrian and British.
