A leisurely morning with breakfast around 9:15 in the hotel. The breakfast bar was very extensive with so many different options – breads, fruit, juice, yogurt with various toppings, herring with the fixings, cheese and meats, eggs, bacon, sausage, potato patties, vegetables, pastries….
After breakfast we headed out and walked to the museum island. The weather wasn’t too cold (around minus 2) but it must have been colder while we were up north as the river had frozen in some sections. As we arrived at the island it started to snow as well. We went to the ABBA Museum first, which was entertaining with a lot of interactive exhibits, including recording booths, and a stage show! You scan your ticket at the various activities and it records your “performances” for future download.
After the ABBA Museum we went to the Spirit Museum and had lunch first. I had a beer and pork sausage with potatoes and sauerkraut. As we were eating a couple from our group, who was staying in Stockholm for a few days to visit their son, walked into the museum and the sat down with us – quite a coincidence.
We then toured around the museum devoted to alcohol, which was fairly entertaining with some interesting exhibits. Afterwards, we went for the tasting, which we had added on (regretfully). The four alcohols for the tasting included aquavit, a Swedish bitter orange snapps, a “punch” and another concoction called bäsk, which was a very disgusting spirit with an unpleasant taste. The “punch” was probably the most drinkable as it was weaker and quite sweet. After the museum we headed back towards the hotel.
On the way we walked by the Royal Palace and down a few of the streets in Gamla Stan, the historic island we are staying on. Stopped in the hotel for a quick rest and then headed out for dinner to Aifur, which was a viking themed restaurant. It looked like it was going to be a very cheesy experience but it actually wasn’t too bad and the food was quite good – I had some Swedish mead, venison with root vegetable potato cake and then some ice cream for dessert.
