Tag Archives: Djurgården

Jun22

Hiking the Djurgården loop

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Thursday, 30-May-2024


I’d already scouted out the Djurgården island, and even made a light foray into the main park itself as a scouting run. On Thursday, I packed some snacks and laced up my hiking boots. I grabbed a scooter to the main entryway to the park, dropped it off in the designated scooter area, and headed in.

It took a moment to orient myself to the wilderness again… it’d been a while since I’d been navigating woods and trails, instead of sidewalks and intersections, but my adventurer-self pulled up the relevant brain-manuals quickly, and I was able to let myself get absorbed by the city-enclosed wilderness once again. It wasn’t nearly as expansive as that back in Oregon – I could still feel the city nearby, if that makes sense, but it was far more quiet than Gamla Stan ever could be… with the sounds of birds and wind cushioning me and drawing out the anxiety of the city.

Granted, I’ve been doing quite well with avoiding anxiety and stress on this trip. I’ve been relaxing, taking things slowly and as they come, and avoiding unnecessarily stressing myself out as much as I can. There’ve been external factors and challenges, of course, but… for the most part, things have been going pretty dang well… but that doesn’t mean that the quiet nature sounds of the Djurgården weren’t a welcome relief.



I wandered – I’d found a vague circumnavigation trail on AllTrails that I was nominally following, but I wasn’t making a huge point to check the map every 5min. I walked, decompressed, and appreciated the movement and solitude.

And there was solitude. For how busy a city Stockholm is, this still was a weekday, and I had the trail almost completely to myself. I think I passed two hikers, and saw a wedding party, in total… I wasn’t completely alone, but I was dang close to it.

(Quick Note – I did bring my personal locator beacon with me for this. Sure, I had a cell phone with signal, and a backup battery for it… but three levels of safety, people!)

It was lovely.

There’s not too much else to say about it, aside from that. I walked, snacked, rested, and appreciated the natural beauty. I finished my adventure, grabbed another scooter, and went home for some dinner.

It was, in every way, lovely.

Jun21

The Nordiska Museet of Stockholm

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Tuesday, 28-May-2024


I’d first seen the Nordiska Museet after wandering around near the Vasa Museum – It’s a staggeringly beautiful building on the Djurgården island, though unfortunately it did close a bit early in the day… which meant I couldn’t do a double-header of both the Vasa and the Nordiska.

But hey – that meant I had a mission to go back to, now didn’t it? I do love quests and missions, so… I won’t complain.


Heading in on Tuesday after the National Gallery worked perfectly – I was trying to rest my poor walking muscles a bit, and so decided to take one of the electric scooters, which left me more than energetic enough to dive into the museum itself. I did grab a quick cup of coffee first, along with some glorious chocolates, to fortify myself… but that’s just good tactics, right?

The museum itself was… not quite what I was expecting. Not in a bad way, though!

You see, I was expecting something like a natural history museum, or a history museum. Something describing the geology of Sweden, or perhaps the history of human settlement? But instead, I got something similar, but at the same time more direct and grounded – The Nordiska Museet of Stockholm discussed the culture of Sweden, and how it evolved over time.

There’s overlaps with a history museum, to be sure, but it was a really interesting shift that I can’t say I’ve ever really seen before. It’s subtle, but the exhibits were focused on discussing the people of Sweden, instead of the events, which lent it a far more human feeling than the almost sterile “this happened, then that happened” nature of many other exhibits.

Neither is bad, by any stretch of the imagination! Knowing the raw details is key, but hearing the stories of individuals, and how one person may have lived their life during each of the archetypical ages of Swedish Culture… it struck. It hit hard, in some cases, and I’ll freely admit that I teared up at some of the descriptions of people. Two specific stories come to mind; one of a couple from a woodmill town, who met after moving to the new urban world (from the smaller farming and fishing villages), and raised a family in spite of the challenges – and the story of a woman fleeing from World War 2 named Selma, who fled Estonia leaving her mother behind trying to build a safer life for her son in Sweden.

It’s an interesting bend to the traditional museum, and not at all what I expected from the soaring gothic-style building the exhibits were housed in.

While it was unexpected, it was not unappreciated. It hit close to home, and I’ll absolutely be thankful for this interested and unexpected glimpse into life across the ages.

Jun20

A brief introduction to the Djurgården

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A brief introduction to the Djurgården

Monday, 27-May-2024


One of the big spots on my list of places to visit in Stockholm was the legendarily-huge park, the Djurgården. I’d heard stories of it before, from family and friends, and was looking forward to taking a good long walk in the woods. I’d been rocking the city life since Reykjavik, and some clean air and animal sounds were sounding pretty great to me.

After leaving the Vasa Museum, I knew it was a bit too late to kick off a true exploration of the gardens… but I am a pretty big fan of recon missions… and the Vasa Museum is right next to one of the entrances…

I checked my map, grabbed a quick snack, and headed in.



Stepping into Djurgården proper, or at least the nature section since technically the Vasa Museum is within the bounds, wasn’t much different from stepping into any city park – There were beautifully flowering plants, people picnicking, and some folks playing various lawn games. It was pretty, but nothing especially unique… at first.

As I continued walking, the garden became more and more wild. Where most city parks will maintain that base level of “tamed nature”, the Djurgården became less tame. I passed one last restaurant, and found myself in a forest of oak trees and wild underbrush. I could almost, just barely, hear some city noises… but I was essentially insulated, hearing mainly the wind in the trees and the birds chattering to each other.


I’ll admit that I didn’t wander for too long – I hadn’t had too much to eat previously, and the day was quite warm. I got some good exposure and exploration in, came up with a good plan on where to go when I came back, and started to slowly forge my way back to civilization.




Ohh! One quick extra – Something that I’ve noticed in both Oslo and Stockholm. Vegetarian Roombas! AKA automated lawnmower robots! They’re cute, but also just a little bit scary.