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.