“You must visit our Skansen Open-Air Museum,” says one of the locals as he lists his favourite places in Stockholm. The next day, after an hour's drive, I am here. Making my way in, I take a moment to look at the map. The place is huge, far flung and captures nearly five centuries of Swedish history. There are houses, cottages and sprawling meadows, not to mention bears, elks and other animals native to the Scandic region. There’s a glass blowing factory, an old style printer's shop, boutiques and a traditional candy shop.
The candy coated berries are a delight, though experimentation gets the better of me when I try a black licorice candy. My face contorts much to the delight of a bunch of school kids who point and giggle. Mortified, I walk out.
Then my eyes light up as I see a board with directions to a cafe, tavern and a bakery. Ten minutes later I find myself in the tavern pushing back vodka and feasting on an assortment of cakes, each generously smeared with home made cream and fresh plucked berries. The chocolaty rum roll is my favourite; it’s so potent, two of those can knock you out. Either that, or I’m just a light weight.
I wander around for a bit and reach the bakers hut where a woman in an old-fashioned Scandinavian garb rolls out dough and flings the resulting loaves into a large open fire oven. She makes a variety of fresh bread and lovingly hands them over to the tourists gathered there. Slabs of butter are helpfully placed on the counter. All I do is butter my warm crisp bread and enjoy the sensation of it melting into my mouth. As for exploring the rest of the 75-acre museum, well that can certainly wait.
