Stockholm: Day 2, April 12

On Saturday, our second day in Stockholm, we decided to take the morning easy. It was vacation, after all! Henry did wake us up early, thanks to the sun rising at an unbelievable hour, but we kicked around the apartment and then let him take his nap on his makeshift bed.

We left the apartment around 11 and headed straight for the Vasamuseet (or Vasa Museum in English). The Vasa was a Swedish Warship that sank, just 1,300 meters into its maiden voyage in 1628. How embarrassing! Over 300 years later, with modern technology and some really big chains, they lifted the Vasa off the bottom of the harbor, caulked the holes, and it sailed on its own into the dry dock.

Right when you walk into the museum, the huge warship fills your view. I honestly felt like I had walked in on The Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean--a ghost ship risen from the dead. The condition of the Vasa was incredible--much of the detail remains even beautiful carvings of lions on the gun doors. Believe it or not, even one of the sails survived 300 years under water. Though not complete, the remaining fabric is intact enough to see the shape and size of the sail. The museum is beautiful, with the story of the Vasa's building all the way to its resurrection from the bottom of Stockholm's harbor.

I don't know what Henry ate for lunch (ok, I do--PBJ and grapes), but he was a hyper case! He was running all over the museum, squealing and laughing and trying to touch everything. Luckily, there were quite a few interactive exhibits that kept him happy, as well as huge windows from floor to ceiling. I wish we could have spent several hours there, looking at all the beautiful artifacts and reading every plaque--but my sweet little one year old didn't feel like spending the whole day in a museum.

It was quite obvious our little man needed to go outside.

In vain, we looked all over for a playground. That is definitely my biggest complaint about Stockholm--even in the residential areas, we could not find a playground anywhere! Not a slide, not a set of swings--it was ridiculous! Thank goodness Henry doesn't mind running around on the cobblestone and exploring. We headed to Gamla Stan again and took him in and around the narrow streets for a few hours.

Derek and Henry found a pretty awesome water pump in the middle of one of the squares. Derek showed him how they used to pump water, which Henry was delighted with!

I think my favorite part of the entire day was our mini-photo shoot in one of the back streets of Gamla Stan. Henry has discovered "1-2-3 swing!" with Mummy and Daddy holding his hands, and we did that for several minutes. We also attempted our first jumping pictures as a family! They didn't turn out as great as some of the other jumping photos I've been in...but man, are they hilarious. Henry looks like he's flying and he did have a great time. He wanted to do it over and over again. The minute we landed from a jump, he squatted down and tried to jump again! He's the best.