Last week we were in Stockholm celebrating a Very Significant Birthday, and meeting some Very Special Guests.  We ended up in a museum, of course - the Nordic Museum - where we pored over beautiful examples of folk art.


Ok, so the last photo is of a contemporary piece instead of made-on-the-farm handcraft.  You could buy it in the museum shop.  We did not, on account of the price.  But one can always dream...


Stockholm metro is a bit of a treat, the stations have been set up as art galleries.  Only saw a couple, but they were very functional.  And clean.  With art works instead of advertising posters.

My kids were very excited to find a marking that looked like an "Amazing Race" route marker (I am grooming them to enter as a team in the year 2025)

And they also thought this brand of chocolate was pretty tasty.  It also stimulated a storm of funny sentences and hysterical giggling for half an hour after buying the unfortunately named bar.




Then we took a cruise ship to Tallinn - and inspected for ourselves why Latvians seem to be so envious of Estonians.


 Second - Tallinn alone has THREE (yes - I said THREE) children-focused museums, including this little ripper of a science centre, where you can pretend you are Dr Frankenstein and animate very life-like body parts with electrical zappers.   That's right.  Kids animating body parts with electricity.

Third - because they have a ultra modern multimillion euro new art museum called Kumu, which displays and interprets Estonian art with insight.  Sob.

On this trip the kids (oh ok and the Grandparents) listened to their fair share of audio guides.  And loved it.  They listened to more audio guides than me, and Mikus pointed out various features of various places to me that he had learned about through listening.  Wonders will never cease.


Tallinn also has quite a few nice historical wooden houses in desperate need of love and attention.  I managed to swallow my stray-dog-loving instincts when I saw this little beauty.  Next house I own is going to be a modern version of a design by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Definitely no more wooden frills for this try-hard renovator.