Post by Grubb.
We started out relatively late this morning so as to meld in with holiday crowds and sort of get swept away by their flow, the idea being that the flow would lead to the show, the National Day celebration of Sweden becoming Sweden sans Denmark, Norway, or Germany. When we popped up from the metro at Gamla Stan it appeared we were pre-flow, so we stopped for a fika break before heading to the Slussen dock where people were funneling into a slow flow onto the ferry to Djurgården.
When we landed at Djurgården a portion of the younger passengers went to the amusement park.
The rest of the crowd flowed towards Skansen, the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden. We paid for a couple of tickets and took an escalator up to a park where families were scattered about having their National Day picnics.
At the concert arena a band was going through a tech rehearsal with a couple singers.
The arena was set up for a live five camera shoot. It was interesting to see that the grip handling the jib for the overhead tracking shots was a young woman, as were two of the other camera operators.
Reversing direction, we followed paths that went by booths selling Swedish crafts then branched off through a forest where traditional buildings going back as far as 1680 are plotted out in areas dedicated to domestic and religious life.
At one point we reached an end of the park that was a zoo with a view.
Overlooking the sound, we could see boats lined up a distance from a stadium filled with people ready to observe the Royal festivities.
Around a bend there was a funicular that was not in operation.
Further on, through a thicket, we heard a chorus rehearsing outside of a 19th century wooden church.
We drifted into a square where there was a food fair going on.
I opted for Swedish waffles; Ella went for the smoked salmon salad.
