This year Andi and Jesse planned a visit, right at the start of summer holidays and including midsommar! They arrived on the Thursday (my last day of work) and then Friday we headed out to Skansen for the Swedish-est of midsummer experiences.
Stockholm empties out at midsommer, so we took the chance to wander around a relatively quiet city. On the downside very little was open, but on the plus side it was beautiful weather and we didn’t want to be inside the museums.
The popular pedestrian bridge to Gamla Stan was strangely empty on midsummer day… 
It is a long way to the top of City Hall (if you wanna rock n roll) 
Much of the climb is through narrow brick passages like this 
…and rewarded by a great view of the city! 
My favourite is the view south… 
…but there are no bad choices! 
We took a walk around Riddarholmen 
We saw many of the famous small passages in Gamla Stan 
This is the narrowest alley, whose entrance is now graced by a Township sticker. đ 
Of course we got the obligatory Stor Torget shot!
After midsummer’s eve and midsummer’s day we headed out to the archipelago for actual astronomical midsummer. Graham had arranges the ‘Platinum package’ with a boss rental cabin and picnics.
Sunset over Grinda harbour on the longest day 
The archipelago ferry passes lots of cute island cabins… 
…and also castles. 
The ice cream cabin on Grinda 
Mores sunset shots -this was the view from our cabin 
plus one more! 
Daytime in front of our cabin 
Luckily there were some well-spaced trees for the hammock 
Wild roses at the ferry dock 
The view from the highest point on Grinda (35m!) 
Another viewpoint on the archipelago trail 
We stopped in Vaxholm for lunch and a famous princesstÄrta
We also went out to Drottningsholm, the official residence of the royal family. The gardens made for a lovely walk (yet another 20 000 step day!) and we also did a self-tour of the interior. One of the highlights was the murals and paintings depicting Swedish history, and the showy marble staircase.
The water-side of Drottningsholm 
The back side of the castle reminded me we hadn’t raked our garden rocks in a while. 
We explored some of the hedge mazes 
Homoerotic snake wrestling is a must for every fancy garden. 
Taking grapes from a baby is much harder than taking candy from a baby 
The grounds really are extensive – we walked so far we couldn’t see the castle anymore (and needed to stop for lunch!) 
Kina slottet – a 1700s Chinoisserie time capsule. 
The theater pavillion, made out of wood carved to look like fabric 
The insides were also great, especially the fancy marble staircase with dozens of figures from Grecian mythology 
Made in St Petersburg, this Chinoisserie ceramic wood stove was easily the most bananas thing in the castle.
Naturally, we had some time at the house and got to visit with some neighbours – cousin Sarah (not pictured) and the fuzziest faces of Gripens vĂ€g.
