Since my life has become one battle after another (as you can see from the last blog). It was nice to take a long over due break from the battle lines, and visit this beautiful country.( which speaks English in many places).
My first impression of Stockholm, was very simply – “I think this is OZ !”.. the place looked so clean & green ! The architecture was simple but elegant. There were no curls & swirls, typical in Parisian style.There was a required function that was demanded from the design, and it worked for the people.( I will write about this city later..)
So my first day – was to visit Vikings (of course) was to STORAKAJEN !! Off to the boat to visit this island – and to my surprise – Stockholm is full of little islands – so taking a boat almost everyday was wonderful to me!! 
For its logical – the connection to the sea is very strong with this history. As you approach, there is a cluster of small red wood buildings – here, you can rest and take a café and watch the boats pass. 
I noticed, Vikings
and there were a lot of big rocks everywhere, it was part the landscape everywhere, and gave the feeling of being raw beauty. The children were also dressed up, to get in the mood ..
Walking down the path, I passed a very important cave – this is where the beer was kept, to stay chilly .. very logical !
We were lead to an wood old fashion arena,(splinters alert),
a Viking man came in, and shared the tales of old, using hand puppets.
The children in the audience were speechless as he spoke (lucky for me, I had a nice interpreter- for my Swedish, is worse than my French) The tale starts simple, looking for brave young men to travel to a far destination, for riches and glory … the children are engrossed so much, they did not see , the man changing puppets – now out came the Dragon –
who trolls the oceans & lands , looking to eat children .. “the children screamed in fright, the adults laughed with all their might “.
There was a small break for lunch – and try the “local food” , and connect the food, culture and land together. I have to say, I like fish ( just hate cleaning them ) and found this dish very tasty .. (sorry, forgot the name)
, its fried fish, with lettuce, red onions & vinegar dressing , on a flat bread. very good, and healthy, not too expensive either. While sitting, enjoying the simple meal.. here comes the Vikings marching -they make a lot of noise, with them hitting the shields with their swords for timing ..( i wonder if they did this, to intimidate)
Vikings “coming home”, 
they marched,to the show area, where was some Viking mock fighting – 
to display how to use the ancient weapons of death.. the best part – when everyman was “dead”, the last standing Viking would pray up to Ogden – and all men would come back to “ life” .. Great Fun !! I also was happy to see alot of women in the show- one (blond lady)
was a “Shield Maiden !!
One of the “goodies” of conquering a place, was selling the people .. now.. this tattooed cutie was sold.. 150.00 …not bad … ( dirty smile here) ..
Once the show ended, the children were allowed to meet & touch the weapons .. and questions were asked and answered. All ages were into the culture, and this cutie wanted to start before he started school ! 
One side note – I started to see men wearing this hair style everywhere, as I traveled.. I like it, its very Viking -Ragnar Lothbrok-
, very masculine looking 🙂
After the show, it was time to leave this little island – but i did get a chance to walk around, and what did i see ?? This was a left over from WW2, I forgot, that Sweden was in this mix, in the war .. I am glad this was not removed, its a great reminder, that even here, war can come..
The clouds became darker, and a chill in the wind reminded me, to always take a jacket,
and try to find beauty.. even in rocks ..and a dangerous sky ..
Stay Safe 🙂
DIXIE in PARIS 