My Outing at Royal Djurgården
05/09/2023Welcome to the historic and lovely Royal Djurgården, where you can enjoy fresh air and fun museums. I work at the tourist information at Royal Djurgården Visitor Center and my job is to help guests find their way and plan their own excursion. We keep track of daily activities and exhibitions happening all year round. In order to do our job well we are sometimes given challenges to plan a trip in the area and see things we haven’t before. Continue reading to follow along my own outing and find out what I did!
Our job gave us the mission to explore Djurgården in a way we haven’t done before. This meant making a list of places to go, visiting the following:
- An attraction you did not know existed before working at the Royal Djurgården Visitor Center
- A child-friendly museum/attraction
- A museum/attraction you have not visited before
- An art museum/gallery
- An exhibition available for the summer of 2023
- One of the monuments and learn more about it
- A outdoor art piece and read more about it
- Take a break and “fika” in a place you haven’t before (Swedish fika is a must!)
I started my day with a sober visit to the Museum of Spirits to see their exhibitions. The one that I was most curious about as a temporary exhibition was their Absolute Art Collection named ReDISCOver which is a handpicked collection from the 80s presented with a disco vibe using music and lights (ends on 24/9). The other exhibitions were more interactive with things to touch and smell. Beer is not my thing but I continued through the museum and learned a lot about distilleries and the history of drinking culture of Sweden. I would like to bring friends on a day off to go to one of their tastings and tours to learn more about gin or wine. During their first hour after opening it was really calm with few people around so I could explore at my own pace.
I continued on to the Estonia Monument which was raised in 1997 by the graveyard (Galärvarvskyrkågården). It is in memory of the victims of the Estonia Catastrophe in 1994. Many people in the periphery of my life have told some story of connection to the tragedy but it’s the first time I was the monument in person, so I stood there quietly for a silent minute. Thankfully I brought the map found inside our Visitor Center so it was easier to find my way there.
I walked on in the sunshine and had to take of my blazer so that I wouldn’t melt in the summer heat. Good thing my next stop was Skroten Café and Shop. When I arrived the first thing I did was shoot a few videos for our social media and pictures for our website. Right after that I bought a fresh Raspberry Lemonade and enjoyed their outdoor seating area.
I walked on to visit Prince Eugens Waldemarsudde, an art museum I’ve never visited before. It was a pleasant surprise to experience the combo of an art museum and a royal home. Looking back I regret not going outside to view the garden as well. On a positive note, I did buy a pair of gardening signs from their museum shop which I sent to grandma. A bit further away from the museum I passed the famous oak which Prince Eugen would often sit by (an impressive one, I might add) and after a few minutes of staring at it I wonder if I got any wiser from it.
I got a bit hungry and passed Bellmansro Park to get to the Rosendal Bothanical Garden. There you will find fields of veggies, flowers and fruits as well as their beautiful garden café. I saw a few nice options and settled for a combination of handmade cookies, organic chips with Rosemary and another lemonade. When you sit outside during the summer you will inevitably be visited by both birds and bees (don’t worry, they care more about the flowers than visitors). People also brought dogs with them so ut was quite a nice, lively environment to have a “fika” in.
After taking some more pictures, seeing an art sculpture in the gardens and digesting my sweets I felt recharged to continue. While heading to my next goal, The National Museum of Sports, I passed Rosendal Palace. There I saw the lawn mowers work diligently at keeping the area nice. I have a tendency to name different lawn mowers around Djurgården and the museums and so these were given the names Bengt and Harald. When I crossed the Folke Bernadotte Bridge I noticed that the sailing school was out on the waters and the students and I waved to each other.
As I passed the Museum Park between the Ethnographic Museum and The Technological Museum, I noticed that there were a lot of families with their kids at the playgrounds (which are open and free all year round). Outside the Police Museum there was a lot of traffic where they have the fun driving school for the youngest of drivers. Eventually, I reached my destination.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures inside The National Sports Museum but there was a lot to see. I walked around most of their exhibitions and found some interesting things like old equipment, toys and tools from the past but also videos of exercises one could follow along. Inside their SportLab area I could test my hand strenght (which was average for a grown woman) and how far I could jump double-footed (which was about the same as my hight, an okay score for someone who doesn’t compete in long jump). If I hadn’t been wearing a cute pen skirt I probably would have attempted their climbing wall and balance equipment as well. Maybe I will another day, considering the museum is free of charge for visitors.
After a long excursion I was tired and hot but still quite satisfied. I had done the challenge to the T and got to do a lot of fun things and meet nice people. There are still places I have yet to visit, even after this outing, and some I haven’t visited in over 15 years. I have plenty of future trips to plan here in the area, both with work and privately.