My mother managed to scold me from an ocean away, for neglecting to report my various musings. It is a wonderful skill that mothers have, the ability to be disapproving from across half of the world.
Anyway, today was less of a sight seeing day, so I can actually talk about the Nordiska museet and Gripsholm in full. Let’s start with Nordiska museet.
To put it kindly, let’s say it was not my favorite museum in the whole wide world. The overall feeling that it gave was very disorganized. The first major exhibition room that I walked into was about fashion, both past and present, and how the two relate to each other. Now, fashion isn’t really my thing, so although there were English translations alongside the Swedish display cards, I didn’t spend to much time reading them, and quickly wandered into the next room.
Now, I am not quite sure what I was expecting when I walked into the next hall, but it definitely wasn’t a whole exhibition about some guy named Strandberg (I think). I mean, it was interesting, for sure, but it caught me off guard. And if that wasn’t enough, the next room right over was about Swedish traditions, something I was totally clueless about until right before I left it. This cluelessness, as well as the lack of pretty much any English in the room, didn’t help when, amidst the scenes of domestic felicity and traditional foods, I suddenly came upon a window showing a women getting tortured. It also didn’t help that all the figures, including the tortured woman behind the glass, and the boy figure in front of the glass, seemed entirely too realistic.
It’s why I refused to go into the darkened corner room that was supposed to show Swedish funeral traditions. I know how horror movies start. I’m not going to be the first blonde to die in ‘Night in the Museum: Zombie edition.’
There was one room that I really liked, but to explain why, there needs to be a bit of back story. When I was younger, I was obsessively interested in mythology of all types. I had the most access to Greek mythology at the library, as does almost every child, but my parents knew of my interest and worked hard to expand it. So, one day, I came home from wherever it was I went as an elementary/middle school age child, and I found that they had bought me a book of Estonian myths and “fairy tales.” I loved that book. I still do, and it continues to survive many literary spring cleanings of my library today. In that book, the spoke of the Laplanders living up North; some where good, some were bad, but almost all had access to some sort of magic.
One of the rooms in the museum focused on the Sami people of Sapmi, who used to be called Laplanders, and were the native people of Scandinavia that had been so heavily featured in my book. It was actually quite wonderful to make that connection, and to have the illustrations of the clothing, lifestyle, and even the people, come to life. There weren’t many specifics on their lore, only the mention that it was mostly word of mouth, but the exhibit was interesting nonetheless.
Alright, that’s enough for today. Tomorrow I meet with my cousin and go rock climbing again, so now I must get to sleep. Although, there are two final things I must mention before I go:
1. People in Sweden love to curse in English. If there is one word I understand in conversation, it’s a curse word.
2. They have the Big Bang Theory and HIMYM here. In English.
Goodnight!
Wandering Owl 