Melbourne has nothing on the weather up here. Bursting shower followed by bright sun and a cool breeze ten minutes later, all cycling round the hour meant Boo was in her element. Jacket on, jacket off, rain coat on, rain coat off, second t-shirt off, Jacket on, each step gleefully repeated all day long :)

It's a drizzle grey morning today, perfect day for Junibacken. We get caught in a few showers on the way, and arrive drenched and ready for fun. Junibacken weaves together some of the most prized Swedish childrens stories into a fun play area bringing together scenes from the stories, and culminates in a story ride where you float through these scenes as the narrator reminds you of the stories. Not knowing the stories was no disadvantage, I can't work out which of Emerson or I were more enchanted by the whole adventure. Having done the Danish version where HC Anderson's stories come to life in the Tivoli gardens, the Swedes have won that race.

The sun was out when we emerged, the queue from the Vasa stretched a good 200meters from the door, no need for us to return there for now. We headed around to the Nordic Museum, rain pouring by the time we reached the front door - what happens to the those hundreds of people queueing for the Vasa in the rain? 

The first exhibit we find is the dining experiences from the 17th & 18th centuries. These tables are almost comical - I'm sure this is all Louis fault. The roast swan served as a roast of the abdomen cooked and supplanted back into its original location surrounded by crisp white wings and neck looked mightily unappetising. Almost as much as the roast goose surrounded by it's roast babies, yuck.

The next exhibit was more appealing, the history of Hops and Beer in Sweden! The whole historic development of the process is laid out, including the "Yeast rings" wooden rings specially designed to maxmise the yeast surface area, the glassware, the extraction and wort management processes. I was thoroughly captivated - the family on the other hand had run off to find the games exhibit. Max found a 1990 gameboy that he described as a "relic"!

With our time running out we headed back to the hotel to check out. Emerson was busting to try a Max burger, the Swedish McDonalds, since we pass our first one when we arrive at Arlanda airport the other day. Whilst not a patch on mine, they were a great addition to Burgerquest '16 :)

So we're all check-in on line, just have to print the luggage labels and we're away. Arlanda is packed with everyone returning home after Midsommar, or heading away because it's Midsommar, either way it was packed. We queued for a bit then printed out our Boarding Passes, then technology failure got in the way. No luggage labels. You can reprint Boarding Passes, but not luggage labels. The plane boards in 20 minutes, there has to be 300-400 people in front of us. I explain to the attendant that we've already queued for the machine and can't afford to queue now for the manual solution, there's only 20 minutes to boarding. "I'm sorry sir, there is nothing that can be done" I have no charm on the Swedes. We queue for a while longer, 15 minutes to boarding. Gab starts to feel my panic just as she eyes a new attendant arriving, within seconds she has convinced him to make a special case for us, we're getting luggage labels in just a minute later. We've dropped the bags and realised we still have to get through customs, 10 minutes to final call time. We panic, then on the board, flight delayed! We've never been so happy for a delay. 

Through Customs, there is still another 40 minutes until boarding. We set up in an Irish sports bar to watch the France v Island game. The Irish waitress behind the bar was busy being as obtuse to the French patrons as she could, she served me from the second row at the bar just to antagonise the French in front of me :) None of that changed the result though 2-1 to France.

After the big day before, the thrill of nearly missing our flight and no outcome on the $180 or $1000 windscreen, we were all busted by the time we got to Copenhagen. We're staying at Urban House, the first hostel we've ever stayed in. If they're all like this we'll be staying at a lot more in the future. Fantastic atmosphere, loads of interesting people and places to hang out. But we have to see some Copenhagen, we head out to find a beat, spoilt for choice and little fried from our day we seem to walk in ever decreasing indecisive circles until we stop for a refreshing beer at the German bar off the Tivoli. Whilst it's not Danish in flavour, a liquid dinner has to be Danish in spirit right?