Elle’s in Europe 2025 - Day 16 - Elle’s Day
We’ve somehow reached the very end of our trip. Jenn and I talked about adding another stop after this when we were planning it. But sitting here today, I am so grateful we thought better of it. The three of us are wiped. You could feel the last remnants of energy as we woke up and went downstairs for breakfast. We’ve gotten into a nice rhythm where I got both Jenn and Elle food, and then myself, before we headed out.
It was a beautiful, albeit cooler, day in Stockholm, with temperatures just under 70 degrees and sunny. We wanted to make sure Elle had a great last day, and so the entire day was built to give her things to do that we thought she’d enjoy. The first stop was at a local park where she got to ride the swings and a seesaw. She loved it. She was giggling and smiling the entire time. It was fun to see her interact with nearby kids. On our way back from the park, we just so happened to stumble across a high-end baby clothing boutique, Livly, where Jenn made sure to pick up a few items for Elle.
We made it back to our hotel room and let Elle nap for an hour before heading back out. During that time, Jenn researched fun nearby places to take Elle. Our original plan was to go to a palace, but that required an hour journey by car or transit. We were all tired, so instead we chose to walk to Skansen, the world’s oldest outdoor museum/zoo. We had a beautiful walk there, purchased tickets, and made our way to the entrance via the gondola. Both Jenn and I were getting a bit hungry, so we grabbed a hot dog for Jenn and a reindeer burger for me and had them on the picnic benches before heading into the museum.
I don’t want to sound overly negative, but the museum and zoo left a lot to be desired. There weren’t that many animals to see, and the areas we did find were mostly deserted. The highlight was the young black bears that were actively playing and eating. We continued on past pigs, bison, and a few other animals. Elle seemed tired the entire time, not showing her normal enthusiasm we’ve seen at other zoos and aquariums.
Jenn mentioned about halfway through our visit that it looked like rain clouds were coming in. I stupidly said that those weren’t rain clouds. We continued our visit like nothing was happening until those clouds materialized and rain started to come down. It was light at first, and so that gave us some confidence to walk back to the gondola and make our way back to the hotel. Sadly, by the time we were about halfway back to our hotel (15-20 minutes of the walk left), it started to pour. We took refuge under a tree, I took my socks off and put them over Elle’s feet, and Jenn draped her with her jacket. We half ran, half walked back to our hotel, arriving there drenched just as the sun started to come out again.
Elle went down for her final nap while Jenn and I started quietly packing and planning our trip home the following day. We left for dinner and went across the street from our hotel to Brasserie vau de ville. This wasn’t the most kid-friendly restaurant, but it was close by and got great reviews. Jenn had a French 75, and I had a beer. Elle almost took the French 75 with her when the waiter dropped it off, but thankfully, it was a near miss. Jenn had her last go of Swedish meatballs, and I had their Schnitzel. The food was surprisingly good and was a really nice send-off. We went for a brief walk afterward before coming back to our room and packing it up for our long journey home tomorrow.
I’ll never forget Jenn and me talking on our walk back to the hotel. We would have never imagined that Elle would be this resilient and adaptable. From the first night in a nearly 90-degree hotel room to countless taxis, planes, trains, and long walks, she’s handled everything beautifully. She was simply an angel. We were able to enjoy three incredible destinations as a family. And as is the sign of any good trip, our final walk back to the hotel was discussing where the three of us would travel to next. And if that’s not a sign of a great trip I don’t know what is.
