# [2019.01.05] Ack, vad för en usel koja!

Oh, what a miserable hut! --- exclaims the hero of the Fredmans
epistle #34 about a house of his friend, Movitz, which burnt down in
a fire in the XVIII century. Contemporary performances of this song
are usually brave, vivid and not having even a little speck of
tragedy. And today it became my favourite Swedish song after visiting
the so-called Nordic Museum (or Nordiska Museet in Swedish).

But in the morning we first went to Junibacken --- the museum of
Astrid Lindgren's books characters. We were among the first visitors,
so many rooms were nearly empty (usually they are full of kids). Our
main aim, of course, was the story train, which we rode with great
interest as during our first time here two years ago.

The Nordiska itself was disappointing. Majestic from outside inside
it looks mediocre organised museum mostly about the latest history of
Sweden, and not about Nordic countries and peoples as the name
assumes. There were several interesting things, though. First, a
massive monument to the king Gustav Vasa with words 'Warer Swenske!'
('Be Swedish!') under its legs. Another thing was a Russian
audioguide which stated that traditional Swedish meal at Midsummer
day was herring and potatoes with vodka (it told literally:
'подавались с водочкой' --- which sounds strikingly Russian for me).
One additional sense was that the XX century was not at all
disastrous for Sweden. E.g. the audioguide named 1930 a tipping point
because of the Stockholm Exhibition which actually had an immense
impact on architecture and design, but when one talk about a tipping
point in the 1930s in Russian history it's not about design but
hunger, massive political repressions, forced industrialisation and
so forth. So design as a 'tipping point' in the 1930s? Not even the
Great Depression? Are you serious?:)

In the evening we went to Kajsas Fisk --- famous, popular with
tourists and locals and still quite a cheap place to eat some
seafood. Or even much of seafood taking into consideration their
portion sizes:) It's located between other stores of the local market
where one can buy everything from tea and coffee to cheese and
sausages to crabs and shrimps. The market itself is perfectly clean,
not extremely noisy, with I would even say pleasant and polite
vendors which in my experience is very rear luck:) By the way, the
market (and Kajsas Fisk) is closed on Sundays. That's a bit strange
for me, but it seems to me that here in Sweden people tend not to
work harder than it's needed to be happy.