# [2019.01.04] Kaffe med Påtår

When I saw those words on the menu while standing in a queue in front
of the counter, I decided that 'kaffe' was simple --- that couldn't
be anything but good old coffee. 'Med' was also easy to crack since
Swedish has many roots in common with German, and likely-sounding
'mit' in German means 'with', so 'kaffe med' is 'coffee with'. But
with what? What is 'påtår'? Milk, sugar, cream, cookies, cottage
cheese?:) What is the most traditional way to drink coffee in Sweden?
The woman behind the counter finally explained it to me. The
traditional way of drinking coffee in Sweden is... getting one more
cup. So 'med påtår' can be roughly translated as 'with refill'. That
means that you pay not for 'one coffee' but just 'for coffee' and can
sit down and drink as many cups as you're able to.

Today the principal destination for us was Skansen, a world-famous
open-air museum of Stockholm (and disputably the first such museum in
the world). It looks not like other open-air museums that we'd
visited, not as a distant village but more like an old town district
where people still live in one-storied buildings. There is, for
example, a street of craftsmen where representatives of different
trades live: backer, milkman, blacksmith, printer, glassblower and so
on. Many of them are open in winter and inhabited by Skansen staff
who welcome you and can tell you about storing milk or even show how
to make flatbread in a stone oven. Of course, there're some cafes, in
one of which we eventually had our first 'kaffe med påtår'.

In addition to history part, Skansen includes a zoo with local
animals. And we were so lucky to be precisely on time for grey seals
feeding and training session which usually gathers a large audience.
Seal trainer spoke in Swedish but that was not a big deal because the
main thing, of course, were the seals and not people. I've never seen
them so close. They are really very funny and smart creatures. And
not only them: soon after the first fish was thrown into the water by
the trainer the seagull appeared who tried to steal some fish before
it touched the water and went to mouths of the seals. Clever seagull
was lucky only two times, for a little disappointment of the fattest
(and fastest) seal and much fun for children and adults gathered
around.

In the evening we went to an observation deck at now-closed
Katarinahissen (Katarina Elevator) which connected the quay of
Slussen with its high rocky bank. I remember that I wanted to get
there in our first, five hours only, stay in Stockholm. It's nice.
And free:)

And finally, we made another voyage using local ferries included in
our transport cards.