I woke up this morning, not with a Blues song forming in my head, but with an idea to something luxurious with Freya on this untypically-Blues warm, sunny day.

After looking at our available options we decided to take her to Skansen, the oldest open-air museum and, less morally appealing, zoological park.

There were many memorable moments of the day’s outing, and those which stand out most of all include Freya’s involvement in snake and spider stroking, and her first pony ride. I say pony, though it was probably some rock-hard Icelandic bear-baiting variety; to my untrained eyes it looked like a pretty pony. Freya enjoyed it immensely, regardless its origins.

We saw snakes, koalas (sleeping, of course), alligators (or were they crocodiles?), enough monkeys to complete two Shakespear novels, elk, seals, rats, loads more animals I know the names of, and quite a few I don’t.

We also found vegan hamburgers at one of the fast-food shacks, where Jo managed to get stung two times by one of the many, many wasps (disappointingly, not one of the listed animals).

Freya came away, not only with a valuable experience, but a plastic animal: a replica poisonous frog. Sure, she could have chosen any of the large cuddly toys on display, but Freya wanted a small plastic amphibian that would ooze nocuos liquid as soon as croak at you.

I’m happy to have forewent my vegan stance on visiting such places, because it was arse cool.