Just some summer photos

Our last week of summer hols is here and soon I will resume my twice-weekly blog posts when work starts next week. No more barrage from Stockholm! I hope you will bear with my ramblings till then.

Today I will not be sharing a layout with you, but just give you some photos of summer Sweden to browse. You might remember that DH and I took a spin out to a baroque palace on Friday, and today we drove out on the countryside about 1,5 hr from Stockholm.



First a photo from picturesque and quaint city of Strängnäs. Cute little cobble-stoned streets in the old parts and the very typical, very old red lumber houses
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Beautiful Mälsåker palace by lake Mälaren was built in the 1600's but was seriously damaged in a fire in 1945. Restorations have taken years and are still not finished. Just love the quality of the craftmanship, almost 400 years old and still standing strong.
Ceilings were painted on linen and nailed to the wood panelling of the inner ceiling.
 
Did you know that tiled stoves is a Swedish invetion from the 1700's? beautiful example in Delft blue and white
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My fave furniture style from the 1790's
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Rococo mirror in the countesses bedroom, gorgeous carving and guilding.
 
Had to ligthen up this photo as it was rather dark, looks a bit spooky but you get the lovely proportions of those archways and pillars.
 
After more than an hour of culture, it is definitely time for some ..... fika!
 
Cinnamon rolls, or as we call them in Swedish; "kanelbullar" and apple juice. I had a big cup of coffee of course.
 
Driving back from the palace, we passed typical "blue berry land", i.e. pine forest where blue berries thrive. For those of you who have only seen blue berries big as small grapes growing on miniature trees and have picked them standing up; this is the genuine thing and what blueberries look like in the wild.
 
We picked enough to have on our breakfast yoghurt the day after. Alas, as blueberry picking was not part of our original plans, we had to take the plastic bag that had contained our lunch sandwiches to pick them in.
Show these little yellow beauties to a Swede and he/she will go OOOOH!! it's the gold of the forest, aka wild chanterelle. Even Jamie Oliver thinks they are best eaten simply fried in butter with a hint of diced onions or perhaps with a dash of double cream for a sauté.
 
Today's trip took us to Strömsholm palace, which this is NOT. This red house is very typical for the 17th century rural building style for houses belonging to the royal household. In France that roof would be called mansard style, here it's a plainer version of it.
 
Very charming sight for city peeps like hubbs and I ;))
 
TOLD you, after cultural explorations always follows .... fika!
And with this photo of hubbs thoroughly enjoying his butter sultana biscuit and raspberry/blueberry pie, I say bye for now! thanks for your patience and for joining me on a re-visit of our delightful little outings.

In my next post I will share 2 DT layouts for CSI case file # 28. Here's a peek of the release that went out last Friday.

Cheers! xoxo Eila