Monday 23 July 2012

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.


Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - Strängnäs
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
. Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 2
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. Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 1
Ceilings were painted on linen and nailed to the wood panelling of the inner ceiling.
 Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 3
Did you know that tiled stoves is a Swedish invetion from the 1700's? beautiful example in Delft blue and white
. Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 -  4
My fave furniture style from the 1790's
. Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 5
Rococo mirror in the countesses bedroom, gorgeous carving and guilding.
 Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 6
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.
 Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 7
After more than an hour of culture, it is definitely time for some ..... fika!
 Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 - 8
Cinnamon rolls, or as we call them in Swedish; "kanelbullar" and apple juice. I had a big cup of coffee of course.
 Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 i blåbärsskogen 1
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.
 Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 i blåbärsskogen 2
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. Mälsåkers slott JULI2012 kantareller skogens guld
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.
 Strömsholms slott JULI2012 - 3
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.
 Strömsholms slott JULI2012 - 1
Very charming sight for city peeps like hubbs and I ;))
 Strömsholms slott JULI2012 - 4
TOLD you, after cultural explorations always follows .... fika! Strömsholms slott JULI2012 - 2
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

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing, I really enjoyed your photos!!

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  2. Så herlige bilder, alltid gøy med slike små "reisebrev" fra deg!
    som jeg skrev, så rakk vi dessverre ikke møtes da vi var i byen sist uke. Vi hadde noen hektiske dager i den flotte byen din og kommer gjerne tilbake.

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  3. My fave part is the Fika! LOL....nice of you to share those lovely pictures with us.

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  4. OMG Eila, that palace is just soooo beautiful, I love it !! Thank you for sharing your wonderful "outing" and great photos. Why isn't your hubby the size of that "red rural building" with all the Fika he eats ?! lol xx

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  5. Would love to meet you there! What a fantastic photo session!

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  6. Loved the Swedish rural tour! What an education!! We have nothing like that here at all!!! I have always heard that everything Scandinavian is of exceptional taste aesthetically and I can certainly see for myself that that is indeed very true!!

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  7. What fabulous photos. Gorgeous colours, textures, patterns and lots and lots of inspiration in there. What a stunning place to live.

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