mariefred
just under an hour from sodermalm, is one of the most charming towns, mariefred. it's a town that gets hordes of tourists but being officially 'off-season' in mid-august, we basically had the town to ourselves. despite it's popularity, it has retained its simplicity with country bakeries and stores with locally knitted and aquatic themed items. and of course, there's the castle that lure tourists too.
we walked along it's peaceful lake...
the grounds of the gripsholm castle are lovely and romantic. my only regret was not insisting the weinstein family venture inside... a plethora of portraits - 4,000 of them since the days of gustav vasa back in 1537 - adorn its walls, it's simply amazing (take a peek here from the first time we visited). and the well preserved theater room in the tower is pretty cool too.
Enkoping
this town wasn't what we imagined and not a place i'm likely to go back to but it came up as one of the picturesque towns to visit, so here we were. we did eat a really lovely lunch at bombance bistro in the sunshine. then we went to ica - a grocery store - and filled up on some swedish godis... swedes love their sweets a little too much.
sigtuna
we didn't leave much time for exploring sigtuna; the third stop on our picturesque town road trip. we said hello to a friendly dog, chole found her bucket hat and i almost found a purse (dede, i should have bought it!). then there was the climbing tree by the water; i still giggle at chloe stuck in a tree ;)
after a long day, we came home to a swedish prepared dinner made by stefan... jansson's temptation (a potato casserole), smoked salmon, mackerel, västerbottenost (a swedish cheese), herring, and gorgeous bread as only the swedes can make. of course, there were meatballs (from meatballs for the people) for the one non-fish eater ;)
värmdö
the next day we ventured to värmdö... one of my favourite places! a quick stop in gustavsberg to visit a few shops and stefan could get caffeinated... in the rain :(
i really wanted them to see the artipelag, it's simple architecture set in the woods on the edge of the baltic sea. it's easy to spend hours here admiring the set-up, walking the one kilometer long seafront promenade, or browsing the design store. dede left with a gorgeous pepper grinder.
we lunched at siggesta gård, of course! i had the räksmörgås, a very swedish open sandwich with shrimp, dill, egg, lemon, and mayo.
for those who follow along on my blog, you know this gård is another favorite of mine (insert heart emojis here). love the interior's wood and brick softened by sheepskin. i could move right in! take a peek at our overnight visit here and here (kai was small).
we then walked off our lunch exploring the grounds, playing soccer golf and swinging on the the obstacle course. there was some frolicking in the wheat fields too!
a couple of car ferries later, we ended up in vaxholm where we found the most beautiful light and some dinner.
when their time in stockholm came to a close, i hoped they felt a contentedness about visiting this place that has become our home. i and my boys feel pride towards this place and a definite wish to have more of our family and friends visit. you'll be received by the swedish happy-to-see-you "hej hej" greeting :)
see you soon dede, jason, jade, and chloe... lots of love.
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