More pretty flowers from Sweden

Swedish Cruise

We took a one-day cruise in Sweden that went from the Stockholm archipelago to an island in the Finland archipelago. Since alcohol is SO expensive in Sweden, a lot of Swedes go to other countries to get it. So, it was basically a beer run!

(photo by Jon)
We had a couple of hours in Stockholm before we left, but it started POURING rain, and we'd left our umbrellas with our luggage. Jon and I sat down at a pub and watched the weather and had a couple beers.



It finally stopped raining as the ship left Stockholm.

Celia, Hanna, Andreas, Henrik and Jon in the dining room. We ate a couple smorgasbords. All very traditional Swedish food like herring and salmon.

Enjoying a last drink.

Celia the movie star... looking fabulous after a nice relaxing massage.

Henrik bought Hanna a Canon DSLR for a wedding present. What a sweet guy! She loved it. We teased them about bringing 4 extra people on their honeymoon, but they claim that the honeymoon isn't until they go to New Zealand in December.

Örebro Castle

In Örebro, we also visited the castle. Instead of a traditional tour, they made the tour into a play of sorts. It was much more interesting than hearing a guide rattle off dates!

A person walking over the bridge is reflected in the moat.

I think this little ducky was laying eggs in this flower pot.

Wadköping

One rainy day we went to Örebro. We walked through Wadköping, which is an open-air museum. They moved in old buildings to create Wadköping, which was a fictional place created by an author.

More of the Swedish summer home

Cute little cabins that just sleep two.

Cute little nook - perfect for a cup of tea in the morning!! I want one.

There was dew or rain every day.

Hanging out by the lake, drinking beer around the fire.

The diverse group of people staying a few days after the wedding: Mattias and Anna (they are Finnish, but are part of the 5% of Finns who speak Swedish as their native language); Sven (German); Celia (Kiwi living in England); Andreas (German)

Sweden seemed like the cleanest, most peaceful place on earth compared to China!

That's SO Swedish....

When Hanna was in America, she said certain things were "SO American." Like peanut butter and jelly. Here are some things that I think are SO Swedish.

Summer homes! Swedes get at least 5 weeks of vacation per year, so it seems everyone has a little cabin in the woods by the lake to get away to. Very nice.

Woods. Green things. Nature. Sweden has a law that every person has a right to hike through and put up a tent and camp on ANY land. Technically someone could sleep in your cow pasture or field two nights. However, Swedes are very polite and certainly wouldn't set up camp anywhere that might bother someone.

Bread and cheese and meat for breakfast. Yum! Swedes have "tube food" which is just like it sounds - many different types of food processed and put in a metal tube. Flavors are things like: cheese and bacon, ham, salmon, and various types of cheese. We can get two kinds at our local IKEA, but they have whole aisles devoted to it in Swedish grocery stores.

Another cute little Swedish house. The majority of houses are red. If it's not red, it's yellow. It's just the rule!

My favorite sunset photo from Sweden

This was taken at 10 PM on the day we arrived in Sweden. We were driving to the cabin and we just had to pull over to take a photo - it was beautiful!

A Swedish Wedding - Part II

After the ceremony, a massive party commences. (It even said on the invitation: MASSIVE party to follow.)

As soon as the groom leaves the head table, all of the guys rush up to kiss the bride. The girls all kiss the groom if the bride leaves the table too. Not just once - every time either of them leaves.

There are a lot of songs sung by everyone, usually ending in a toast. We also saw lip-sync performances, many speeches by their parents and siblings, and various fun activities by friends.


During one traditional game, they had to answer questions about which partner had more of certain traits by holding up the shoe of that person.

After the dinner, toasts, games and general fun, we went to another building for coffee and cake (this was at 11 PM. Swedes love their coffee!)

The dance then started about midnight. I think it was 3:30 AM when we left. It was certainly a massive party!

A Swedish Wedding - Part I

An excited bride! Hanna was one of the most expressive (and fun!) brides I've ever seen.

We all got on a boat to take us to the castle grounds.

Approaching the castle... it was actually the summer home.


A simple ceremony was performed outside. Because they had so many international guests, it was in both Swedish and English.

Silhouettes in a castle

These were taken in castle ruins about 20 minutes from Jonkoping. It was raining and the sun was setting.

Sweden in Summer = no complete darkness!

10:42 PM

11:58 PM

3:44 AM

All of these photos are right out of the camera - no adjusting levels or contrast.

Wedding

We just got back from a week in Sweden. Our best friends, Hanna and Henrik, tied the knot. We had a wonderful time and you'll be seeing photos from it for several days!!


They asked me to do a reading (in English) during the ceremony. It was really an international wedding, so a lot of things were both in Swedish and English.

We're off to Sweden!

Today we're leaving for Sweden! Our friends Hanna and Henrik are getting married on the 4th of July... at a castle. OK, maybe not a fairytale castle, but the summer home of Swedish Royalty.

We went to Jönköping University in the Spring of 2003. Six full years since we've been there. We're very excited to go back for a visit. We'll be traveling around for few days with Hanna, Henrik and a few other international guests.

Henrik, Hanna, me and Jon at the international students good-bye dinner

We lived a couple blocks away from Lake Vättern.

The view over Jönköping.

I'm having some posts publish while we're gone, so there will be new content while we're gone.