In the heart of Dalarna is Lake Siljan.  The lake is surrounded by many charming towns, but one of our favorites is Tällberg, so we decided to stay there on this trip.  We stayed at the Green Hotel.

This wonderful old hotel sits high on a hill, so the views of the lake are amazing.

There are lots of small buildings with guest rooms.

This was the door handle on one of the above buildings.

I love how the late evening sun makes everything glow.

When we walked into the lobby, we were struck by the key cubby behind the desk!

Every room key was attached to a little green Dala horse!

There were wonderful painted doors.

And corner cupboards to die for.  I need one of these in my cabin!

And, of course, the traditional Mora clock.

We were in the main building, which is made of logs.  Our room was most comfortable.  Check out the artwork above the bed–a very close close-up photo of a woman’s necklace!

We had an ultra-modern bathroom.

And a rustic deck with two chairs hanging on the wall.

And amazing views!  It was great to be in Anna Lena Land once again.

Whenever my Grandma Kennedy spoke of her mother, Anna Lena, coming from Sweden, she always said she came from Dalarna–the prettiest part of Sweden.  I never hear “Dalarna” that it wasn’t followed by that phrase, “the prettiest part of Sweden.”  And I must tell you, she was absolutely right!

It’s the part of Sweden that is known for it’s red houses–the paint is a byproduct of the copper mining that has gone on there since Viking times.

It’s where they make the Dala horses.

Including this one–the world’s largest!

And where lupine grows abundantly wild along the roadsides.

It’s the place where people still wear their folk costumes for special occasions.

There are charming villages.

There are beautiful lakes.

Old fashioned customs live on.  Can you guess what it means when you have two trees like this placed in front of your door?

My Great-grandmother was right–it is the prettiest part of Sweden–and I love it here.

Sally and I didn’t have much time for shopping while we were in Stockholm, but we did manage a couple of stops, like the NK Department Store, where we found some fun things.

Our Airstream, Lola, needs dishes, and I thought there were some great things to choose from here!

I even got new flatware for her.

And a couple of serving trays.

But the real reason for this post is Sally’s obsession with the “take a number” thing that is everywhere in Sweden.

It doesn’t matter if you’re at a department store, bakery or bank, you take a number!

As she took out her camera to take a picture at the money exchange called Forex, I jokingly said, “You’re going to get us arrested.”  Sure enough, just as she snapped her shot, a very angry clerk shouted, “NO PHOTOS!”

Sally even “helped herself” to piles of the discarded numbers!

Personally, I don’t see the fascination with this that Sally does, but she sure had fun.  Number please!

The day after the wedding we got to explore the island of Dalarö a bit.

We stayed at the wonderful old Hotel Dalarö Bellevue.

This was the view from our room.

If you looked right…..

We spent the day with Sven-Eric and Anna & Mats and Lina and wandered around the island.  Good tourist that I am, I had my camera around my neck!

I’m used to seeing the little red houses I so associate with Sweden, but not here!

Houses were every color.

And had charming gingerbread.

Even the garages had gingerbread.

There was lots of lush greenery everywhere.

The Golden Chain trees were at their peak–and they were so big!

The houses took advantage of the beautiful views.

Here’s the church, which is very popular for weddings.

And instead of a steeple, this church had a separate bell tower.

This sign summed it up–Paradise!

And one last photo op before we left.

Then it was back to Stockholm and a chance to see Ulrica and Carl’s new apartment.

The reason for our trip to Sweden this year was the wedding of Ulrica and Carl Johan.  They were married on a tiny island in the Stockholm archipelago called Dalarö skans.  It’s accessible only by water taxi.

The only thing on the island is this old fortress, and a lovely pavillion.

My photos don’t do the beautiful setting justice.  No matter what direction you looked, it was like looking at an ad in a travel magazine.

After walking to the top of the island, we walked down to the shore on the other side to the area where the wedding would be.  It was a walk over bare rocks, gravel and grass–quite a challenge in heels!  Here are the parents of the bride–my dear relative Sven-Eric and his wife Anna.

Here comes the bride.

Aren’t they a lovely couple?

The ceremony was as beautiful as the setting.

The happy married couple.

Afterwards, it was back to the top for the dinner and reception.  Part way up the hill.

Almost to the top.

The dinner was a fabulous affair with much toasting.

Here I am with one of the toast masters.

Ulrica–absolutely glowing.

Ulrica and her friends sing to Carl.  I don’t think he quit smiling the whole evening.

Ulrica with her little brother, Mats.

Sally, Ulrica and Sven-Eric.

By about 11:00, the sun was getting low in the sky.

But there was still dancing to do!

The water taxi came back for us about 2:30–and the sun was coming up!

Thank you, Ulrica and Carl, for a day I’ll never forget!

Food, glorious food, wonderful food!  You may think we ate our way across Sweden, and you wouldn’t be wrong!

Pancakes are also a dessert in Sweden!  To be fair, we had to try them in more than one place.

And, luckily, we had another occasion to eat waffles.  Aren’t the presentations beautiful?

For the uninitiated, the Swedish tradition of having “coffee” is a daily ritual.  Whether working or not, you break for “coffee” mid morning and mid afternoon.  The great part about Swedish coffee time, though, is that it always includes something sweet!

Berit is a superb baker and always has saffron bread and cinnamon rolls for us.

Ice cream is also a big deal in Sweden.  Shops have the cutest way of advertising the brand of ice cream they’re selling.

This clown has been around as long as I’ve been going to Sweden–28 years.  I’ve had my picture taken with big ones and little ones all over the country.

But this year I was shocked to discover he now has a GIRLFRIEND!

Compared to other years, our ice cream consumption was a bit low on this trip.

But one night we sacrificed dinner and just had ice cream to make up for it!

One sign we’re always on the lookout for (besides waffles!) is Konditori–the Swedish word for bakery.  Their sweet rolls are so delicious.  And I think the staff at the bakeries we visited were quite amused that we wanted to take photos of the goodies!

But, you know those crazy Americans!

But we didn’t only eat sweets.  One night Sven-Eric barbecued for us.

And Anna made a wonderful baked salmon.

But one of the most amazing things is a Smörgåstårta–a layered sandwich with shrimp and egg and cucumbers and so much more.  May made this one.

Every bakery we went into had Princess Tortes.  There were the traditional green ones, like this one at the NK Department Store.

I even saw a blue one and these white ones.

And there were ones like this–made more like a roll for easy cutting and serving in the bakery.

And after all that, we could have purchased a scale to remind us just how we put on all those extra pounds!

The Swedish Summer Palace is known as Drottningholm–or the queen’s palace.  It’s about a 30 minute boat ride from Stockholm.  This was our first view as we approached by boat.  I thought it was a charming little castle–just perfect for summer!

But as we rounded the bend, it became obvious that this was no small place!

In fact, the Swedish royal family has made this their permanent home rather than the castle in the center of old town Stockholm.

Sally and I toured the inside, but photos weren’t allowed.  I did find these two images on the royal web site!  An understated bedroom.

The Blue China room, which I just loved!  Talk about pulling a theme together!

The gardens were HUGE and very lovely, but there were no flowers–not a one.

You entered through this gate.

Looking back toward the castle.  We’re only about a quarter of the way through the gardens.

It was much cooler in the shade.

At the far end of the gardens was the Chinese Pavillion.  In one small wing, the family could dine in private with no servants.  How’d they do that?  Well, there was a trap door in the floor and the entire table would be lowered into the kitchen, the food laid upon it, then hoisted back to the waiting family!

There was a wonderful cafe on the grounds where we had lunch.

The simple, white Swedish interiors are so wonderful.

How’s this for fast food?  Swedish meatballs, dilled potatoes and lingonberry sauce.

One satisfied customer in Anna Lena Land!

There are lots of Swedish foods that my sister, Sally, and I love.  Very close to the top of the list would be the Swedish waffles.

As we were driving through the Kingdom of Glass, a hand lettered sign that said  Waflår had us hitting the brakes and making a u-turn.  We were in the small town of Lessebo, and from a little house adjoining the city park we bought waffles.  In Sweden, waffles aren’t for breakfast, they’re dessert.  I’m not going to argue with that!

While we were eating, we noticed a really colorful maypole at the far end of the park.  Every maypole I’ve ever seen was covered in birch leaves, but it was quite clear that these weren’t birch leaves!

We learned from the woman selling waffles that Lessebo is home to a paper manufacturer.  In fact, they’ve been making handmade papers since 1693!  The plant was just across the street from the park.  So, what could be more perfect to use to decorate their maypole!?!

The wind was really blowing, and the sound of the paper rustling was magical.  As you can see, it was huge!

The next day, we were at the Smålands Museum, and what should they have in their lobby–a miniature version of the Lessebo maypole!

Life is good in Anna Lena Land!

Toward evening on our first full day in Sweden, Sally and I arrived in Växjö.  It’s the small city closest to the Glass Country.  It’s quite a pretty little city.

You know you’re in glass country.  Even the roundabouts have glass art in the center.

And a cutout of a glass blower on top of a local business.

And the courtyard at our hotel had this fabulous glass sculpture in the middle of a fountain.

The next morning we headed out to the different glass factories.  There used to be scores of them, but now there’s just a handful.  We tried to visit as many as possible.  Our first was Nybro.  I have several of these glass boats–perfect for serving pickled herring–but I had never seen the tiny ones.  I came home with a dozen!

Isn’t this a great display, reminiscent of a fishing village?

At another small manufacturer I snapped this photo.  I love the blue and yellow glass pieces, and they had linens to match!

Of course we visited the towns of Kosta and Boda.

And the town of Orrefors and their showroom.

There were some wonderful glass art installations.

I loved this–simple but so poignant.

The settings around the factories were beautiful.

We did a lot of shopping.  It’s always good to buy the heavy and breakable stuff early in your trip!

Before leaving Växjö we visited the glass museum.  I wish they still made these!  They’re from the 1950′s, and I love to have a whole set.

So many pretty things in Anna Lena Land!

My sister, Sally, and I just returned from two glorious weeks in Sweden.

As usual, we flew into Copenhagen, but instead of taking a short flight to Stockholm, we took the train across the Oresund Sound to Malmö.  We’d never been in southern Sweden before and thought we’d explore some new regions for us.  I was excited to cross the sound.  It’s 10 miles and some of it is a bridge, but then it disappears into the water and is a tunnel!  How they do that I can’t imagine.

Some time back, Bob and I watched a documentary on a building in Malmö called The Twisted Torso.  We could see it from the train once we were above ground again.

We got settled into our hotel, then headed out for a bite to eat.  One thing I love about Sweden is that every city has a walking street.

Isn’t this the cutest sign for the clog maker’s shop?

The next morning we rented a car and headed for the glass making area of Sweden.  We needed to stretch our legs, so stopped to see these gardens on the way.  It’s a private home, and just the gardens are open to the public.  I wish I could share with you the glorious scent of the roses.

Here’s the beautiful home.

It faces a lake.

Here’s the path that led to the lake.

The gardens closer to the lake.

It was so peaceful there.

And isn’t a stone arch like this intriguing?

They even had their own small maypole!  It was a beautiful respite during our drive.

The land of Anna Lena–it’s a magical place indeed!