Sunday 23 December 2012

Weekend Life....Winter in Stockholm

Winter in Stockholm, Sweden, December 2012.
Stockholm is beautiful at any time of year, but in winter, with snow covering the ground, buildings and trees, it is just magical (if a little chilly....-15°C/5°F when we visited at the beginning of December). Despite visiting Stockholm a few times now, I have never managed to visit Skansen, an open-air historical museum on the beautiful island of Djurgarden. This time I did. And it was stunning.

During the lead up to Christmas, Skansen hosts a traditional Christmas market where you can buy Christmas decorations, handicrafts, children's toys, wreaths and traditional Swedish festive foods such as glogg (mulled wine), sweets, pastries, cheeses, sausages and reindeer elk burgers*. Wandering around was wonderfully atmospheric: glistening icicles hung from the traditional buildings, freshly-fallen snow crunched underfoot, families danced and sang to Swedish carols around a Christmas tree, horse-drawn buggies clip-clopped by carrying children bundled up against the cold.....it was exactly the kind of white Christmas many Australians dream about experiencing at least once in their life. We are spending Christmas in rainy, grey, no-sign-of-snow London this year, so I feel especially fortunate to have experienced a few days in Stockholm: a magical, wintry wonderland.
 
*I had a little bite.....and felt terribly guilty when I had to face the majestic reindeer in the Nordic animal enclosure.

17 comments:

  1. amazing photos! merry christmas :)
    xxxFiC.

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  2. oh my! what a vision. winter suits you well.
    wonderful images

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  3. Absolutely gorgeous photos.

    Happy holidays!

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  4. What gorgeous pictures! Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

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  5. beautiful - is this even real? merry christmas and an awesome new year!

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  6. Absolutely stunning photos!

    Kate xo petite-adventures.blogspot.ca

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  7. Amazing pictures! Perfect for Christmas Eve!

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  8. @Lady Vintage - thank you!
    @Katerina - Merry Christmas to you as well - and thank you :)

    @Brigitte - thank you Brigitte. I was so excited to see so much snow + blue skies. The only other time I have seen snow and blue skies was in NYC in February 2011....Hoping for a repeat in Feb 2013!

    @Amanda - thanks so much, Amanda.

    @Brandon - thanks Brandon, and Merry Christmas to you as well.

    @Ammu - thanks! Hard to take a terrible photo when things are beautiful!

    @Kazuko - ha ha! When we arrived I was walking around saying the same thing.....along with "this is the best EVER!".

    @The Slow Pace - thank you....and yes, good for Christmas Eve when it is unseasonably warm in London (along with GREY).

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  9. MARRY CHRISTMAS

    This is my favorite weather

    Celebrity Pictures

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  10. Wow,amazing photos!


    http://shmnk.blogspot.ru/

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  11. so beautiful I would love to visit there sometime

    Collections

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  12. @Emmy Collins - Merry Christmas to you as well Emmy.

    @Shamanka - thanks!

    @Collections - I want to go to Iceland!!


    @4 Stylish Cherries - thank you!

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  13. Beautiful photos! love Stockholm.

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  14. Amazing pictures, love the mood and the light. The red house picture just killed me for some reason...

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