Sweden 2019

I think I said "beautiful" several hundred times while visiting my beautiful Sweden. Stockholm is a breathtakingly gorgeous city.....it is difficult to capture its beauty in pictures. All the details of the majestic buildings. The colors. The old cobblestone streets of Gamla Stan. The church bells ringing in the hour. Even the subway is art is Sweden. The lion statues all over Stockholm. The green parks. Lake Mälaren surrounding Stockholm.....I can go on and on. I love Sweden. I celebrated Midsommar. Spent hours talking by a lake on Midsommarafton with my friend Marie. I walked so much and it felt amazing. I love walking. This statue is on Djurgården that me and Rose-Marie walked to from Stockholms Södra and all the way back again with several detours along the way. I took a trip with Carmen out to Utö, an island in the Stockholm archipelago. Mariatorget statue of Tor slaying the sea serpent Jörmungandr. Stockholm is where I grew up and Stockholm has my heart. ❤️ I am planning to go back next spring.

My absence here was due to me spending time in the land of fika and Abba - meaning Sweden. I went back home for a while. And it was GREAT to be there. And I am sitting here now, back in the US, missing everybody, everything and Stockholm..... I was definitely ready for fika everyday! What is fika? "A relaxing coffee and cake break. Fika is often translated as "a coffee and cake break", which is kind of correct, but really it is much more than that. Fika is a concept, a state of mind, an attitude and an important part of Swedish culture." I looooove Abba (of course)! One of my fave places for delicious fika is Vete-Katten. I like the original location on Kungsgatan in Stockholm. It's been there since 1928. Not bad. My absolute favorite is prinsesstårta. Pancakes at Plantshoppen in Ösmo. In Sweden the pancakes are not like the "Swedish" crepes you get at IHOP, those are misleading. We don't eat pancakes or crepes with lingonberries and butter in Sweden. Cringe. Yummy lattes daily. So many places for fika..... More about my trip tomorrow.