Friday, December 20, 2013

Trip to Sweden (part 2)

Here's another look at our week-long trip to Sweden's capital city, Stockholm!

Day 4 : Garbage hill and Södermalm 

On the Saturday, I was feeling a little under the weather, so we took our time getting ready and set out for the day.

Since we were staying with family friends a little outside the center of Stockholm, we were able to explore around the area a little bit.  One of the notable things was a hill made up of construction waste/extra and unneeded material.  They even made it into a very small ski hill.  There was obviously no snow there yet, it being September and all, so we just climbed up it and enjoyed the nice view of Stockholm from the top.


Then we walked back down the hill on the other side and ended up in a very nice residential area surrounded by water.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm.


We then took a small ferry boat to cross the water into Södermalm. This neighbourhood is quite trendy with many good restaurants and eclectic shops.  There is also a church and a park to visit while there.

We stopped to have a snack/lunch at a cute little cafe.


Afterwards, we walked a bit more and took the elevator up to have a gorgeous view of the center of Stockholm.




Day 5: Hermans café, Vasamuseet (Vasa museum) and Grona Lunds Tivoli

For lunch we made it to Herman's café, a wonderful vegetarian buffet restaurant with an amazing view of Stockholm. The food was so delicious! I would recommend anyone visiting Stockholm to have a meal at Herman's.

After lunch we took another ferry boat to Djurgarden, one of the many islands that make up the vast city of Stockholm.  On this island there are several museums, such as the Vasa museum, the Abba musuem, the maritime museum, Skansen open-air museum and an amusement park.

When in Stockholm it is very important to make time to visit the Vasa museum.  333 years ago, a Swedish war ship sank on its maiden voyage, in the middle of the harbour in Stockholm.  In the 1970s the ship was finally removed from the harbour and placed in a museum which can now be visited by tourists.



The museum was quite impressive and the ship itself is amazingly preserved.

After the museum we decided to have a little fun at the amusement park.  There are no pictures from there because we were too busy having a blast on all the roller coasters.

Day 6: Gamla Stan, Fika, traditional Swedish restaurant

On our last day in Stockholm we had to walk around the old town, Gamla Stan.  We spent most of the morning and afternoon walking around, shopping for fun little souvenirs and taking lots of pictures.



Around 2pm we decided it was time to have a little bite to eat.  We made our way to a very popular Swedish cafe to have fika, which is a Swedish tradition of having a snack in the middle of the afternoon.  I found that custom quite pleasant ;).  The cafe was called Sturekatten.  We ate a platter of Swedish savory snack foods and a princess cake for dessert, a traditional Swedish dessert.  Sadly I have no pictures because we were too hungry to bother taking out our cameras.  It was all very delicious though, you can trust me on that.

That evening we had a lovely supper with our hosts at a traditional Swedish restaurant in Södermalm.  On the menu there were the ever popular Swedish meatballs, which I didn't order or course.  I chose a fish, which was served with potatoes.  Everything was lovely.

Day 7: Trip home 

On the Tuesday we had to make it back to France.  So we packed our suitcases, took the bus back to the airport and boarded our flight home.


Overall it was a wonderful trip, filled with delicious food, amazing sights, and even more wonderful people.  Thank you to Maria for being the best of hosts !!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Trip to Sweden (part 1)


I know this is a little late, but you know what they say...

Anyways, time to get to the point. 

At the end of September my boyfriend and I went to Stockholm for a week.  I hadn't started my new job yet so I had time to spare, and being September, it was a splendid time to visit a colder part of the globe.  

So we arrived in Stockholm on September 17th via Ryanair, which is a great airline to use to travel within Europe inexpensively. 

We were very lucky to be able to stay with family friends so there will be no hotel reviews in this post.

Day 1: Skansen Open-air museum 
View of Stockholm from Skansen
Inside Skansen
Animals of Skansen, the elk

Day 2 : Cruise to Mariehamn, Finland and back 



On our second day in Finland we had booked a day cruise across the Baltic sea to the Åland Islands of Finland and back.  We lucked out because that day it was raining, so we ended up being quite comfy inside, warm and dry.  It being a big ship, there was a  spa on board, which we took advantage of, of course.






Day 3: Day trip to Uppsala 

On the Friday, we took a train to the nearby university town of Uppsala.  Much smaller than Stockholm, but very pretty with a distinctly Swedish vibe.  Again we lucked out, because we had sunny and comfortably warm weather to walk and explore around Uppsala.

We arrived in Uppsala just before noon, so we were quite hungry.  We found this lovely little vegetarian buffet  called Frojas sal right across from the train station.  We paid 80 crowns, which is about 12 dollars, each for an unlimited amount of yummy swedish/asian vegetarian dishes.  All was very good.

Then we met up with a friend of mine, who showed us around her town.



We went to the botanical gardens and it was stunning! A definite must-see for anyone planning a trip to Uppsala.



There is also a cute little river that runs through the town with pedestrian paths all along it.  It was very pleasant to stroll along those paths before dinnertime.



More from our trip to come in another post so stay tuned :)



































Sunday, December 15, 2013

My Top 5 Fave Fall Fashion and Beauty Trends


Every year at this time there are certain elements that become quite popular and on trend.  This season I have been loving five things, fashion and beauty related, and I will be sharing them with you.
1) Dark lips
I’m not talking about any regular red lips. I’m talking about DARK lips. Now let’s not start assuming I have joined a heavy metal band, oh no! I mean I am loving dark purple/plum lips.  The new addition to my dark lipstick collection is Rebel by MAC. It looks quite scary in the tube, but it can be applied lightly to give a dark fuschia lip or it can be applied with a heavier hand to give a dark sultry lip.  A definite must for this season.
2) Big sweaters
As winter approaches the weather changes and takes a turn for the worst.  This means that the days become shorter, the wind stronger, and the motivation to dress nicely disappears and gives way to a need for warmth.  My love for fashion still holds manages to peek through with some big warm sweaters.  They are nice and warm and can be paired with a statement necklace, a pretty scarf or nice boots to make the outfit fashionable.  I have a couple favorite sweaters, one is an off-white sweater from Zara and the other is a salmony pink sweater from DailyLook.  
3) Ankle booties
I just recently purchased my first pair of ankle boots. Usually I’m more of a riding boots type of girl, but I’ve been loving wearing my ankle boots for the past couple months. I wear them with jeans or leggings and they look great.  Mine are from DailyLook.  
4) Brown and purple nails
Having dark colors on the nails is another recurring trend for the fall and I have been loving painting mine in dark purples and nude browns lately. I find that these colors add a little extra color to an outfit, or even to the skin.  Since summer is over and we don’t get as much sun, our skin pales and is in need of some warmth.  Having colored nails is a way to liven up any look.  My favorite nail polish for fall is Suzie and the seven Dusseldorfs from OPI. 
5) Beanies
Ok, I must admit that I don’t actually own a beanie.  I have however tried several on in stores and have been loving the look on others. I have yet to find the perfect color for me (as I have blonde hair and I find that white beanies make it look yellow).  My next purchase will definitely be a beanie, most likely from HandM. 
There you go, these are my favorite trends this season.  I hope you all are keeping warm with some hot tea and a blanket on the couch while reading this.  Cheers!

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