On December 27th 2013, I went to explore an enchanting land where the native giants live on almonds and lingonberries, where the buses fold in half and where liquorice is eaten with salt. I started my adventure by travelling to Orsa in Dalarna, meeting AnMal in Borlänge and her brother and his girlfriend in Mora along the way.



We did all kinds of stuff and had far too much fun to write about so I'll just post some photos and if you want to know anything, please ask.

ORSA

















There are Hobbits in Sweden too...





and moose



and in the mountains, there are skiers, bears and chandeliers made from antlers

GÖTEBORG (GOTHENBURG)



A folding bus



an old military building







two Swedish kings





some other stuff around town









the inside of a church











My photos from my lakeside walk show little of the lake











and finally, a traditional Swedish instrument

Wow, there are some beautiful pictures there, you two. I love those little thingys that looked like a midget igloo, what are they. It looks to me that you kept very busy sight seeing.
I am so glad you got over your fright from flying. I told you you would love it.

It must have been really beautiful and exciting to travel across a fascinating land like Sweden, and your photos are proof of that.
I wish I could visit this nordic country someday as well.

erisian: yaaaay!!! you've posted them . now i'm aching to go buy that card reader so i can get started on mine. i love your pictures of my two homes, dear, it's fun to see them through your eyes.

comments for curious people:
most of erisian's orsa pictures were taken in my home village, slättberg. the picture of snow actually contains moose prints, in case you didn't see. they were big ones too, larger than most you see, so mr or mrs moose must have been rather big. apart from the delicious smoked moose we ate at a party at church this was the closest we got to a moose during erisian's sweden visit.
the pictures from göteborg are from a variety of places. as you can see, though, the weather was awful. awful i say! the first picture is of one of the new trams. maybe some of the italian members here will recognise the model, because those trams were italian built. and they don't like the climate in göteborg - they are falling apart with rust already after three or four years in use and they stop every time we get snow. the old military building is in a place called kviberg. go and have a look if you come to göteborg, i think they're charming. the first of the swedish kings isn't an illustration to exactly how bad the weather was. he's actually an upsized plastic copy of a bronze statue - placed mostly under the canal water. the two statues seem to point accusingly at eachother. the church is the german church in göteborg, also known as christinae church. i've always liked looking at it from the outside but never even thought of going in and it was just because the friend that we were out to meet that day knew it would be open to visitors that we went in. i fell in love with it at once, i especially loved the windows and the chandeliers (nice job catching all the lights, by the way, erisian!) and i will post my own pictures from the church as soon as i get a problem with the uploading solved.
the traditional swedish instrument is a nyckelharpa (=key harp), which sounds a lot like a folk fiddle (only not as good as a dala fiddle, if you ask me) but is unique to scandinavia. we bought a cd from the guy who played this particulaar one, he calls himself bardus barbatus and he played really well. here's his homepage, it's in swedish and hasn't been updated since this summer, but maybe it will be of some use anyway: http://bardusbarbatus.com/#home

Fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing.

Thank you everyone. The two "hobbit homes" are, I believe, some kind of storage. AnMal will know more about them. On the plane, when it first sped up, I was terrified but once it had climbed above the clouds I was so awestruck by the breathtaking view that I forgot I was ever scared. The only thing that scared me after that was on the way back to England when the plane suddenly and steeply banked to turn into England.

AnMal - I'm looking forward to seeing yours. You and your family made me feel so welcome - you're a wonderful bunch!

All the photos look so nice, and much different from what I'm accustom to seeing.

I have relatives in Norway, and went there many years ago for a visit. I was 14 years old at the time, needless to say... I didn't appreciate the long flights out of NYC (yes flights) nor the visit.

I don't remember much, except lots of "butter and pancakes" and being asked to get milk from a nearby dairy farm.

I'm 50+ years old now, and have an entirely different appreciation today.

Thanks for the photos Erisian and the dialogue AnMal, it must have been fun time.

The photos show a side of Sweden which hardly sees. Thanks for sharing them. I hope you make more trips like this and always take good pictures!

Looks like you both had an enchanting time.
And my God what beautiful countryside!

I do have to say i'm a bit jealous of the smoked moose you had.

Glad you had a good time Erisian.
Are your photos on Photobucket as well? For some reason I cannot see them completely here. (Never had trouble before)

Thanks everybody.

Rod - don't be jealous of the moose, it's dead! Seriously though, if I had both Moose and venison, I would give the venison to my cats if I had any! That moose was soooooo beautiful.

sallyanne - when I get to the library this week I will post these on Photobucket. With Mobile broadband they take a long time to unravel, especially PNGs.I should have saved them as jpg really and I wish I had made them smaller as well. You will get to see them, I promise.

mmmm...pulled moose barbeque.

Great

Thanks for sharing!

Those wonderful pictures make me want to retire early and go back to Italy,unfortunatly I can't afford it yet
Thank You for posting them

Nice pictures and a familiar countryside. I's interesting how I can often note at a glance if a picture is taken in Sweden it's something about the light in combination with how the trees look.
Glad you had fun visiting!
.
Griatch

I know what you mean. I recognised it from photos in books and on the internet. There isn't anywhere quite like it.

sallyanne and anybody else who couldn't see these photos before, the JPGs are now in photobucket.

http://s945.photobucket.com/user/erisian2390/library/Erisian%20In%20Sweden?sort=2&page=1

Sweden is so pretty!!!
I love those little "Hobbit Houses"!

Looks like you have a lovely time with a lovely lady.