Category Archives: Sweden

A Pink Night In A Beautiful Castle In Stockholm

10 Saturday Jun 2017

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Yesterday I have had a very surprising fancy experience in a place I’ve never been to in Stockholm, which I probably wasn’t going to discover if it wasn’t for Justin Bieber.

I had to travel to Stockholm for the weekend and when I looked for a room in the usual places we stay in when we travel to Stockholm, I was surprised to see they were fully booked. So I looked on Booking.com and at my surprise, 98% of the hotels in and around Stockholm were fully booked. After a short googling I understood why, Justin Bieber will have a concert in Stockholm this weekend.

But, Jonathan had an idea to expand our search and finally, after a while more we found a castle/hotel that looked incredible in the photos and seemed to have great reviews! So we booked a deluxe room in what I might call a very glam design boutique hotel. Yes, that’s it! That’s a good description.

Görvälns Slott is a castle located in the North of Stockholm, in Järfalla more precisely. The castle have been successfully transformed and adapted to a boutique hotel with amazing rooms, each category of room offering a different story and design. I really liked the concept and most of all, I really liked the quality of everything in the hotel, from decorational pieces and the original furniture, to the amenities and fabulous Mille Notti bed sheets. And the views and surroundings of the place…breathtaking! Since it’s located quite in the middle of the nature, near to a lake, you can imagine the quietness and relaxation I have experienced. To me, this was the perfect opportunity to take a hot bath in the big bath tub with views over the nature with a glass of wine and chill music. After which I have slept like a baby in the super comfortable bed. Yes, I want there again. To sleep and relax.

How To Make A Flower Crown – Swedish Midsummer Celebration – Video

23 Thursday Jun 2016

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This weekend it’s a big one in Sweden, probably the most loved holiday of the year is happening on Saturday: Midsummer (Midsommar – sv)

This holiday is a very serious celebration for the Swedish people, shops and everything else are closing the day before, everyone leaves town and visits the countryside, supplies of food and drinks are made in time; in a few words, it’s like a summer Christmas.

Midsummer is the announcement of summer – even though the name suggests the middle of it – and the beginning of vacation for almost everyone in Sweden. As I noted when I moved here, a majority of Sweden takes 5 weeks of full vacation during July.

How is Midsommar celebrated?

Most of the people are gathering with the family on the countryside, but many also take the opportunity of free time to travel outside the country. Hence the price of the flights gets higher than usual during this period.

The 2 most representative celebration tools for this holiday is the DIY Midsommar flower crown and the Maypole, a symbol of fertility, around which people dance during the daytime. But check this funny video which explains more than I could and is very entertaining.

How to create your own flower crown?

The thing is, the Midsummer holiday in Sweden is very similar to the Romanian holiday Sânzienele which is celebrated at the same time. Around the villages, girls are dressing in white, pick flowers which they’ll later use to make a beautiful crown, dance around the bonfire by night. Pretty similar to the Swedish tradition. Except here in Sweden is a very popular moment of the summer. If you want to know more about the Romanian holiday, read Mircea Eliade’s “The Forbidden Forest” which brings reference to it and it’s a breathtaking novel.

So, I looked all over the internet to find an inspirational DIY flower crown video and here you have one created by the girls from LEAF. Why use the Snapchat filter, when you can create your own crown? Even if you don’t celebrate this holiday, this piece is really fashionable for the summer, so go ahead and watch the video and let me know if you’ve tried making it. I might, this year, actually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpBS4QyEsQ

Glad Midsommar! 

L.

 

My beautiful girls in Sweden

22 Monday Dec 2014

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The preparations for the Christmas holidays occupied all my time the last week and I haven’t been able to post here about the visit of my beautiful friends in Sweden. They have been here for only 4 days but we had such an amazing time together!!! They came all the way from Zurich and Bucharest. We all needed this “girls reunion” at the end of the year, since we all had such a busy year, full of projects and private matters. We first thought of meeting in Bodrum to an amazing detox center, but I had a last minute project to finish so instead they decided to surprise me with a visit here in Sweden. How lovely friends I have! We had 4 days full of discussions, laughter, drinks, joy, and they got to Continue reading →

Lucia in Sweden

13 Saturday Dec 2014

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Today is Lucia day in Sweden, one of Sweden’s favorite holidays! When I moved here, I didn’t know what this day is about, but then I understood is the same celebration of Saint Lucia as in Italy. There are 2 versions of the story here, one of them is that Lucia was a female martyr in the beginning of the christianity around year 200 a.C and this is a Christian tradition as in Italy. The other one is that she was the mistress of the devil and this is a scary tradition, as the legend says that during lucia night animals gets possessed and bad spirits arise. Lucia is celebrated in Italy, Malta and Scandinavia.

Lucia Traditions in Sweden

Everyone eats and bakes Lussekatter – saffron buns – and pepparkaka, and enjoy them with glögg. More about glögg and pepparkaka, here.

Procession of Santa Lucia. Children dress up in white gowns, wear candles on the head and sing Lucia traditional songs.

This is a very funny video about Lucia Day in Sweden. Enjoy!

 

5 things you need to know about Christmas in Sweden

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Hmm..this year, time went so fast! One moment I am in Mykonos, enjoying the waves, the sun and the sand, next I wake up in bed freezing while outside are 0 degrees Celsius. At least if it would be snow… I’m a summer person, so winter is my worst enemy, but there is one thing that summer can’t replace: The winter holidays!! And here in Sweden is the best place to spend that period!

I love the smell of cinnamon and apple cakes, kanelbullar, glögg or hot chocolate and of course the amazing pepparkakor! These are Swedish traditional winter goodies. Mmmmmm…

Last year we celebrated Christmas at home, in Jönköping, with all the family. Mine were traveling here to spend the holidays with us also. It was my first Christmas in Sweden, so I didn’t actually know how Sweden celebrates, what are the traditions, the Christmas food, etc.. So after doing Continue reading →

Next weekend in Stockholm: The plan!

27 Monday Oct 2014

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Soo soo happy with a big “H”!! Thursday are coming some of my friends to visit me in Stockholm!! It’s a big deal, since all my friends from Romania are avoiding Scandinavia because of the cold weather rumors that are surrounding this region. Well, I prepared a whole schedule for all their weekend in Stockholm, in order to make sure they will have a lot of fun, enjoy the city with all the obvious interesting things in it and hopefully they will return soon!!
I arranged a table in the most exclusive club in Stockholm on friday, V-Wall by Sturecompagniet, preceded by a delicious dinner in their restaurant Grand Escalier, and for saturday evening I plan on taking them to one of my favorite places Nosh and Chow, which is a restaurant/bar/lounge concept with reaaaally good food and amazing atmosphere! The daytimes we will spend them shopping, walking around the beautiful streets of Stockholm and so much more! I will come back with pictures!!

Until then,

With love from Stockholm,

Lorellay

                                         Weekend in Stockholm

Weekend in stockholm

Weekend in Gothenburg

23 Tuesday Sep 2014

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Heyy darlings! I had a great weekend in Gothenburg, even if I came back with a huge cold. 🙁 My week started with 2 liters of hot lemon & ginger tea instead of coffee. Anyway, the day spent in Gothenburg it was worth a cold. I had a great time in Magasinsgatan area, where there are a few cute and cozy vintage shops. I like vintage articles. I always imagine there is a story behind every single piece. Probably that’s also the reason I can`t say goodbye to old clothes that I will probably never wear again. I get bored fast by my clothes, but anyway I can’t give them away. Same with accessories, shoes, bags, magazines and books. One of these days, I`ll probably need to clean up and divorce them.

Girl on the streets of gothenburgFlower buckets

In all that storytelling environment in the vintage shops, I found something that really blew my mind. Between the John Lenon style glasses, leather cases, flower-power times ponchos and hippie era accessories, I found an amazing writing machine which was so stylish and lovable. A perfect decorative item for my home office. Of course, only for decoration, since I cannot actually write contracts for my clients or blog with it. 🙂

Gothenburg vintage shopsGothenburg vintage shops

My heart broke when the seller told me that the item is decorative for them as well, not for sale. So, I left the shop empty-handed. At least, this time.

Later, we had lunch in Da Matteo, a very cozy coffee shop in the middle of Magasinsgatan, with a really nice garden facing the sun where you can enjoy probably the best latte in Gothenburg.

Cafe latteIMG_2681

It`s rare you have such a nice weather in Sweden during September, so we took advantage of that and walked all day long. I passed even The Garden Society of Gothenburg (Trädsgårdsföreningen), which is one of the best-preserved 19th century parks in Europe and is spectacular! It is, in my opinion, a must see in Gothenburg, mostly in the beginning of autumn when you have the privilege of walking on the carpet of golden and copper-colored leaves.

Coloured Bycicle parkingGothenburgTrädgårdföreningen i Göteborg / The garden of society in GothenburgGarden View in Göteborg

Don`t forget: If you are traveling to Gothenburg, I would be happy to answer your questions regarding places or activities over there.

With love from Sweden

Lorellay