Frozen lake close to Askersund...

A quiet and peaceful place that gives such tranquility in these winter days...incredible!

Askersund...a charming little town that lies on lake, very popular during summertime when Swedes come to enjoy the water, take walks and soak up as much sun and warmth they can.

We visited Laxo to see the factory of ESAB, a company where our father used to work for many years, before he started traveling all over the world.

Let's hop to Stockholm now!

Saluhall- an interesting & beautiful closed market full with tasty delights.

Even though we spent only a few hours in Stockholm, we walked through the old city-Gamla stan, the centre of the city, the boardwalk and we arrived to Skansen- the open-air museum of the whole history of Sweden, where you can also find the Astrid Lindgren House, the Abba Museum, the beautiful museum of the Nordic countries and many many other attractions...we know what to do and visiti next time we are here. ;)

And what do the Swedes eat?

Christmas sweet specialties.
Rice on milk with cinnamon is a dish that Swedes eat on Christmas Eve. They put one almond in the pot and whoever gets it, is suppoused to get married in the upcoming year. Just for the record...I got the almond! :D
Lussebullar are swedish saffron pastries, oftenly prepared with raisins.
Ostakaka is a cheesecake with bitter almonds served with raspberry jam, or Lingon jam. Lingon is also served with meatballs. THIS IS THE BEST CAKE EVER!!!
You can also see the pepparkakor, gingerbread cookies.
 

This is what we ate on Christmas Eve...

What struck me most is that they don't focus on food and overeating, but they put family and closeness first. A stress-free Christmas endeed!
Before we started to eat, the hosts sang a funny song, August & Lotta, in which everybody participated and at the end we drank a hard drink and immediately after that ate a piece of fish.

Fish fish fish....in everything! Meatballs with lingon jam.
 

Salted crab cake & melon icecream in one of the malls nearby. My niece reccomended so I had to try it.

Swedes eat pizza with cabbage salad...

Caffe Espresso in Stockholm...

Lunch at Va Piano in Stockholm where chefs prepare the pasta you like directly in front of you in just a few minutes. Fast food with pasta...a great place!

That's it...our trip to Sweden briefly. A wonderful journey in an even grater country! Hope to make more reports from Sweden! :)