Where is Kerstin?

The dog.

 

Blueberry picking on the side

Wild blueberries were everywhere in the forest when we went to pick chanterelle mushroom. You just needed to have some patience to pluck them one by one, otherwise I heard there is a scraping tool that will get all the blueberries on the branch in one scoop. A must have tool when in a Swedish forest.

 

Mushroom picking in the Swedish forest

 

For the first time in my mushroom picking history (I count 4 times), I was able to pick more than 1 mushroom! It was a true adrenaline rush (but more relaxed and magical) once you get into it. The target mushroom was the yellow chanterelle that are really yummy in white cream sauce. I was so into it,  I had to stay on for 3 hours. As I remember the plucking bit now, I already want to go back to this magical forest tomorrow.

 

 

This will all be sauted in a cream sauce pasta or risotto. Mmmmm... 

 

Our new boat!

Lysekil in western Sweden

 

The crispness of Scandinavian water is always unbeatable, even with the number of boats and people (for Sweden)!

 

 

Varberg in south west Sweden

It looks like you are walking on water, but this beach in Sweden has 10cm deep water for as long as you can see. For a Swedish water, it gets nicely warmed up during the day, and you can stay in for more than 10 minutes (or the entire day)!

Arild in southern Sweden

On the way to the ocean at a friend's summer house in lovely Skåne.

 

 

Random Danish building

There was a beautiful set of black and white buildings next to the castle hotel we stayed in Denmark. As the area was marked private, I naturally went in and took photos.  I really wonder what this place is used for today.

Danish castle hotel

We stopped by a Danish castle turned into hotel on the way to Sweden. The building was full of light and had an especially beautiful dining hall. The garden behind was exquisite with a small pond in the middle. 



There were also a number of themed houses spread out around the garden, I assume in the manner of Marie Antoinette's farm house at the Versaille. The end of the garden overlooked the ocean. Why not!

Liselund Ny Slot
Address: Langebjergvej 6, Borre, Moen 4791, Denmark

Finally, the real summer break!

For the last one week since we left Frankfurt for holiday, I've been saying today is the start of summer (everyday). But TODAY really felt like the start of my summer this year, as we finally reached the Swedish summer house where we will stay (and I will partly work from) for the next 5 weeks. Yohoo.

On the way here by car, we stopped by Hamburg, a small island in Denmark called Moen, Lund and Arild in Skåne in southern Sweden, then another summer place called Varberg in south west Sweden, and a pit stop in Gothenburg. We saw many beaches and stopped by a few different summer houses of friends and family. I never met so many parents over a few days (a nice treat to feel like a kid again)! And we also bought a boat which will arrive next week. Summer IS here!

 

Hot forest

Today was a daunting 38 degrees (celsius) in Frankfurt. This entire week has been crazy but the no air conditioner situation in northern Europe in this weather is quite something (equivalent to the cold winters of 10 degrees in Hong Kong, with no proper heating). Our genius idea was to climb up high on the hill and find a forest to get cooler air, and it worked but it was still 31 degrees in this part of Taunus called Grosser Feldberg. The top of the mountain had a peak lookout, which reminded me a little bit of Hong Kong but filled with motorbikers.

On the way back, we stopped by our favorite town in Taunus called Koenigstein. We used to go there for the crepe, strawberry, ice cream combo dessert at this restaurant that no longer exists. But now we will go for any one of the five local ice cream or eis cafes (what a nice Euro concept).