I like celebrating birthdays (privately, of course). For one, it’s a reminder that ‘hey, you’re still alive, keep living‘. It is also a milestone. In my line of work where I encounter people actually dying and incapacitated, reaching a certain age is a gift that should be celebrated (however way you want to – go shopping, throw a party, travel, etc.). So, for my 32nd birthday, Carl and I went on a long weekend trip to Sweden to visit a castle and find other interesting stuff on the way. We brought Missy with us, of course. ❤
We left Friday noon and stayed in Trollhättan, an amazing city which we visited before. I remember the waterfalls, the locks and the huge dams, the church, and the SAAB Museum. This time, we only went for a little stroll in the city (photos above), visited the Trollhättan’s Park of Fame, walked along the river and admired the flowering trees. And oh, I had my hair straightened with keratin treatment for my birthday. I enjoyed a couple of weeks with straight hair, at least. 🙂
Then, we headed back to the hotel to recharge. I liked the Clarion Collection Hotel Kung Oscar! It’s pet friendly and they had food bowls ready for Missy. They also served dinner buffet and breakfast.
The next day, well, was my birthday! My birthday fell on a Saturday this year, which was cool. After enjoying some breakfast, Carl and Missy surprised me with some fresh flowers and gifts. My mother-in-law also greeted me, as well as my friends and family in PH. My heart was full 🙂
Missy seemed elated with the flowers and gifts, like, is this for me? is this edible? what’s happening?! haha 🙂
I wanted to visit a castle, and on the way there, we had the chance to stop by the city of Lidköping, located by Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake. Several Swedish cities have “köping” in their names, pronounced as shopping for strangers to the Swedish tongue, like me, and it always reminds me of shopping. Well, it originated from the Scandinavian word for market town, so, I guess it was where people have gathered and met to trade or buy-and-sell since Viking times. More about the etymology of the word here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ping.
On the way, we needed a quick toilet break and happened to stop by this rest area (rastplass) with an interesting memorial. This SAAB 37 Viggen aircraft was installed on road 44 between the city of Lidköping and Grästorp in memory of flight major Anders Linner (1950-2017).
Now, back to Lidköping. Lidköping is a municipality with around 40,000 inhabitants (2021), and like Drammen, divided in the east and west section by a river called Lidan. It lies on the Läckö-Kinnekulla peninsula (now, you have an hint as to which castle we were visiting on my birthday :)), on the coast of Lake Vänern. We explored the city a bit, saw an interesting water tower, parks, and loppemarked / loppis or flea market in a private house.
The old water tower (photo above), was built between 1899-1902 and designed by architect Ernst Torulf. The base was made of concrete, and the tower of cheek-hill limestone. It was taken out of use in 1967.
Flea markets in Scandinavia is very, very popular, specially in summer. From big-scale town flea markets to fundraising flea markets (like in schools and churches) and private flea markets. We just happened to pass by the sign while we were exploring and decided to give the seller a moral boost by checking it out. Sadly, we didn’t (and still don’t) have cash and/or the Swedish mobile paying app.
Apparently, Saturday markets in the historical town square of Lidköping has been a tradition for a very long time, since the 1600s. I only wanted to see if they have nice postcards, but to our surprise, locals were outside in the main square, and there were shopping stalls with all kinds of whatever – clothes, plants, antiquities, pots, etc. There were also food stalls and trucks. I can still remember the Swedish pancake we bought from the truck – it was delicious! My new favorite 🙂
The town square was dedicated to Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1622-1686), a Swedish statesman and military man who, according to sources online, held three of the five offices considered as the Great Officers of the Kingdom – Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Chancellor and Lord High Steward. It must had been nice for him, to actually find his purpose in life. Here’s a status of the man in the square, followed by pictures of the market. It looked abandoned, but I was just good in excluding people from the photo. 🙂 The red fancy building with a clock is the Old Town Hall.
My husband knows I love window-shopping. I could go hours without buying anything. 🙂 So, this was the start of my birthday roadtrip. Up next, the castle, etc. For now, I need to rest a bit. My head is throbbing from the night shifts. I haven’t switched back my body rhythm, since I still have 3 remaining night shifts for this week. It’s 03:13 am. 🙂
#spreadloveandpositivevibes
ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS ENTRY ARE MINE.
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