Sunday 7 August 2022

An Extra Holiday

On Friday, 15 July, my brother went back home to Karlstad again - without me. As a sort of transition, before he left, we went for a walk downtown - my usual walk along the river - and had lunch at the restaurant in the Park. Then walked back a slightly different route (seeing a bit more of the park); and when we got back, he logged out of his parking app (if you're wondering what he's doing in photo 3), stepped into his car - and was gone.  

Felt a bit empty at first after he left, after having spent a whole week together!

Three weeks later, I'm asking myself what I've been doing since I came back home... Feels like the answer is: Making the most of a one week holiday by afterwards spending three more weeks blogging about it!

The Upside of that (or Downside, depending on how one prefers to look at it?) is that I don't really have much else of interest to catch up with now - as blogging about three weeks of post-holiday blogging would seem rather superfluous... ;-)

I did have one Extra Holiday during those weeks, though - which also generated some Extra Photos:

On Thursday, 28 July, my friend E and I went on a one-day (or half-day) road trip to some touristy places out of town - but not too far away.

Our first stop was at an old mill that has recently been turned into a popular countryside café. We had lunch there, and as it was a nice day, were able to sit outside in their garden.




Our second stop was at Torpa Stenhus, a well-preserved medieval castle near lake Åsunden.

The first stone house was built around 1470 as a fortress against the Danes.The staircase tower was added in the middle of the 16th century. The castle has a well-preserved Renaissance interior  (we didn't go inside on this occasion, though - they only show the house on guided tours). The castle is best known as the home of the noble family Stenbock: Catherine Stenbock was the third and last consort of King Gustav I of Sweden, back in the 1500s.


View from down by the lake

There's a restaurant in this old barn; but as we had just eaten, we didn't go in there either.

Another popular destination nearby is Hofnäs Herrgård, an old manor. It's mentioned already in documents from 1526. The manor house burned down in 1924 but was rebuilt according to the old drawings. Since the 1960s the estate belongs to the City of Borås and is a popular recreation area, with a restaurant/café up in the manor house (we had tea/coffee there), a large park area, and a little beach down by the lake.




There are also little arts & crafts shop at both Torpa and Hofsnäs. I had not intended to buy anything, but we both enjoy having a look around in those kinds of shops... In this case, with the result of me falling in love with a little owl, who got to come home with me...

 

 
I put him on the window sill for the photograph, to give you an idea of his size. He's rather heavy and compact for his size, though - made of concrete, rather than ceramics.


16 comments:

  1. Great fun, also touristy! Which is a good thing, I think. Yes, after spending a week with your brother, and doing so much, there must have been a big sigh of emptiness! Glad you had lots to blog about, and I really enjoyed it all (commenting most days)!

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    1. Thanks for following and commenting, Barbara :)

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  2. I remember this blue horse & carriage sculpture from quite awhile ago, it is awesome! I love your owl, I would never have known it is cement!!

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    1. Ginny, I didn't know either - I had to ask the cashier what it was made of!

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  3. Looks like you had a great time with your brother and you saw some lovely scenery.

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    1. Amy my brother and I had a good week - and my friend and I a good day :)

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  4. Isn't it nice to sometimes play tourist in or around one's own town? You and your friend chose a beautiful day, and I guess it wasn't too hot or you wouldn't have gone on the trip.

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    1. Meike, we were lucky and had perfect weather for that kind of outing!

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  5. I have a concrete elephant that is the door stop in bob's bathroom, since the door is hung crooked and swings shut all by itself. glad you had a nother chance to visit with a friend and visit places you can't walk to. I need to do some of this and yet I don't.

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    1. Sandra, after two summers of going nowhere, it's been good to see a bit of the countryside again this year :)

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  6. Another enjoyable and interesting day out in perfect weather. So many of the places you've visited have been in such beautiful surroundings - the advantage of living in a country with so many lakes - you're never too far from water.
    I love the little owl. Years ago, I studied ceramics and made quite a few owls - I found them pleasing to work on.

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    1. CG, the Swedish countryside really is beautiful in summer :)

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  7. Such beautiful pics, and the day looks like it was amazing to be out and about. Isn't it amazing that a building can still be standing or have parts standing from 1470? I love it.

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    1. Thanks Pam - and welcome to my blog, don't think I've seen you commenting here before? (or recently, anyway)

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  8. You're fortunate to have such lovely places to visit not too far from home. Sitting here on a cold, dull and dreary day it's a real pleasure to see your summery scenes.

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    1. Thanks Pauline :) I know I'll be feeling the same about views from NZ when it's our turn to be in the winter season...!

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