Yesterday we spent the day up in Stockholm, taking care of errands and also visiting a Christmas market at one of the castles. It was quite a tiring day, not helped by the miserable weather, with wind and torrential rain, but even so we didn't let it dampen our spirits. Despite the chill, the long drive there and back and the darkness, we had a really nice day.

We began with taking Lambi to the vet for her booster shot for rabies. We intend to travel to Finland next summer, so she must be up to date with all of her shots and these must be on her pet passport. As you can imagine she was thrilled (NOT!) to be back at the vet, but fortunately they were very quick today and we were in and out in less than 10 minutes. Now we wait 120 days, when they need to take a blood test to check she has enough antibodies. What a lot of palaver for an animal which is most likely going to never leave my lap, but we must get it done.

Her vet is in the northern part of town, so it was a quick trip from there to Märsta for a quick shop at Eurostop and then on to the castle of Steninge, nestled on the shores of Lake Mälaren.




This is the castle itself - a Baroque palace surrounded by formal gardens built in 1705 by the nobleman Carl Gyllenstierna and Queen Hedvig Eleonora. It was designed by the royal architect Tessin the Younger (who designed several palaces and churches around Sweden). It was getting dark by the time we arrived after lunch (the darkness falls very early so far north at this time of the year), but we could see that unlike the market we visited last year at Vadstena Castle, this was not held in the castle itself, but in the a historic stone stables across the park.




You can see over the entrance that the stables were built in 1873. They had lovely fresh Christmas wreaths on either side of the door to welcome us there and we hurried across from the car park to get out of the freezing rain. I was quite glad to see that the big coach loads of people were preparing to leave, which meant that it was quiet and not too crowded inside. On a day like today, I really appreciate that this is an indoor market. I love to wander the outdoor markets in the snow, but not the in the rain and mud.

There were two levels in the building and while we waited for the bulk of the bus trip people to leave, we wandered around the ground floor area which is touted as an outlet or factory sale. They make their own candles here and I took a look at their candle making technique as well as the finished products.




I also wandered around looking at some of the so-called outlet goods. In Australia, we are very familiar with factory direct selling. One can usually buy the goods from the maker at a much reduced price as you cut out the extra costs to transport the goods, the wholesaler's and the retailer's profit. Many of us Adelaidians can recall outings to the Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale for the wonderful cellar door sales of wine or perhaps a drive through the Adelaide Hills, stopping to buy wooden toys at Gumeracha, apple cider at Lobethal, chocolates from Melba's at Woodside, cheese from Strathalbyn, jams, pickles, chutneys or mustards freom Beerenburg's at Hahndorf or luscious cherries from Stella Creek.




But this idea of true factory door sales seem to have escaped the Swedes. I've been to several makers of sweets, chocolates, pottery, pickles, wooden products and found that the goods were more expensive bought at the door than the same product on sale in a normal retail outlet. I'm not sure how this works. I told L-G why I thought it ought to be cheaper, but he thinks that the big retailers probably negotiate a cheaper price from the manufacturer. It's only us poor consumers who get to pay the dear price.




So I looked at the lovely glassware (more expensive than the identical glasses I looked at last week in Cervera), place mats also more expensive than what I had recently paid for them. So, I just browsed and looked at the vast array of jams, honeys, mustards and debated about buying some tistron (blackcurrant) jam or maybe the much loved hjorton (cloudberry) jam but at 70kr for a tiny 113g jar, it was a bit expensive.




There was also some rather intriguing pink honey which I was curious about, but again it was quite expensive and i really can't justify spending that amount of money on two or three tablespoons of honey. I did find the cutest lamb stool for a tiny child. Or maybe a footstool for me. I begged and begged, but when I was forced to admit that it cost a whopping 800kr, L-G made me put it back. I tell you, he's a hard man....




It reminds me of last year when I found this cute Christmas wreath at Borensberg - isn't it the best?




But he had to point out the rather inconvenient fact that we already had a wreath, newly purchased by yours truly only the week before. And he didn't think much of my brilliant idea to build a second front door to accommodate the new wreath, calling it frivolous. Oh well....

Having looked around enough, we made our way upstairs to the beautiful display of Christmas goodies. There was everything here you could possibly desire in the way of decorations, gifts, home furnishings, food and drink to make a memorable Swedish Christmas... Oh where to begin?




As dusk fell outside, we admired the table settings, looked at an interesting red and white ceramic glögg serving set that we were tempted to buy, but decided against it in the end and will continue to use our copper set. The crowd had thinned and in places we felt quite alone, looking at whatever we wanted at our leisure. Beautiful and low key Christmas carols were playing in the background, everything was stylishly displayed in colour themes for every taste and there were no high pressure sales people.




I spent a long time looking at the stuffed toys, selecting a cute little green frog and blanket for a friend's young son (his mum loves green!) and one of these charming teddies (pictured below) for L-G's grandson. I have been looking in vain for a nice teddy for him, but until now, everything looked a bit tacky. These were lovely, soft, warm and cuddly - just like little Viggo. So I will wrap it up to put under the tree for Christmas.




I also found some very cute Christmas stockings. I've always loved Christmas stockings and my own children had beautiful hand made ones with their names lovingly embroidered on them. The ones here were so colourful and such fun, decorated with adorable little felt mice climbing up the sides. I wanted to buy one for the baby, but then decided that perhaps the parents might like to choose something they liked themselves. I tried to see if we should perhaps buy one for Lambi, but I gathered that was not going to happen, so the stocking went back with the others.




Across the way, I saw some lovely little Christmas cats, jolly tomte figures, candle holders, cards and a whole display of stuffed ginger bread men that I coveted but dared not mention. All of it was beautifully crafted and everything glowed. If you're tired of the idea of commercialism taking over this holiday period and would like to get back to the idea of a real traditional Christmas you can't beat something like this. The gifts are not mass-produced but rather craftwork of real quality with ceramics, baskets, straw craft, ornaments, glassware, woodwork, wrought-iron goods, silver jewellery and various textile products.




Along the other half of the upper story were the food stalls, with a plethora of tasty Christmas presents, jewellery, angels, Christmas trees and a large selection of Christmas decorations. My favourite was the cheese stall (no surprise there) where you could taste before you decided which cheese to buy for Christmas or perhaps to give away. Another stall which caught my eye sold really unusual door wreaths made from nuts and natural products. They were beautifully made and one can imagine the time and energy that went into each of them. Yes, I know, I know, we already HAVE a wreath....




There was a another stall selling glögg with free tastings, a stall with different sausages, another with baked goods, beestings puddings, chutneys, hazelnut pesto, biscotti, different types marmalade, hand made chocolates and all around us was plenty of Christmas spirit and the air fragrant with the smell of mulled wine, spruce and sugared almonds.




There was also a gingerbread house competition where you could vote for your favourite house. We chose this one and each put in a vote.




While it may not look as dolled up as others you may have seen, but this was made by a group of very young children and I think they did a fabulous job. It is based on the book you see pictured to the left, called Hatt-Stugan (the Hat Cottage) and is a Swedish classic children's story, written by Elsa Beskow in the 1930s. It tells the story of three children who live with their mum in a hat - a bit reminiscent of the English tale of the woman who lived in a shoe. It's a charming story and one that L-G, who recognised what it was immediately, remembers fondly from his childhood and I think you'll agree the children have done an excellent job with the hat.

We then made our way downstairs to the glass blowing workshop. Apparently you can book a time with these guys and they will help you create your own design and make it yourself. But putting me and fire together is a prelude to disaster, we thought it was safer to watch the process from a safe distance.




We watched the glass blower remove the molten glass from the furnace. Then he hurried over to his work space. And I do mean hurry!




He then began to shape the piece he wanted to make. I was guessing that it might be a vase, based on the mold he was using to swivel the red hot mass in.




Once he was satisfied with it, he stood and began inflating the molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of a long blowpipe.




At this stage, it just looks like some kind of misshapen pink blobby thing. I was still guessing it would be a vase of some kind. He then took a thick cloth and began to shape the glass by twirling the pipe with one hand and keeping the blob cupped in his other hand.




Once happy with the general shape, he sat down and took up some shaping tongs and began to create a narrower neck, all the time keeping the glass rotating.




As it cooled, the glass began to change colour to a pretty milky white with a blue swirly pattern. Another glassmaker came over with a hot rod and positioned it carefully on the base of the piece.




Then with a skilled and accurate blow, the piece was snapped from the neck area, with the second glassmaker keeping it moving round and around.




For us it was quite fascinating to watch, but for them, it was another day at the office as they casually chatted about the latest computer games while we watched the miracle going on in front of us. Then it was time to add the handle to what I could now see was a glass water jug.




More molten glass was added by the second glassmaker and when the first man deemed there was enough, he clipped the stream off with huge scissors.




Now all that was left to do was to shape the rapidly cooling glass into a suitable handle, which he did with remarkable speed and dexterity.




After that display, I was sure there was no way I could even begin to contemplate making a Marie original. I have nightmares just thinking of what it would look like. Nothing at all like the dizzying array of their glassware on sale in every shape and imaginable colour.




Bu now, it was 4pm, pitch black outside and still raining cats and dogs, so we dashed across to the car and began our journey homewards. I can tell you that I was very glad I had a prepared meal waiting for us at home, so it was only a ten minutes after walking in the door that we could sit down and eat. What a day!

Tomorrow I thought I'd start baking the Christmas gingerbread. I usually make the recipe from the Australian Womens Weekly Beautiful Biscuits (slightly adjusted, because I can never resist tweaking recipes). But I'm also going to bake Swedish style ginger bread this year, which have different spices in them, plus the dough must rest for at least 24 hours before using it. Should be interesting... Nothing smells more like Christmas than baking gingerbread.