Fall in Sweden

November 04, 2018  •  11 Comments

The day we left Granada it was going to be high of 27 Celsius.  We arrived 15 hours later home in Sweden and it was 7 Celsius.  Vanessa put on every single layer she had brought with her and it was barely enough. Luckily the next few days turned out to be perfect fall days. The temperature went up enough to make it very pleasant. It was a surprisingly warm fall in Sweden. We enjoyed several outings to take in all the beautiful fall colors. 

Fall in Sweden

 Värmland, Sweden is about 59o N (about Juneau Alaska) with a lot of trees. The evergreen pines and spruce, well, remained green, while the birches and aspens turned bright yellow. And when the sun shines through the leaves, they truly look golden.

Shadow of spring Color hike Golden Birches

On two occasions, we hiked through Brattforshedens Natural Reserve.  Did you know that Sweden has 30 national parks and more than 4,000 nature reserves? Combined it makes up about a tenth of the entire country. In comparison, that’s about the size of Denmark or twice the size of Massachusetts.

Just a perfect dayBrattforsheden Brattforsheden Brattforsheden

 The promising temperatures allowed for some mushrooming picking. We had hoped to find more but we were very pleased with what we found. Needless to say, they were delicious. We found bolets, a single cauliflower a few chanterelles and a lot of yellow foot mushrooms.

Inedible beautyAmanita muscaria Last wild berries Cleaning time

One weekend, we went to Stockholm. Always wonderful to see friends and spend time with them. Saturday night, we did a bit of bar hoping and experienced the night life. Coming from Spain where the entire city comes out after dark, Stockholm provided a stark contrast. In the city center, on a nice warm Saturday October night, there was barely anyone out on the streets. Of course, we saw some people but for a weekend night with warm temperatures we expected more people. Perhaps the winter hibernation had already begun. Luckily some birds were still out.

Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)No it was not in Stockholm Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulous)

Currently, we are back in Houston in preparation for the next adventure. We are planning a 4 week homestay in Oaxaca, Mexico to learn Spanish. Hopefully, we’ll have enough language skills under our belt when we get to South America. The plan is Chili, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru from January to April. If you have any recommendations, please send them our way. Also, if you will be in those places at the same time, let’s connect. 


Comments

Barbara(non-registered)
I am a vicarious traveler - thank you for the opportunity. Beautiful pictures!
Dee Carlson(non-registered)
These photos r beautiful!!!
I, especially, appreciate them as my fiancé and I live in Växjö, southern Sweden, half-time each yr, 3 months at s time...He was born and raised in Sweden, and all my family background is Swedish...We r scheduled to return to Sweden again Dec 29...
Kathie Titzler is my dear friend, and has sent these beautiful photos to me.
Isa(non-registered)
Beautiful photos. Your leaves are even more spectacular than in MA :-)
Greg(non-registered)
Ditto what Kristen said!
Kristin(non-registered)
Sitting here on Election Day - amongst all of the high emotion and the intensity that seems to come with it lately... then seeing your beautiful images and hearing about your travels really helps to dissipate some of the stress. Sometimes easy to forget that we do live in a beautiful world. Once again, thanks for sharing this beauty through your stories and gorgeous pics! Have a lovely visit in Houston-
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