31 octobre 2009 (Day 61)
Happy Halloween! They don’t really celebrate Halloween in Sweden, so no one dressed up or gave me candy. Instead we went and visited the current residence of the Royal Family, Drottningholm Palace. Drottningholm Palace was built in the 17th century as a summer home that mimicked Versailles. It is very well-preserved and represents the architecture of that period. Gabriella’s mom drove us there and came along with since she has never seen Drottningholm Palace. We walked around in the gorgeous gardens while we waited for the Palace to be open. There is a beautiful baroque garden as well as a Chinese Pavilion. Back in the day everyone dreamt about going to China so they built a Chinese Pavilion using their imagination. It really doesn’t look like something you would find in China. There were hedge mazes and giant trees in the English Garden.
We went on a tour of part of the palace and learned that the palace was built by architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder by commission of Queen Hedvig Eleonora. A number of royal personages have since then left their mark on the palace. This is seen by the various rooms. Some have interiors completely changed. The library is incredible and has many rare books. The state bedchamber (the fake bedroom) of the king and queen were very impressive, all in blue and gold (Sweden’s colors). This was a room that was an honor to be invited to, as a symbol of intimacy. There are other rooms that follow the trends of that time period…Chinese things, murals on the ceilings. I liked going with Gabby’s mom because she asks lots of questions. Our tour guide was a really pretty girl majoring in history. In the palace they had stuffed lions hidden everywhere for the children’s tours which made it even more exciting! Sadly, you aren’t allowed to take pictures though!
We ate lunch in another part of the garden by a pond with lots of ducks. It was an area with lots of trees and bridges, green grass and white marble statues (thank you Gustav III). We watched the ducks as we ate our sandwiches. We crossed a little further after we ate and found some sheep. They are apparently the king’s sheep and they get moved to various parts of Sweden to graze. We started getting closer to them and they came to us! It was really hilarious having all these sheep charge towards us. They liked my shoes and they like Gabriella as well. We also walked around some more, which included I trip off the beaten path to find mushrooms and Langdon berries! I hope that the king doesn’t mind!
Tonight we made peanut butter fingers since Axel loves peanut butter. They were delicious. We had leftovers for dinner and made more cinnamon buns as well! We had ice cream and chocolate pie for dessert. We watched another Miss Marple and got back scratches. It was a perfect Halloween evening.
