Creativity and travel. . . . . . . .

What do you think of this little painted and decoupaged box?

 I used to enjoy decorating these ready made boxes with their metal covers,

 I also decoupaged terracotta flower pots. It was after my first visit to Italy,
 an amazingly beautiful country. After two glorious weeks in the hill towns of
 Tuscany, and the cities of Florence, Sienna, Rome etc. my creative juices 
were flowing and, although not an artist, I could take all the lovely bits and
 pieces of paper I'd collected along the way and stick them on something
rather than hide them away in a box. 

Creative pursuits such as these kept me busy back in the day when I seemed
 to spend many more hours at home. That was the time between retirement from
 full time employment and becoming a world traveler of sorts.

I do enjoy seeing the world and learning more about the people, however

I have a feeling this may be my last really busy overseas travel year. 

More travels back to places here in the United States and Canada may be
 filling our calendar. We have visited all the states and much of Canada,
 but there are still lots of specific places we may have not spent enough time
 in, or missed completely and, thanks to blogging, lots of very special people
 we've yet to catch up with hopefully.

We'll let you know if we are coming your way dear friends.

Beautiful Stockholm, Sweden……

Early on a cool June morning aboard Queen Victoria - embarkation of Swedish pilots - then careful 

negotiation of the narrow 57 mile passage towards Stockholm. Those of us who were early

 risers were treated to spectacular scenes of small villages, islands, lighthouses, inlets and lush forests.

Glimpses of the many Swedish islands on the way to Stockholm port.

Stockholm is the largest city and capital of Sweden, site of the Swedish government, parliament, 

and the official residence of the Swedish monarch.  Central part of the city consists of 14 islands 

and the geographical city center is virtually situated on the water. I loved the parts of the city we 

visited - comfortable temperatures and a partly sunny day made lots of walking enjoyable.

Royal palace mounted guards.

Along the cobbled streets the buildings surprised me……all those warm almost Italian feeling colors. 

I thought for sure Sweden would be all white and blue!

Lots of neat shops with great handcrafted items lined the streets.  Have to admit we found prices very high - we'd already been warned they would be in all the Scandinavian countries, so shopping was minimal………

………however I managed to purchase the one Swedish item I wanted for my home, an authentic white painted Dala Horse, the symbol of the Kingdom of Sweden.  Finding a non massed-produced horse was a little difficult, they were the only offerings in souvenir shops. Fortunately I found this made in Sweden beauty in a tiny home decor shop.  The earliest reference to wooden horses is from 1624 and the pattern used today is 150 years old.  The style of painting the pine horse is known as 'Kurbits' where two colors are used in the same brush, this is the traditional way, and these authentic horses are now only made in one Swedish village, Nusnas.

Stockholm was entrancing - more time in Sweden would have been better, to look up old friends,
see more of the countryside etc. - another time hopefully.