back in time for 2007

we arrived back home yesterday afternoon. it was a good trip, but it's also good to be back. thankfully, it was not as cold as i had envisioned it would be in northern sweden. in both stockholm and the north, people kept saying how unseasonably warm it was (hovering around 0 and about -3 in the north). our hosts were worried that it wouldn't be a white christmas. i, however, didn't mind it at all.

i didn't do loads of shopping--there was nothing i HAD to have in our brief time in stockholm. most of the stay in sweden was spent with good friends and food. after christmas, the sales were in full swing, but it was impossible getting a change room or any assistance. and, to my dismay, there was not a single sale in barcelona!

i have great difficulty in paying full price for anything, unless i absolutely LOVE it and MUST have it now, so my shopping was concentrated mostly at gift shops. the museu nacional d'art de catalunya has an amazing shop. i bought lovely silver coffee spoons and brass earrings. the museu etnologic has an interesting exhibit about roma culture until june. we also went to the museu d'història de catalunya, a devastatingly stylish building right by the water, in which we learned lots about catalunya history.

stockholm at sunrise (in luleå and överkalix, where we spent most of our stay, daylight was at a premium and lasted for about 4 hours per day)





the best breakfast EVER! spanish chocolate and churros




parc güell








montjuic