Getting cold up here

From Torshälla we headed back up to Dalarna to see Carl Larsson's home in Sundborn.

Carl Larsson lived from 1853-1919, and is perhaps Sweden's most famous artist. Typically, his work depicted rural Swedish life; many of his paintings are set in his house, which made seeing the actual rooms that much more interesting

If many of Larsson's works can be seen as somewhat sentimental, perhaps like those of Norman Rockwell, his master work is decidedly more visceral. Midvinterblot is a massive mural, completed in 1915, that resides in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. It depicts a Norse myth in which Kind Domalde is sacrificed to avoid a famine. Here's a detail:

The weather had turned colder, and it was starting to rain. We began our trip to Lake Siljan, in the heart of Dalarna. We stayed at the Hotell Klockargården in Tällberg. I must say, the service was absolutely stunning. Breakfast, fika and dinner are included, and the atmosphere is warm and friendly.

One thing that cracked us up, though, was the strange sense of decoration in random places. For instance, there was a portrait of someone's grandmother (affiliated with the hotel, we assumed) outside our door. We got used to saying hello and goodbye to her as we came and went.

The day after our arrival was our 16th wedding anniversary, and Monika and I woke up to a snowstorm. Absolutely beautiful, and a fitting marker, as I had proposed to Monika during a Colorado snowstorm.

We enjoyed a hearty Swedish breakfast, and decided to walk through the snow down to the lake. Very windy, but also quite magical. At one of the docks we saw traditional longboats, used prior to the 19th century to cross the lake to get to church. These days, they are used in races.

On the walk back up the hill, we noticed a silversmith shop that was actually open. It belongs to Emma Billbäck, a very talented artist. The work that struck us the most was her "nature prosthetics" series. She creates silver prostheses for missing or broken parts in nature. Check out this small pine cone:

The silver work is not cast; it is hand-worked. Do yourself a favor and look at the other pieces in this series. You'll be glad you did.

After a little debate, we decided to get in the car and drive around in the snowstorm. Our first stop was a little bit north along the lake in the town of Rättvik. Here resides the world's longest lake pier, which extends 2000 feet out into the water, where steamships used to dock. These days, it's used mostly for recreation; there is a small park built on the end of the pier.

It was windy, cold and snowing. So I somehow thought walking to the end of the pier would be a good idea. In as much as it reminded me I was alive, it was very good. Of course, I couldn't feel my face, but it was a worthwhile journey

The last major stop on our Swedish Anniversary Blizzard Tour™ was Nusnäs, the Dalahäst capital of Sweden. This is the town to where tourists flock to see how the little painted horses are made. You can watch them being carved. You can buy them. You can eat pastries shaped like little horses. Unless, of course, the town is closed because you decided to drive there in a snowstorm :)

We had fun anyway, window shopping and posing with gigantic Dalahästs

We packed it up and prepared to drive south to Mariestad, along the road to Göteborg. See you there.

Glad årsdag, Monika - Jag älskar dig!

Posted by jfk at May 20, 2008 03:40 AM | TrackBack