GÅLÖ, SWEDEN

This weekend I was invited to Gålö, Sweden to visit Eric’s family and celebrate Midsummer with them! It was a weekend of minimal make up and sea soaked hair. We were blessed from the weather gods who provided us with sunshine and a cloudless sky for a good chunk of the 72 hours I spent in the country.

Midsummer’s Eve was spent celebrating and will be in my next blog post.

The rest of the afternoons included sun bathing, island hopping, lots of fish, and of course snaps!

I have always felt so welcomed by this family and couldn’t have asked for better hosts! I don’t speak a lick of Swedish, so many translators volunteered throughout the weekend to assist me and inform me when I missed the joke.

On Saturday, the warmest day of the weekend, we took to the jetty and sun bathed all afternoon. To the point of tan lines! That’s been unheard of since my move across the pond to London.

When our skin felt like it was melting off, it was time for a swim.

The coldest swim of my life.

The area of Sweden in which I was staying is surrounded by thousands of tiny islands. These islands are then surrounded by the Baltic Sea. Because of the density theses islands create being so small and with such short proximity of each other, the water we were jumping into contain little to no salt. It is technically the sea. But you wouldn’t know it and would assume you were swimming in fresh water.

But holyyyyy, it was cold. I lasted about 6 seconds before I was back on the boat. The second time around {yes, why would we jump in twice} our bodies had basically frozen over allowing us to adjust to the temperature.

Then we were off to Dalarö, a cute little port town that used to be a port for customs into Sweden. Now it is home to the city dwellers of Stockholm when they are yearning for a Summer holiday.

It was probably one of the cutest port cities I ever did see.

And the best way to scope out the tiny islands.

We stopped at the marina for an ice cream and it melted within about 12 seconds. But was oh so satisfying.

Although I will be back to visit Sweden in October {with Eric this time}, I was overjoyed to experience it in Summer when the sun was shining and the sea was calling our name. It was an unforgettable weekend with unforgettable company. I don’t think I’ve missed Eric more than I did this weekend , but seeing his family was as close as it gets, and I can’t complain about that!