I Capture The Castle, part I

In the western suburbs of Stockholm city, you'll find the official home to the royal family - as opposed to that rather grim, ugly kind of monstrosity in the middle of the city -, Sweden's very own slice of Versailles - Drottningholm's Palace. Situated really beautifully by the water and with a vast garden, perfect for picnics, a bit of sunbathing in the summers and of course lovely walks. It's also another one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites that can be found in the Stockholm area.

As with most major tourist's magnets it's a place best enjoyed off tourist season, or at least well before or after closing hours. The time we went there last it was really lovely both weather and amount of people-wise. However the royals were home - cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes? - so the accessibility of the place, and gardens, was *somewhat* limited.

At one end of the gardens there's also the lovely Chinese Pavilion (Kina Slott), a group of small, colourful pagoda-style buildings, tucked away at the end of a long, leafy parkway. A small pleasure palace built in the 18th century, a royal gift from a king to his queen.

Beside this parkway you'll also find a very cosy little café - used to be the palace kitchen -, with an outdoor area in the summers and a sparkling fire indoors wintertime. The light food and coffee offered at this place isn't all that impressive I suppose, but for the amazing waffles. I'm no waffle-person, and when I about once or twice a year do have waffles, I most certainly don't like them crispy. And at this place, by chance, just because it smelled so mouthwatering good, I did chose to have a waffle. A waffle that just might have been the best I've ever had, rather thick, not too crispy, lovely texture, lovely savour, served with whipped cream and strawberry jam. A royal waffle indeed!

As I've said before, the interiors of castles, with few exceptions, are IMHO - or not so H... - very much a case of been there, seen that, easily bemuddle are the words. So I nowadays very rarely feel an urge to pay an entrance fee to once again see pretty much the same kind of gilded, adorned, furnished kind of interior in a castle. I prefer to keep my castle buff self outdoors and in the gardens. Hence, I've never been inside Drottningholm's Palace - and I've neither the inclination nor intention to ever do so.

But as I also said, there are exceptions to the boring, bemuddling, castle-interior-decoration style - next time I capture a castle, it'll be one of those exceptions I thoroughly enjoyed the interior of, with all its odd and eccentric details. Wait and see...