Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

One of the first days of May we made an excursion to the royal greenhouses at the Palace of Laeken, Serres Royales de Laeken. The greenhouses are only open to the public for a couple of weeks every year (this year 18 April - 9 May) so it is a very popular destination. We first went there on May Day and arrived around 10:30, one hour after opening. The queue of cars to get to the parking lot was so long we gave up right away. Instead we returned two days later and made sure to get there even before it opened. In retrospect it was very good to be even some of the very first visitors, since we had the pushchair with us in the greenhouse and they can get pretty cramped when they fill up with people. Here comes a cavalcade of photos from these beautiful place (it's a shame not even the park is open all year or at least parts of the year).

The Palace, on our way to the greenhouses

I think the greenhouses as buildings are really beautiful. Design by architect Alphonse Balat.

At a distance I thought the greenhouses were made of copper that was covered by verdigris but it is actually green paint that has flaked off and worn down by wind and rain.

The devil is in the detail?

Cool tree

It seems like all royal parks has an Asian garden.

Inside the green houses

No access to this one except a peak in the window.

More plants than flowers in this section.

Entrance to the secret garden

Chasing a curious one-year-old.



No caption necessary

You can't see it in the photos but many flowers had begun to wither. I think the best time to go is the first week.

The only thing that was perhaps missing were signs with names of plants and flowers.

I like these flowers on both sides of a staircase.

The path ended in the big greenhouse.

Only in Sweden?

Last week at Crown Princess Victoria's birthday celebrations in Öland (a tradition since she turned one I think - she's now 34 so maybe time to stop but that's not the point of this post) the rain poured down. The organisers seem to have had a "fingers crossed" policy regarding the weather so nothing was planned in terms of shelter for the royals in the event of rain.

That's how the Swedish King ended up in a bin bag...

Image from Aftonbladet

Could you see Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles in a similar situation..? Looks like Victoria and her husband (to the left) opted to sweat it out.

Royal Moment

Serious and nervous moment if their faces are anything to go by.

Isolde soon lost interest however and wanted to be fed instead.





Via Anna's iPhone

Royal Wedding à la T-Mobile

Royal Wedding!

Just 60 minutes left now until two become one!

Image from papermag.com

Meet Our New Prince Continued

The exhibition in Fältöversten that I wrote about last week didn't go unnoticed among the population in Östermalm. It generated several letters to the local paper Östermalmsnytt*

A few voices:

"Save us from the embarassment of Daniel Westling exhibitions!"

"Now we wish a similar photo exhibition with Princess Madeleine and Jonas Bergström. Think he's much more 'prince-like' and gives glamour to the royal family for us old royalists and readers."

"Not fun, tired of him. Let is have Jonas and Madeleine instead, they are more glamour!"

"No, no, no. Would prefer Jonas Bergström."

"About the exhibition: Embarassing and completely unnecessary for all except Svensk damtidning. How come?"

I feel bad for Daniel! Now I almost feel that the exhibition was a good thing! Good for him and well done for catching a Princess, and a genuinely nice and smart one too! What the royal family needs is not more glamour but a touch of normalcy and every-day Swedish life. And Daniel can provide, has provided, that more than Jonas would / has I think.**

But turns out the artsy spotlight on Daniel isn't over just yet. I read in the two main Swedish broadsheets (so reliable sources I guess) that Liljewalch Gallery is planning*** an "Avenue of Love" along Strandvägen in the honour of the newlyweds. Liljewalch's will ask famous Swedish authors to write love poems. These will then be recorded by actors and actresses and played through speakers placed along the avenue. Well...okay... And if there is funding the newlyweds will also be able to admire a bronze church in the water outside the Opera House.

What happened to the usual paraphernalia around royal weddings, you know, China with a photo of the bride and groom, stamps, etc.? Maybe the exhibition in Fältöversten was rather tasteful after all...

Image from Scanpix / Dagensnyheter.se

* Free paper that is distributed to everyone, i.e. no subscription needed.
** Jonas is a nice guy too I'm sure but you know what I mean.
*** May not actually happen; just an idea at this stage.

Meet Our New Prince

Or Prince-to-be rather. Fältöversten, my local shopping centre, has an exhibition titled "Get to know Daniel Westling". This is not a great photo (took it with my mobile phone while in a hurry) but it shows both a royal settee (which seems to be more popular than the photos with children) and the photos telling the story of Daniel's life, mainly since he met the Crown Princess.


I'm quite the royalist in that I think monarchy (in its modern format) works well for Sweden and that the royal family is doing a good job* but isn't this a bit silly?! But I guess all the old ladies in Östermalm (posh part of Stockholm for those of you are not Swedish) want to get the know their new favourite ;)

For those of you are out of touch with the royal love story, Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling will be married on 19 June 2010. 2010 is a big year for the Bernadotte family as it celebrates 200 years on the thrown. 19 June is also the King and Queen's wedding day (they were married in 1974). (Although if I were them I would have wanted "my own date...)

Victoria's younger sister Princess Madeleine is also getting married to her Jonas next year. The poor couple has been waiting and waiting and finally, when Victoria's engagement was over and done with, they could announce theirs.**

* Then it's a whole other story whether you should inherit your position and place in society...
** Now it's just Prince Carl Philip who is still single. He's recently broken up with his long-time girlfriend and I don't want to believe those gay rumours... Oh, if I were single! ;)