Saturday 9 April 2016

Win a cute Moomin Mug

COMPETITION ALERT!

Enter to win the Moomin Mug shown on the below two images. What you need to do in order to be enrolled is to like Sentimental In Berlin's Facebook page and leave a comment about what you'd prefer to drink from this mug :)
Worldwide entries are welcome as I am happy to ship it outside the UK too!


Options to enter to win:

On the blog: please like Sentimental in Berlin's Facebook page and leave a comment on this post or on the Facebook post about what you would like to drink from this lovely mug! :)
On Facebook: please share the Facebook post and comment on the original post what you would like to drink from this mug.
Comments, likes and shares before midnight (BST) on Wednesday the 13th will be counted.
The winner will be notified on Facebook and then we can sort out everything such as how to send you the mug! :)

♥   ♥   

** Moomin mug professional images were taken from the official Moomin shop's website from here.

Stockholm's Fabulous Shopwindows and Design beyond IKEA

Hei my lovely Sentimentals!

I still carry on with posts from Stockholm, this time I brought you many pictures about home decor items and shopwindows! Plus for the first time it's COMPETITION ALERT on this blog! I will post a short post just after lunch with the details! :)

I love bold, colourful and busy shopwindows and I love Scandivanian style! Well, you all know I am a little bit of an addict of Scandinavia with all its beauties!

Of course I took many photos of fabrics, quirky shopwindows and Moomins!

Sweden equals refined yet rustic design for me! I love that in this snowy country people want to have the illusion of snow even inside their home by painting the walls and floorboards white. White suggest coldness in a cold country, however whenever you enter or see a Swedish home, it actually is the opposite! They are super cosy and welcoming using the right colours in accessories and the right amount of soft fabrics which really gives that touch, what you need with a massive hint of nature!

Yes we all know about IKEA and its innovative but cheap designs, but are there anything else in this golden mine of home decor and underestimated fashion capital!

Well, there is Åhlensa department store dating back to the late 1800s. It has a success story which still directs trends in interior design!

Enjoy a little bit of spring from Åhlen's fabulous textiles, accessories, pillows, garden furniture etc.

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor


Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor_bold_pattern_Textile

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor_bold_pattern_Textile

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor_bold_pattern_Textile

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor_bold_pattern_Textile

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor_bold_pattern_wallpaper

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor_bold_pattern_textile


Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor

Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor



Stockholm_Ahlens_fashion


Stockholm_Ahlens_homedecor



There is another big store, Nordiska Kompaniet. It is located very close to the cherry-blossom-trees-covered Kungstrådgården. This department store also has a long history from the early 1900s. When it was established, the aim was to provide as high service and quality products, just like what people can get in stores in London or Paris. 

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow

Stockholm_NK_shopwindow



I could have uploaded tons of more photos, but here are few more random shopwindows from around town!

Stockholm_Shopwindow

Stockholm_Shopwindow_home_decor

Stockholm_Shopwindow

Stockholm_Shopwindow_home_decor



Lastly, Tove Jansson's Moomin cannot be missed out. We can find them in the Nordiska Kompaniet's shopwindow and in any souvenir shops.


Stockholm_NK_shopwindows_Moomin

Stockholm_Moomin




♥   ♥   

Monday 4 April 2016

Easter in Scandinavia - Stockholm Tripreport

Hei all my Dearest Sentimentals!

I have not been active lately because of university demands, but we have now a month of holiday and let me show you how I spent the Easter weekend in Stockholm! :)

I took so many pictures that I decided to write up a summary trip report for now and later in the week I will add more smaller entries for example about the cool underground, the beautiful waterfronts and what we were eating in Stockholm. :)

I arrived on Saturday early morning to this gorgeous city. Luckily the weather was fantastic, therefore even though I bought the 72-hours travel card, which costed around 23£, I still decided to walk instead of taking the metro to our lovely waterfront Radisson Blu Strand Hotel, which was the hotel in the Swedish crime series Modus

Stockholm_Radisson_Blu_Strand
Radisson Blu Strand Hotel - Our Hotel 


So while I was waiting for my friend to join me, I had an initial look in the centre, where the Parliament Building and the Royal Palace is, with the fast paced water flowing under the numerous bridges.

Riksdaghuset_Parliament_STockholm
Parliament in Stockholm

Stockholm Royal Palace
Stockholm Royal Palace's waterfront

Changing of the Guards in Swedish Royal Palace
Changing of the Guards in Swedish Royal Palace


Sweden and Scandinavia in general are famous about their design, be it textile, furniture or houses. Just think about IKEA and its successes, therefor I also went to some shops besides the many souvenir shops lining Drottninggatan. In an upcoming post I will be showing you some shopwindows we found in this cool city.
Although Moomin by Tove Jansson is from Finland, I think the Swedes also rightly think its theirs, since Tove Jansson was born to a Swedish community within Finland and actually Moomin and friends can be found everywhere in the Scandi countries.

swedish_Design_Textiles
Beautiful Swedish Textiles


Swedish magnets from souvenir shops
Swedish magnets from souvenir shops

The famous Moomin and his friends collection in a souvenir shop
The famous Moomin and his friends collection in a souvenir shop



We heard that the underground is definitely worth to be checked out! Unfortunately, not all stations are funky and very surprisingly the people we asked, even in the hotel, did not know which ones were the special ones! So we jumped on the metro and played a hop on hop off game to find cool metro stations in Stockholm,  which I will show you in another post.

Art in the underground station in Stockholm
Art in the underground station in Stockholm


Hmm since we walked most of the time, but we had the travel card, we decided to take some routes which I would also advise if you visited Stockholm!
Route bus #2 is called the tourist or sightseeing bus, without being an actual sightseeing bus. It's a normal bus, but it really takes you through almost each and every famous landmark in the central.

For this small city compared to London, their transport is amazing! Not only underground and buses but they also have trams! We have also had a ride on an old tram :) where a completely unexpected thing happened. We were speaking in Hungarian, and yes it is now almost normal that in London we hear Hungarian around, but would not have thought about Stockholm. Well, we were discussing and wondering about Stockholm when a lady in her mid 50s has just answered us in Hungarian, although she has been born there and her parents were refugees from 1956.

 Blue-Old-Tram-STockholm
The blue old tram in Stockholm is a nice way of travelling

Blue-Old-Tram-STockholm
Hop on to the old tram!

In the Blue-Old-Tram-STockholm
And this is me inside


If I remember well, the old tram took us to Kungstradgården. This place is famous for its cherry blossom trees! You must have seen photos on Facebook shared about this place! Well it is in Stockholm and blossoming every year in spring!

Kungstradgården_Cherry_Blossom
Cherry blossom blooming at Kungstradgården


The 72-hour travel card is also valid on boats between the different islands! And if you have it why not use it! :) Thanks to its location, Stockholm lies on many islands and is surrounded by water, providing beautiful waterfront views over churches, palaces and islands!

in STockholm waterfront
It is still chilly even though the sun is warm!

Stockholm_Waterfront_VIew_Katarina_Church
Katarina Church

Stockholm WaterFront View
Waterfront view in Stockholm


The boat we jumped on took us to the island: Djurgården. Unfortunately as it was Easter or maybe because we were there on Monday and Sunday, many things were closed. Otherwise this island is full of with things to do!

       There is the famous Vasa Museum: the Vasa is the world's biggest and I think one and only intact one-piece ship from the 17th century, that has been brought to the surface!
     
Vasa in the Vasa Museum
Vasa


       The ABBA Museum can also be found here!

       And the Nordic Museum as well, it's like Museum island in Berlin! Everything is together!

Nordic Museum
Nordic Museum


       The Skansen is an outdoor museum and zoo in the middle of the island!

       Lastly, there is a massive amusement park: Grona Lund and lots of green space to just sit down and enjoy the sun!

Funky tree in Djurgården
Funky tree in Djurgården

Red boat in Djurgården
Boats in Djurgården


In these lovely three days, we did not care that food in Stockholm does not come cheap! We wanted to try the taste of Scandinavia which includes fish, mussels and reindeer! Yes read it well, reindeer. We mainly had nice dinners and random coffee and cake on our way, but I will write more about this next time! ;) We spent our first lovely meal in Sture Hof, where the below picture was taken too.

Seefood in Sture Hof Stockholm
Sture Hof 


After a nice meal, we walked back to Gamlastan's old houses and tiny almost Italian alike small lanes.

gamlastan_old_Houses
Gamlastan

Gamlastan_Cafe
Gamlastan

Narrow street in Gamlastan
Narrow street in Gamlastan

Gamlastan

German_Church_Stockholm
Steeple of the German Church



Evening walks are also beautiful in Stockholm where everything is reflected in the water!


Kristallvertikalaccent_by_Night_Sergels_Torg
Kristallvertikalaccent by night at Sergels Torg

Radisson_Blue_Strand_Hotel
Our hotel at night! :)



Stay tuned for more Stockholm photos and infos! :)

                                                                                                 ♥  ♥  


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