What a difference a day makes! After many grey, damp days of barely plus degrees and of wet, slushy snow, true glorious Nordic winter has descended again.

White snow against a brilliant blue sky is gorgeous, and one of the things I love about living here. As you can see the trees look like they have been sprayed with pavlova. And cold - wow, it's absolutely crisp and freezing, but so glorious.

Despite an icing sugar dusting of snow, we had winter sunshine today, high, stabbing and potent. Plastic stretched sky, so shiny and bright it looks unreal. A vibrant blue like a robin's egg, like a periwinkle, like the water against the pale blue painted sides of a swimming pool. There were no clouds, just a few wispy jet trails. And the snow sparkling as though someone has sprayed glitter everywhere. It is a day to be outside enjoying nature - well rugged up of course.

We decided to go for a really long walk along the coastline.

While heading through town, I spotted this "interesting" display in the window of our local shoe shop. What made me do a double take and go back for another longer look was that this is so uncharacteristic for a Swedish shop - usually their displays are tasteful and minimalist. But here was something that looked like one of those Paddington outfitters for the Gay & Lesbian Mardi-Gras!

Closer inspection showed that Fred Nile could sleep safely in his bed, it was only a Sko-Utställning - that is a display of artwork with the theme of "Magic Shoes". I guess it must be something from the local high school or art school, but I imagine that it would turn a few heads in town.

We then went via the harbour and along the coastline. There were so many people out walking it was incredible. People here are not afraid to go out and about. We have a particular road along the shoreline that was built for the 1912 Olympics when the yachting races were held here in Nynäshamn. It is most unusual in Sweden to get a "coast road" in the same way we are used to in Australia. I think it has a lot to do with the actual shape of the landscape. Where Australia has long relatively straight stretches of coastline, here there are a lot of very deep bays, so it is far easier and cheaper to build roads further back, with tracks going down to the seafront. Many people who visit Nynäshamn for the first time are absolutely amazed by Strandvägen as it offers a clear and beautiful view of the sea and the woods.

We brought coffee and tea with us and had a break at the boat club to enjoy the view in comfort, then headed out again. The main road follows about 4 kms along this area to Lövhagen then swings inland. It is absolutely beautiful here no matter which season you go along the road.

The map here shows you a little of what the area immediately around us is like. The orange area is the town itself. The dotted line is the railway line and we live fairly close to the place marked as gästhamn. Just below it, you can see a funny little ball shaped island (also orange) connected to the mainland. That is called "Triangle Island" and our boat club is inside the little sliver of a bay just below the island. This is called Fagerviken. Our normal summer place is the bay above the island, called Trehörningsviken.

Fellow AA members Nicole and Roland will recall that we had a rather boozy dinner aboard our boat facing the posh houses on the island. And the following day we went sailing all around the area - heading north, then going around Bedarön, weaving through the rocks in Inre and Yttre Gården, then heading into the bay just north of Norrbro and through Draget's Kanal and dropping anchor in the bay by Rösängen. Well, they will be absolutely surprised to see today's view of that area :



Yes, good people, that's the sea out there somewhere under all that ice and snow. And yes, they are piers you can see jutting out on the left hand side of the picture. The very same area we enjoy sailing around in summer, is ideal for ice-skating in winter. Nynäshamn is well known for long-distance skating and also for ice sailing. The world champion in this sport lives here in town. You can see he gets plenty of places to practice!

Something else we are well known for in Nynäshamn is the waterslide (vattenrutschbana). It is the longest one in Europe, extending 168 metres! But for some reason, it wasn't too crowded today.



I wonder why?

It's a mystery to me.

And the other place that was strangely deserted was the sea diving tower at Nicksta Camping Grounds.

It doesn't look as busy as the picture in their brochure, does it?



Of course, I would have had a go myself, but unfortunately, I left the bathers at home. Maybe next time!

I'll leave you with a fun time-waster that I got yesterday from Faye in Ludvika. As if we didn't have enough snow, she sent me a link to Make Your Own Snowflake! Just what I need.

Till next time!