Jul 16, 2011

the house


at first thought i'd share the address with you, that we had found the perfect place where we would go back more than once. the location was idyllic, meadows background and a lovely little fjord just down the road. although after a couple of days we started noticing the poor maintenance, the fuses that would blow up when more than two small table lamps were on, the big stains here & there, the greasy oven, the proofs that the house had not being checked before our arrival, and our backs were soon sore from the ridiculously thin mattresses.




the great potential, the quietness, made us forget all this & the deficient welcome from the landlady. but back home in france, there was this email like a cold shower. now we know we will never be back there, because we don't encourage rude & greedy people. still, it was such a beautiful week, and this place somewhere on the swedish coast is printed in our hearts.


33 comments:

  1. It looks so pretty there. Too bad the landlady wasn't what you'd hoped.

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  2. les images sont superbes, vous avez raison de ne garder que les beaux souvenirs.
    et ta fille est vraiment splendide!!!!

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  3. Just found your lovelylovely blog via Coco's! I am sorry to hear, that your trip took such a bad end, but try to keep the positive memories in mind and the bad ones will almost disappear! Have a nice weekend!

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  4. Such a shame about the accommodation but I'm glad you managed to see past this and not let it ruin your holiday. It does look idyllic.

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  5. AnonymousJuly 16, 2011

    toujours aussi superbes tes photos
    gros bisous
    a bientôt
    Régine

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  6. Valérie, I love your blog. The pictures are fantastic! Je ne suis jamais allée en Suède bien que je parle suédois couramment!...et nous avons prévu d'y aller en août, j'ai hâte!
    Merci pour ces belles images, et l'atmosphère qui s'en dégage!.
    C'est toujours un réel plaisir de visiter ton blog.
    Bon continuation et à bientôt.
    Emilie

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  7. Too bad it had to end that way, but it really looks like a very perfect place. I hope you can put the dissapointement aside a bit and think about the lovely time you had. :)

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  8. Ouch. I'm sorry that this at first glance, such a great house, it turned out to be less great. I hope you have a holiday after all a pleasant memory.

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  9. Well Valerie, there are always few people, who sucks, right? But the view of the lake and the images of the cute house always stay in your heart. Can't understand why the landlord lady was out of her mind, of course after that you wouldn't visit again. Don't understand this kind of business of hers...
    I guess around this area will be more darling houses for the next vacation :D ? Hui, you daughter is very grown! Almost a teenager, or is she already? Hope you'll have a wonderful evening with your family <3

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  10. oh bah dis donc.... rien de grave j'espère...... jolies photos en tout cas! bisouuuuus!

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  11. In ten years the only memories of the place you will have will make you smile, or perhaps even laugh a bit. The pictures of your beautiful daughter make up for the wafer thin mattresses. We have gone on many vacations like this in remote corners of the world. They all start out the same - in a romantic, idealized cloud in the comfort of our own living room, then there is the state of shock at realizing that you are actually living in it, and then the memories ... they bring us together in laughter as a family. I know the same will happen for you ( I can hear your husband now ... he is saying it will take more than ten years). I have been in the same boat. Just in case one of my "challenges" ends up being in Sweden, remind me not to stay at this specific place - my aching body will need more than a cracker to sleep on. Glad you are home safe. Carolina

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  12. I'm sorry to hear about that. The surroundings are really lovely but the total picture makes the difference. Unfortunately i know what you mean.
    On the other hand; we are visiting, this summer, a house in St. Paul de Vence for the second time. It was perfect and the owners did everything possible to make you feel comfortable.
    Hugs, Pauline

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  13. Forget to say that the pictures are really beautiful. Bye

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  14. What a beautiful place...captured so beautifully;) xxt

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  15. sorry to hear this ... it looks wonderful on the photos though.
    (i really like the first two photos together)

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  16. Hi Valerie! It has been awhile. We visited your country and also Italy. Nice to say hello again.

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  17. That last photo is GORGEOUS!!!!

    It is a shame the owners turned out to be not so great :(

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  18. thank you everyone.

    i have a little edit to this post = just so you know, we didn't mind that much the lack of maintenance, because we are used to tent camping and we are renovating an old house. but we didn't enjoy the lack of care from a person who was nice in emails as long as the stake was earning money, but forgot all about being polite once we were in the house.
    we even brought her gifts for which she didn't even said thank you. we were also accused in a rude email after being back home for the lack of maintenance of the house (a window piece being broken) & other things that did not exist, when we left the house cleaner than found & the missing basic supplies (detergent, candles) all re-stocked by us. this was the cold shower i was talking about !

    Emilie : j'espère que vous passerez de bonnes vacances ! vers où allez-vous si ce n'est pas indiscret ?

    mecamo : she will be 12 during the summer

    Carolina : of course we'll get over it. we were just offended by this behavior that was odd and out of place. however we have good memories of that week, no need to wait for ten years ! thanks for the supportive words of wisdom

    Pauline : wishing you another lovely stay ! i'll ask you for the address in case we head south east someday !

    Theresa : I've been thiking about you all wondering where you were !! :)

    Elizabeth : the owner with a S... some people are too bored and I guess they need to be rude to spice up their life or maybe they let greed rule their world

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  19. The audacity of it all!

    The saving grace is the first photograph!! :-)

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  20. at least you have a good time at beautiful place, that is good.
    YOur photos are very nice!

    oh, that balloons are not edible, just to look at them.

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  21. Hummm je comprends que cet e-mail ternisse un peu votre beau séjour. Mais au vu de tes photos l'endroit semble vraiment somptueux! Heureusement, la nature, elle, ne ment pas!

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  22. madhu : i always admire your graceful words of wisdom !

    coco : thank you for the reply !

    MamaCami : oui c'était tellement beau que la petite contrariété s'effacera vite. par contre, ça nous empêchera de retourner au même endroit -- où les locations sont rares (que des locaux)...

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  23. AnonymousJuly 18, 2011

    Ta dernière photo est absolument totalement gigantesquement (lol) magnifique! Alors, est-ce vraiment le paradis là-bas? J'en rêve depuis longtemps :)
    J'espère que ta petite famille et toi allez bien!!!
    Belle semaine

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  24. Oh, so lovely... a little chunk of paradise! Hard to leave a place like that...*sigh*... LOVE your photos, Valerie--you captured the spirit of the place so well. We are just back from a weekend away in London. Sorry so slow to reply/visit. And sorry you're still having trouble leaving comments at my new blog. I do have comment moderation in place, as mentioned. But the problem seems to be with the authorization field when you go to "check out" of your comment. This seems to be a temporary glitch with Typepad, which I hope will right itself soon. Please let me know if you have continued problems, OK? ((LOVE & HUGS))

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  25. As you've already said, grotty and dodgy behavior... I'm sure that you kept best memories of this trip and took it easy despite this ungrateful person;)

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  26. a little happier : oui honnêtement c'était vraiment chouette. enfin ça nous correspond à nous. et les 21 heures de jour + ciel bleu TLJ ont certainement décuplé ce sentiment d'être bien là-bas.

    Tracy : i read that ! lucky you ! no doubt TJ enjoyed his birthday !! and about the blog yes it has nothing to do with moderation, but it is related to the authorization field. hugs back to you !

    Marcile : oui oui j'avais juste besoin d'évacuer ce qui a plombé injustement le retour pendant 2 ou 3 jours (on était outrés !) mais la région est si jolie et nous n'avons eu que du beau temps, on ne peut qu'en garder un très bon souvenir

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  27. AnonymousJuly 20, 2011

    Beautiful photos!
    Duyvken

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  28. Les photos sont vraiment superbes :) très belle région. Merci de partager celles-ci avec tes chères lectrices.

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  29. AnonymousJuly 22, 2011

    It all looks so beautiful, almoust like a place one wouldn't think existed. Especially the beautiful Nordic light - magic in simplicity!
    Thank you for sharing.
    Lilli

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  30. thank you everyone. it was a magical place, and one rude woman can't change this !!

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  31. So pretty! Looks very Norwegian :D

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