Maison
Our cosy home may best be described by looking at the pictures, but one might call it a patio house, built partly “in-hill”. The whole neighbourhood was set up in 1981 and enjoys – due to its rental status – constant maintenance. Approaching the house from the front you may take your tea or coffee in the morning sun on the bench in the small garden. Entering the house (100 square meters) you find a big kitchen with attached dining area overlooking the small garden. The kitchen is functional and modern with all the necessary cooking equipment. Apart from a small storage room and WC the rest of the upper floor consists of a large common room with a balcony. Warm colours, many plants and living lights as well as a wooden parquet floor characterize the living room (TV, stereo, couch group). In the room and on the balcony you can enjoy bright sunlight from around noon into the late evening.
The lower floor is partly built into the hill guaranteeing constant temperatures even during warm summers. A handcrafted, original and spacious wooden double bed (180cmx200cm) occupies the master bedroom with its small window. Practically pitch dark, well tempered and quiet you are sure to find relaxing sleep during your stay. Bordering to the bedroom you find a bathroom with a combined bathtub and shower as well as a walk in closet. Two long, spacious and bright rooms complete the lower floor, both overlooking the veranda and the lower, sunny garden with its kitchen garden. One room can be used as an additional bedroom as it contains a two-seated bed-sofa (140cmx200cm). This room is normally used as a work out room, containing a semi-professional cross trainer, a work out bicycle, other training gear and a TV and stereo. The final room is a combined study and library. Here you can relax reading a book in a leather armchair or surf on our high speed Internet.
Quartier
From our house you can combines the best of Sweden, its grand landscape and nature as well as the pulsating life of the Scandinavian metropolis – Stockholm!
The house is situated pleasantly in the family friendly suburban neighbourhood “Sodra Berget” or southern mountain, indicating a hill facing towards the equator. Many young families live here in loft-, semi- or triple-detached houses. It is situated in Viksjo (“ bay at the lake”) in the municipality of Jakobsberg. From our home it is only a two minute walk to the nearest bus stop and the local, and by the way, exquisit supermarket. A ten minute walk brings you to the nearby forest and additional five minutes to the lake “Malaren”, Swedens third biggest lake. Here you can take long walks or enjoy your own private bathing bay set in the amazing Swedish landscape. On foot only a couple of minutes away you can find a 18-hole golf course (turned cross country skiing heaven during snowy winters), three footbool pitches and a public swimming pool. Of course you can even choose to explore the surrounding area with our bikes or with our car (Volkswagen Golf, with AT). Within the comfortable reach of a day trip by car you can explore as different setting as Viking settlements, the Royal residancial castle, other Swedish castles, the Baltic Sea coast and it’s breath taking archipelago, smal original villages as Sigtuna and fascinating landscapes as Dalarna or Smaland (Astrid Lindgrens county).
From the nearby train station you reach the Swedish capital Stockholm by commuter train in under 20 minutes (night busses after 1 a.m.). Another important traffic site is the Swedish international airport of Stockholm (Arlanda – 20 minutes by taxi to our house or app. 90 minutes by public transport). Only 20 minutes from our home lies the domestic airport of Stockholm (Bromma, taking you on to other destinations in Scandinavia). Finally you may not want to miss on of the affordable cross baltic sea cruises!
À propos de nous
We are a young married couple; Louise (31) is studying to become a psykologist and Michael (36) is employed at a local university college as a Ph.D. student. Michael is originally from Germany and we are both interested in travel, cooking and culture. Additional family members are our 2 cats. You can decide if you wnat to keep the cats with you or not, in which case they will stay somewhere else. This means that we cannot guarantee a cat free environment if you should be allergic to cats (the house is - due to the absence of carpets – easily cleaned though). Our extended family and friends live close by, e.g. there is always someone at hand in the case of an emergency or if you should encounter any problems.
We are in general quiet, tidy and easygoing – which means that we do not crave perfection and are open to surprises and improvisations – as long as they stay on an acceptable level. We have travelled in many parts of the world and are thus familiar with other cultures and habits. We are experienced home swappers, are social, treat others with respect and are curious to learn something new.
About Stockholm: Stockholm – often called the Venice of the North – consists of land and many islands situated at the meeting point of the huge lake Malaren and the Baltic Sea. This Scandinavian capital has only 1 million inhabitants but combines the charm of a smaller city with the pulse of a metropolis. Stockholm offers something for everybody: the medieval old town, a growing Mediterranean coffee house culture, modern Scandinavian cuisine, quiet walks alongside the glittering water, over 30 museums (from the Vikings, over the famous tall ship “Vasa”, to Europe’s first outdoor museum/zoo Skansen), the Tivoli “Grona Lund”, the worlds first and biggest IKEA ware house …
We prepared an extensive "guide" to our home, with a growing collection of tips on Stockholm etc...
Destination
We are OPEN for ALL suggestions so please DO contact us in case you would like to exchange with us ...
For 2009 : We are interested in short term (max 7 days or long weekend etc.) exchanges! Possible dates are during July 2009 or during late autumn, winter, new years eve 2009. The July exchange could be non-simultaneous (meaning that you could come to our house and we come to yours at some other time of your convenience).
For 2011 we are planning a long term stay (1-2 months). Please come with suggestions if you want to exchange houses ...
