This picture was taken at Kolarbyn Eco-Lodge, which is basically fancy camping up an hour or so away from Stockholm. I heard about it from Jauntsetter, and it made a fine alternative to spending a couple of days hemorrhaging money in Stockholm.
What was fun about it was this - there are basically forest huts made of mud, wood, and moss, with a fire for warmth and candlelight to see by. We had the camp compound to ourselves, so we got to enjoy walking around the lake we were nearby and taking advantage of the floating sauna. There was also a lot of wood available for chopping. We needed it for fires and it was also a pretty fun task. When I was sick one morning, lying on my cot in the hut reading Freedom and drinking ginger ale, Stu took 45 minutes to just chop wood. He ended up making about twenty fires go over the span of two days. The pleasure he took in these basic (some may say manly, but obviously, you don’t have to. I was sick with jet lag during this escape) tasks was a sight to see. The chance to chop wood in a beautiful, magical forest is its own reward.
I am super shocked that The Ace Hotel hasn’t found its own version of this place - maybe the Forest Hostel in Georgia? - and co-opted it for weekends of “authentic experience.” I swear it would go over like gangbusters.