Instead of another material gift or a donation to their charity, Järfälla municipality northwest of Stockholm gave Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel a visit to them as a wedding gift. Earlier this autumn the Court signalled that November would suit and later it was agreed that today, Monday 14 November, would be the day.
As Järfälla is the place where I grew up and have lived the longest period in my life so far, I decided that it would be a nice visit to cover for my blog. Thankfully my request for press accreditation was accepted and this morning it was an early start before I joined a whole busload of media people gathering in Jakobsberg, the main seat of the municipality.
The first stop on the Crown Princess Couple’s program in Järfälla was a visit to an award winning playground in Kallhäll where representatives of the municipality together with members of the public and local children who use the park every day met up. The park, which looks quite different with its round shape and different stations, is specially adapted for children with attention, motor control and perception deficits and the aim is that all children, with or without any disorders, should be able to play together in a well functioning way.
A
fter the playground visit the press bus returned for a coffee break and then headed to Görväln Castle where the owners of the boutique hotel and conference centre welcomed us and showed us around.
Meanwhile the Crown Princess Couple continued their schedule (no media invited) with a visit to Sandvikskolan (the Sandvik School) in Viksjö and a water purification plant of Norrvatten (The Northern Water Board) which is owned by fourteen municipalities in Stockholm County and provides their drinking water.
After a brief photo opportunity with the Crown Princess Couple outside Görväln Castle around noon the doors closed and the royals and invited guests sat down to enjoy some pumpkin soup with picked pumpkin, pumpkin purée, roasted pumpkin seeds and goat cheese followed by lemon baked cod with cabbage terrine, pickled vegetables and smoky mustard and then coffee and pastries as dessert.
After our much simpler lunch at the press centre, it was time for the strangest part of the day’s schedule – a visit to the offices of SAAB Group (not to be confused with the sad case and company of SAAB Automobile). Because of the nature of the offices, security and defence solutions and electronic defence systems, the building has security classification and is under strict photo ban.
Since they had decided that this was one part of the Crown Princess Couple’s visit that the media would be allowed to take part in somehow, we were let in to the entrance hall where, after briefings on what they do and the photo rules we had to observe, there was a brief moment’s chance to watch the royal couple arrive for their visit. Their actual visit was closed to the media and only attended by a select few because of the strict security classifications.
Around 4 PM the Crown Princess Couple’s last event during their visit to Järfälla was a public one and took place at the new bus terminal in Jakobsberg. Half of the terminal hall was filled with members of the public and the other half by media and a marching band, in-between that there was space where children from the local cultural school performed as well as a small stage.
After the programme was over the municipality representatives thanked the royal couple for visiting and around 5:30 PM they waved and left in cars to go home to Haga after a long day.
I hope to return with a few more photos tomorrow 
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