Around Lake Malaren...

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Tuesday 25th July. A bit of a late start after waking at 2am and only dozing after. Light nights don't help !!! We took the Tunnelbana (underground) into the city and booked our train journey to Harnosand.....about 5 hours north of Stockholm... for Monday. We wandered around the city centre and went to the Kulturhuset and saw a display of 100 years of Finnish Design.

Wednesday 26th July. Awake early again. Today we are going on a road trip around Lake Malaren...about 300 kms.

We left about 9.30 and drove south-west on the E20 motorway. First stop was Gripsholm Castle....one of the many on the lake shores. It was owned by early kings and used as their summer retreat as well as a fortress in earlier days. It has been added to and modified many times, resulting in a hotch-potch of styles.

Second stop was the village of Barva, where Lisa grew up. We stopped at the church and cemetery, where her parents, grandparents and other relations are buried. From there we could see the school she went to (no longer a school) and the farms they lived on.

Third stop was lunch at the village of Kungsor, almost at the end of the lake. Lunch was a delicious smorgasbord of all flavours of herrings and meatballs with potatoes, ligonberries and salad, follwed by carrot cake.

Final stop was a visit to Lisa's sister Margareta and partner Chris, who live near the lake in an area called Lilla Asby. It is quite rural and they have a large garden with all kinds of vegetables and flowers, as well as a paddock with 2 goats. We continued back home along the northern side opf the lake on the E18 motorway, arriving at 8pm - a long but most interesting and enjoyable day.

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