Blogs from Stockholm County, Sweden, Europe - page 7

Today we drove back to Sigtuna as we had seen several nice places to eat lunch at and there was a great hike that started right in the town. We parked and walked into town and found the shopping lane where the restaurants were also located. After checking all the menus, we settled on a very quaint place where Nigel, Rachel and Russell all had herring served with Swedish style pureed potatoes, lingon berries (a Swedish berry kind of like a cranberry), salad, bread and a tasty berry crumble for dessert. As I am not a big herring fan, I had the not-so-Swedish dish of Croque Monsieur which was also delicious! Then off on our hike. Nigel guided us past lots of water, across bridges, through the woods and eventually back into town (16km later). The ... read more

Up early again for another trip to Stockholm by transit. Made it to our first stop which was a 2 1/2 hour archipelago boat tour. This was fantastic. The weather was perfect and we sailed out of the inner harbour out to the inner archipelago. There are 30,000 islands in this area but we did not see them all (only most of them). This area is cottage country for the locals (although increasingly people are making them year-round homes). They take their cars on ferries and spend their summers on these islands. If they don't have a summer home, they might have a boat and island hop for several weeks at a time. Sweden has a law regarding property that states that anyone can go on any land (as long as they do not do damage ... read more

Friday 28th....cooler today, drizzling and cloudy. We drove to Rosendal's Garden on Djurgarden Island, and looked around the garden in the drizzle. This garden is a non-profit organic garden and they use their vegetables in their cafe, where we had lunch. Jonathan then drove home the long way - to show us where his Film School is and the Foley Studio where he had an internship, and now does some work. Later that afternoon we visited Bertil's 94 year old mother, who lives in an apartment nearby. She seemed pleased to see us and thought we understood her Swedish very well !!! That evening we met our Kiwi/UK friend Margaret, who came to see us and Stockholm for the weekend. Saturday 29th....woke up to another beautiful day - clear blue sky and hot !!! We met ... read more

This morning we all hit the trails for various loops. After we were all done, we headed out to the lake for the afternoon. It was called Kalltorpssjon (pronounced Chulterpsun). This lake is just at the south end of Stockholm and it is very peaceful. It feels like you are hundreds of miles from any city. There are walking paths all around it and quite a few docks where people were swimming. There were also rocky outcroppings where people laid on their towels. Looking out around the lake, the shore is mostly trees with rocky areas scattered around. There were quite a few people swimming and some kayakers. No motor boats allowed on this lake. Thus the quietness. On the walk in to the lake, there is another "Gym" (participaction park), mini golf, beach volleyball, and ... read more

Thursday 27th July. Uppsala today.....we left about 10am and drove north on the E4 to Uppsala. It is a very historical city and a popular university city. First stop was the castle on the hill, overlooking the city and surrounds - buiilt initially as a fortress in the 1500s, and now is the official residence of the City Governor. We walked down the steps to the west to the Botannical Gardens - they were the castle gardens and were given to the University by King Gustav 111 in 1787. They are formal, with box hedges around the grassed and planted areas, and conifers shaped to look like pyramids. The orangerie was fairly empty as the large potted phoenix palms etc were all outside for the summer. There was an interesting section with cacti. Across the street ... read more