We are now over 6 weeks since we left home. Seems just like yesterday - not really. Had breakfast with Christer again and bade him farewell. We have had a great time with him and have learnt lots about Sweden and Karlstad as well. He has been a fantastic host and I think he enjoyed having company to look after. A few farewells, photos and finally away. We were heading to Gothenburg via a few places Christer had recommended. First stop was Fjallbacka which is on the coast across from Karlstad. Not sure what to expect but once we parked the car we walked down into the Centre of town. Lots of people, boats and dogs. Turns out that Ingrid Bergman (of acting royalty) decided this was to be her happy place. Even bought a house ... read more

Pick up a hire car today for the Swedish part of our trip. Found the Avis shop and into a relatively new Opel Corsa. A bit smaller than expected but we could fit all of the bags in the boot. That is because we left the big case behind at the hotel as we are coming back there at the end of our trip. Out of town and heading ultimately for Karlstad. This is where Stephanie spent around 10 months on student exchange in 2000. We are staying with her host father, Christa. Unfortunately her host mother died late last year. We stopped at a very old castle which Christer had suggested on the way. Skokloster Castle which was built in the early 1600’s. Very interesting especially how they have used the original furnishings where possible. ... read more

I was going to bore you with talk about showers, rooms and localities of hotels. Will keep you baited for a little longer for that riveting insight of a 7 - 8 week holiday. BTW. Apologies for the blank pics yesterday. Having problems loading them ATM. Today we headed off early’ish to start our day of touristing. On the bus to the canal boats. Got there and the queue to get tickets was huge. Eventually they opened up another window and things moved much better. Onto the boat. This one had a roof and sliding windows so you could get fresh air and see better. Good trip around the canals of Copenhagen. Saw a lot of the same stuff we had done yesterday from our bus tour, but also quite a lot of new stuff. Back ... read more

Sunny start today. Got a call from the kids this morning. Pippa had news to tell us about her athletics. Very proud grandparents and happy grand daughter. Then had a birthday chat with Maggots (my sister to the uninitiated). Good to catch up with all the Melbourne news. Got the car from its car park and loaded up for our trip to Copenhagen via Helsingor (thanks Neil for the tip) and then back through Rungsted (thanks Soren). Found Helsingor and the Kronburg palace. Now this is a real ye olde palace. It even still has its own moat. Fascinating history and some amazing rooms in the palace. Evidently Hamlet was written about this place. We got to the main hall and there was a dude doing Hamlet verses and acts. Great effort considering most people backed ... read more

Early’ish start today. Well almost. We are off to Bilund to visit Legoland. Out of Aarhus a different way to where we had seen before. Nice views and different roads. Still raining though. On the way Jessica called do we spoke to her while we drove. Good to catch up and share news. Even got to chat with Pippa when Jessica finally got home. Rain stopped, rain started. Not looking great for our day walking Legoland. Got to the parking area and by then the rain had abated. Walked in and straight into the shop. Interesting items on sale but no real bargains here. Wandered off into the open spaces. Some amazing Lego builds as we walked. Rained again but we were in one of the areas they have where you can add to the already ... read more