Blogs from Halland County, Sweden, Europe - page 3

Less than two days away from two months down in beautiful Italy! Tomorrow i travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, to stay there for a day and then to travel to Rome on Saturday. Today me and Ida entertained my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my sister and her daughter, to a going away party for me. Nothing special, just some bacon wrapped chicken with some Panacotta for dessert. Yummy! Well, enough blogging for today, a more detailed post about my feelings about the trip will come up tomorow from Copenhagen! Sleep Tight, Forza Italia!... read more

Bij het ontwaken is het buiten nog niets veranderd. Het blijft onguur herfstweer. In de ochtend ontmoet ik de eigenaar dus stiekem wegglippen zit er niet in. Hij vertelt dat dit weer elke zomer wel eens voorvalt. Na het ontbijt geef ik me over aan de elementen. Het eerste stukje heb ik wind mee, wat gaat dit vlot. Er waait ook al iets tegen men hoofd, zolang het geen halve boom is het goed. Daarna draait de weg en krijg ik zijwind. Ik moet moeite doen om rechts te blijven rijden. Gelukkig is het niet zo erg als de Noordkaap. Eigenlijk is het even erg maar anders. Men gemiddelde snelheid ligt ook al iets hoger dan gisteren. Ik kom eerst door Falkenberg waar ik even men mail wil checken. Van de toeristische dienst ga ik naar ... read more

For those of you unaware, I am currently in Sweden visiting my girlfriend Adina's home for the very first time. Over the next six weeks I will explore some nearby European areas, based from Adina's hometown city of Halmstad on the west coast of Sweden. It has been one week now since the 30 hour trip across 12 time zones and landing in Copenhagen. I've had the worst jet lag experience of my life (three days of unbearable tiredness during the day combined with frustrating sleepless nights), and I am finally settled in Halmstad, with my bearings to the city center and nearby beaches. Adina's home is in a suburb of Halmstad called Gullbrandstorp (aproximately 15 minutes drive from the city center). The neighborhoods feel not-so-surprisingly European with narrow roads and roundabouts, and every home on ... read more

We had been on the road for hours before we got our first glimpse of the beautiful lighthouse by the sea. Our route had taken us southwest from the little red and white summerhouse on the shores of Lake Mälaren, past the medieval town of Arboga and the picturesque Göta Canal, between Sweden’s two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern, and into Göteburg, Sweden’s second largest city. We ate an excellent lunch at the home of Maria’s friend, Ylva, while we sat and watched Göteburg’s picturesque waterfront from the top of a bluff. After lunch, Ylva joined us as our journey continued southward along Sweden’s west coast. Eventually, we turned off of the highway and followed a small country road between the rolling fields that lined the coast. We spotted the lighthouse a short time later and ... read more

Jeff's time in the lab is dwindling, and the benefit of that is more time to explore. He's been training to run the Stockholm Marathon (so one of us has gotten fit this year!), and has had many "foot miles" to explore this area. One of his favorite discoveries has been Särö Västerskog, a nature reserve that was once a summer place for Sweden's Gustav V. Just 3 1/2 mile from our place, it's a great hike over rocky trails and through woods that are remnants of the typical natural forest that used to grow all along the coastline. Jeff and I both love the "gnarly" trees...how they curve and bend to reach the elusive sunlight. I feel a bit like a gnarly tree myself, after the sunless winter! We celebrated Signe's tenth birthday on April ... read more