Heja Sverige!

After packing our suitcases and the rest of our lives in London into boxes – right up until the last minute on Jo’s part, “What time does our plane leave again?” – we’ve finally made it.

Bye, bye London!!

We started in Stockholm and spent a couple of days checking it out, we’ve explored Gamel Stan (the old town), saw the Royal Palace and the 'Vasa' a 378 year old Swedish warship that had been recovered from the mud of Stockholm Harbour after being buried for 333 years. Unfortunately the ship sunk about 20 minutes into its maiden voyage back in 1628, and basically everyone decided to blame the designer of the Vasa, who conveniently died 1 year before its completion. We also checked out 'Skansen', which is like the Swedish equivalent of 'Old Sydney Town' crossed with a Scandinavian zoo. On our last night in Sweden we met up with Susie and David who currently live in Stockholm but we first met them when they were living in Germany earlier in the year.

Stockholm Harbour

Some handy advice from the Swedes in Stockholm

Scandanavian housing at Skansen

The Vasa

The Swedes get suggestive with their speeding signs

Susan and David

We left Stockholm early the next morning and have spent the last couple of days in Umeå, which is about 2/3 of the way up the eastern side of Sweden. Ian took us to his laboratory and showed us all the cool stuff he has been working on; he even has his own office! Wow! We spent today having a rather windy BBQ out near a body of water, possibly a lake or a fjord or a river, you can never tell in Scandinavia. We met some of Ian’s friends and got to play with fire, which always makes for an enjoyable day out!

Jeremy, Jo and Ian

Lovely spot for a Saturday afternoon BBQ

We made sure to try a sampling of Swedish cider as well, after a recommendation from some Swedish girls that Jo works with. We tried some different flavours including apple, pear, forest berries, strawberry and lime, and another one with a fruit nobody knew exactly what it was. Jo thought they were fantastic, and has started plans to set up a company that exports Swedish cider but Jeremy was not so impressed he thought they were just sweeter and fruitier and that Swedish cider is chick cider! Which makes sense seeing that it was a couple of Swedish girls who recommended them. Speaking of Swedish girls... I have often heard people say that Sweden is crawling with beautiful girls, to that all I going to say is.... well actually I’m not allowed to say anything, but I will to nod my head vigorously!!!

One reason why Sweden is better than Australia apart from the quantity of gorgeous women: They have blueberries growing like weeds everywhere!!! If you are on the way to Uni or the shops and you need a quick burst of energy, just pick a handful of blueberries (which you’ll literally be surrounded by) and you’ll be back on top of the world! I think the world would be a happier place if more people were surrounded by blueberries!