Ditt Hotell Frano Hotell Kramfors

... kingdom. Our hosts brought us to the place where he was born and raised. They held their Rotary meeting in the museum on this land and Carl himself (a performer) came out and gave a great presentation. The land is littered with stones, apple trees, roaming cows, and structures from over 150 years ago... it was wonderful. I will leave you there for right now and head outside for a walk with the hosts. Until next time!

... and squished!) spider from one of the samples of pressed paper that was custom-made for the University of Stockholm. Ick! After the paper mill tour, we made it to Kosta Glasswork and viewed skilled masters create beautiful pieces of hand-blown glass so famous to this region of Sweden (called the 'Kingdom of Crystal'). A few of us stopped to buy some fantastic souvenirs to remember this experience. We also ...

The weekend has been so relaxing! It's my first time to go to a Spa-hotel and I thought it was liberating to be able to go around wearing robes ;) massage, gym, sauna+freezing cold ocean+hot tub, swimming pool and the food was delish... I really have no complains at all!

... coast of Sweden and the beaches at Tylösand, just west of the major town of Halmstad. We also visited the Lund (former Norwegian capital), where Lewis attends classes at the university, and visited the cathedral to check out the astronomical clock (one star) and the catacombs (2 stars). The Kulturen Museum in Lund had a chronological overview of the people and artifacts of southern Sweden. On the way back from Norway ...

When the train arrived in Halmstad, Jenny's uncle Lasse and his wife Lotten were waiting for us on the platform, from which point we've been totally pampered by them. Sunday Lotten's son Mattias and his girlfriend Jeanette came and drove us to see Malmo where there is a cultural festival with food from all over the world, live music, the works. Otherwise, we've been keeping clean, well fed and well slept, up to date with photos and ...

... train to Copenhagen for a couple days. We explored the city a bit, took the harbor cruise and saw a movie. Back in Sweden, the kids went to stay with Henrik's parents and the four of us took off for southern Sweden. We enjoyed the rural country, stopped at an apple orchard, toured a castle, went hiking and ate some yummy food. The weather wasn't as nice as we were hoping (no swimming), but nevertheless it was ...

So after a morning of packing, we headed of to Sweden's High Coast... (Höga Kusten) An amazingly interesting place, about 20,000 years ago it was under a 3km (2 mi) thick sheet of ice... all that weight pushed the land down about 800m, as it melted the land pushed back and thus far has managed to rise about 500m... at the present moment, it is rising at the stagering speed of 8mm ...

The flight from LA to Atlanta was pretty uneventful. The next leg to Copenhagen wasn't very crowded, so we all had 2 seats to ourselves, so I managed to get a little sleep. Chris and his Dad Jonas met me at the airport. We took the ferry into Sweden and after a quick stop to get me some chainsaw boots, we were on ...

... to experience this maze of bike lanes and how indeed it all merges with other traffic and pedestrians. I was impressed with the integration. I am so impressed with this set up. Culture Night is a large event here held on the 2nd Friday in October and there was literally thousands of people in town. Many appeared to be walking around looking at the endless display of artists displaying their talents. I must admit some were a little bit of a ...

... They do odd things like dress up in weird costumes and then strip in 40degree ewather and jump in a huge fountain. Their behavior surprised me, esp. because they are so passive in person. The party the last night was the best part of the carnival. It was huge--there must have been over 1,000 people alone in the room we stayed in most of the time-- and there were 5 other rooms. A rap group that I quickly learned to like because ...