Gula Briggen Hotel Halmstad

... been quite looking forward to the crossing and it didn't disappoint. Opened in 2000, we had seen the bridge when we flew to St Petersburg in 2003 and had wanted to cross it ever since, well kenny in particular. Its the longest bridge of its kind in the world (cable tied road and rail) measuring 7.8km long from the swedish side near Malmo to the artificial "Pepper" island and from that island its another 3km of undersea tunnel to Copenhagen.

Yay we had ...

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!

... the wheels that we were going to use for portages and a small drysack with all the stuff that we needed throughout the day (stuff like chocolate), the waterproof speaker + iPod and waterproof camera. It took us ages to put the tent up for the first time in about a month but it was amazing to sit around the camp fire at last. 8th July - This was the first full day of canoeing. It wasn't nearly as exhausting as I though it would be.

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 ...

STOCKHOLM The Ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn was fun. Leaving Malmo was no small task. We do not use maps, we sort of head in the right direction and then stop and ask for directions. (I know how this goes against the grain if you are a guy) but it seems to work. Eventually we found the highway and it was a very beautiful drive. Seems that Sweden is flat in the southern part, then has trees and ...

... the stuff inside was missing, but the thieves had installed a new car stereo(well "new" might not be the right word), so in some ways, the theft was actually an upgrade. Everyone is happy to have the car back. We never thought we'd see it again. This weekend Chris and I head into Gothenburg for a well-deserved weekend of debauchery. It'll be nice to sleep in.

The day started out fine enough. It's cold, but once you get going, it warms up quick. Work consisted mainly of myself chopping branches off of huge fallen trees. Jonas hooks a cable to them and winches them to his tractor where he has a machine that grabs the tree and passes it through a type of claw that strips whatever branches I didn't get. It then chops the tree into manageable pieces that will be sold to a lumber company ...

... of the festival and Copenhagen but the last two computers we used DO NOT allow us access to USB ports for the camera, so youäll have to stay tuned. Well, time for dinner near the new twisting tower...(built by a Spanish arcitect, it was on Daily Planet on Discovery channel not too long ago before we left, so cool to see it) Matt is dealing with a bit of a cold (the Roskilde scurvy we call ...

... tiles. Tea was brought in, and the luxury of its warmth was more than can be easily described. My friend's name was Carl Schonbeck, which the sailors, with whom he served in the Crimea, finding someone difficult of pronunciation, abbreviated into Beck. The old lady was not related to him, for he was a lodger here. His parents lived some miles further inland. After tea, finding I was bent on getting forward early next morning, he took me down to the posting-station, to ...

... David who would be playing best man and was staying in the next room. We laughed when we heard that Tadek had paid double for his cab ride last night! We eventually made our way over to Helsingor Castle on the Denmark side. It's a great place. WE did a tour of the castle where the guide told us a certain William Shakespear (Billy Wobblestick to his mates) had visited and learnt of the history of the castle. Ten years later he released his famous play - Hamlet. Apparently the ...