Hotell Saga Borlange

I concluded my 2 month adventure with a 2 day visit to Anna's aunt Birgitta in Leksand, which is in the traditional Dalicarlian region of Sweden. I should note we had a small delay on the train ride up to Leksand since the train hit a moose, which apparently isn't that uncommon here. Birgitta has been the best host up here taking me around and cooking us the best meals (in fact I have to get ...

Hey all,<br>I went to uppsala which was a forty minute train ride because there was a few things I wanted to see there and where happened to be my hotel. Uppsala had actually burned down a while back and was rebuilt. It is smaller than I expected. I saw the castle there (not too spectacular) but the botanical gardens (part of the castle) was. It was beautiful.

... we were unable to open the door. Thankfully, because there was a power outage and if we had gotten in the elevator we would probably be there the rest of our vacation! We managed to lug all of our 4 suitcases down the stairs and out to the Europa mobile and head out to Lennart and Lilo's house looking forward to a good Scandinavian home cooked lunch. Only to arrive and find out they too had no electricity. All of us disappointed headed out to a ...

... to pay about $100.00 a day all the TV (except BBC) was in Norwegian. Luckily we had internet service and were able to log on to Itunes and download entertainment. We downloaded the ist season of Fringe and are enjoying it nightly. I think the most surprising thing about Norway is the exchange rate. Everything is priced the same as in Sweden but you only get 5 NEK per US dollar where in Sweden you got over 7 SEK per dollar. Guess we won't be spending a lot of money here

... again in July next year. Bev and I stay another day and won't leave until Monday morning for Stockholm. We spent the afternoon sitting in the warm sun and talking with the few left ....Anthony and Marguarita Miles from Oslo, Solveig Hammer from Stockholm and Paul and Kira Spenser from Mjölby. The length of daylight is long; we spent the rest of the day basking in the success of warm aura of how well this weekend went. Tomorrow on to Stockholm.

... have come from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Germany and the United States. There are nine primary languages spoken along with 12 total languages. English is the lingua franca making it possible to communicate. About one hour after services we had a sit-down dinner which everyone really enjoyed. Most of our meals have been up on "the hill" and required the hands of a ...

... to the airport and the train station that is right at the airport. Tickets were a bit higher than we thought they would....about $200 each to Leksand and back to Stockholm. On the train we met Dorthea from Denmark. She also flew in this morning and our group is growing as we're getting acquainted on the train on the way to the Gathering. In three hours we arrive in Leksand with one train ...

Via hällregn (som en dusch!) som medgav en hastighet på ca 70 km/ h på en finfin 110-väg nådde vi till slut Falun. Hälsades välkomna av Alex & Lina som dukade upp en strålande middag med jordgubbsdaiquiris, ingefärsgrillade scampi och hemmagjord mockaglass. Sedan blev det dags för en spelomgång i " Ticket to ride" där det gällde att bygga järnväg kors & tvärs över Europa enligtett intrikat regelverk. Mycket roligt även om värdinnan hade den dåliga smaken att vinna :-) Nu läggdags!

Nu har förberedelserna pågått ett tag. Böcker om Kina skall läsas, ett antal googlingar på platser som kan vara av intresse. Mycket kretsar kring allt jag hoppas hinna med vid sidan av studierna. Det visar sig väl så småningom vad tid jag har för allt annat. Snart börjar studierna här hemma på högskolan, och då får jag väl den första känslan för vad det är jag gett mig in på, - att lära mig kinesiska.

I went to Sweden to visit a friend of a friend! We had a great time - I was staying with him at his University Halls and made loads of really great new friends from all over the world. It snowed, it rained, it flooded - and then it for so hot we were sunbathing! I had a fantastic time visiting the local museums, getting drunk, getting to know more about traditional Swedish culture and came home with many great memories.