Karaktarshotellet Bjorkbacken Vimmerby

... and I hope it's also Swedish)<br><br>While here I also signed a lease for an apartment in Charlottesville and have applied for several jobs; I even had a phone interview. So, things are moving quickly now. I have a full day in Stockholm tomorrow, then fly to Belfast via London on friday. A wedding in N. Ireland on Saturday, a few more days there, then my last 2 days in London and flying home. I should manage one more entry in my summer's travel blog. Thanks for making the trip with me.

... interesting aspect of the room was, you could lay in bed and watch your partner taking a shower through a window. Well I guess it's all part of the sexual reveloution in Sweden! Oh well who cares, the beds were comfortable, which was a good thing because that one nights stay cost us almost $200.00!!!! Just a nudge to remind ourselves to ask the price or else go on line before we stay somewhere. On to another day of travel tomorrow.

... of what a lot of the ruins in the city looked like in their glory. I would have to say the most interesting display was a temporary one they had about punishment and executions in the medeival times. They had some bodies that they had uncovered under the gallows, and many detailed descriptions about different types of torture. They even had partial lists of people that had been punished, what they were punished for, and how they were punished. The ...

... of the castle was destroyed in a fire, all except the north wall, which has been changed drastically on the outside. This was the first time I had been in this museum, and it was very interesting to see what the castle was like when the old one was standing. They had a lot of (burned) items that survived the fire, and just a lot of stuff about what life was like back then. It was very well done, I really enjoyed it.<br><br>After that we went into Gustav III's Museum of ...

... a little quesy but managed to down my breakfast. Today we were going to Stina's house for dinner so we decided to make ANZAC biscuits. They turned out really good except they decided to keep their ball shape instead of flattening out. No big deal. Stinas house was beautiful, however her bedroom wasn't practical for the taller population. She had a giant beam that was my forehead height and no I didn't hit my head so stop snickering ...

This weekend we went to Linkoping to stay at the twins appartment near their uni. We went up Saturday afternoon and just relaxed a bit. Their appartment is really nice, with a bedroom each, a large living room and great kitchen and dining area. The view of the neighbourhood from their window was good too. Later that evening we went with the twins, Maria, and Mathilda (also a twin with Amanda) to Linkoping city cetral to party the night away. First we went to Platens where ...

... around. It was really quaint. We get a bit of attention when we go out. 1) Because Sanja is so tall lol. 2) Because we're not tanned like most Sweed's at this time of year. And 3) Because of our Aussie accents mate. On the 3rd we went to a small lake for a BBQ with Ivana and Zeljana's school friends (Erik, Albin, Marcus, Emil, Sophia, Sarah, Louise and Maria). It was a bit drizzly but we managed to ...

... to enjoy Vattenland. The kids couldn't get enough of the water slides, especially Annie, was our little dare-devil for the day. It was also an interesting place to do some people watching. It was not uncommon to see men in tight speedos and briefs at the park, not something we're used to seeing in the States. Binnie thought this was quite funny, and tried desperately to get some pictures. After a full day of rides, water slides, ice cream ...

... s books for Sheana :-D. By the way, Sheana is doing great in learning swedish! After the second walk of the day, during which Sheana picked some wild flowers, we ate a wonderful dinner (Parsley Meatballs with gravy, lingonberry jelly and mashed potatoes.) The bed seemed especially comfortable this evening...except for Pontus as he got the bad bed....again. More tales tomorrow...

... in no way done with traveling. -January 1st, Tommy, the guy that I met on the dive boat in Australia and toured New Zealand with, landed in the states in Washington D.C. -January and February were spent driving up and down the coasts of the US (New York, D.C, Orlando, Miami, FL Keys, San Diego, Tijuana(had to squeeze in another country!), Los Angeles, Grand Canyon (I finally made it there!!!), Las Vegas, San ...