Statt Hotel Hassleholm

... the manager, had lunch in the cafe, and really found that IKEA is a cool place to work. We followed up with a tour of their museum. The began selling furniture in the 1950's and have been growing since. They have some typical furniture from each decade. Did you know... IKEA has one owner, they have about 22 billion in annual revenue, and they sell their same products in every store regardless of the culture. CARL ...

... visited, or maybe we were just tired. After schlepping our bags up to the room (a nice large space with windows overlooking the town square, but also with a rather unfortunate cot with a large fault-line through the middle!) we went next door for dinner. The Sweek food (Swedish Greek) wasn't bad but potatoes were a bit greasy; they redeemed themselves by providing Kaye with a diet Pepsi (Pepsi Max!)

... our first transfer to the new city of Älmhult, the home of the famous biologist Carl von Linne (responsible for the plant taxonomy system in use today) and IKEA headquarters (visiting on Thursday). Now we are at home with our new host families and are getting to know the new rural setting of this beautiful region. We look forward to uploading more pics and news to share with you soon! God natt for now, Beth

... 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 ...

... located just south of Sösdala in Tjönarp. So the drive was no big thing and we had a vague idea to its location. We arrived around 9am and were greeted to a very very small town and it being absolutely silent. DUX is a brand of furniture such as beds, chairs, and other pieces. They actually have a store in Newport Beach. This time of year is vacation time for most Swedes so most industry is on hiatus so this was why we were able to walk around ot an ...

... 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 ...

... the 2nd time in 3 weeks, I think. I grabbed my camera and took some more photos. Everything has been pretty grey and dreary so far, now with the sun popping out for a few minutes at a time, I was able to get some different photos. The moon was even visible, nearly full. Tomorrow we head back in to Gotenburg for one last weekend, then I'm flying back on Monday morning.

Where was I? Ah yes... having dinner at a Chinese place with confusing Swedish menu! Well, we successfully coped, using Sarah's Swedish and the fact that pointing and smiling is a great way to order food in any language. Prawns, chicken, beef, rice, etc all got absorbed as we sat & talked. Having not seen each other since about October we're not likely to run out of things to say. Went to bed after that and Sarah went back to her place. Sunday: After a long sleep, lovely ...

I flew from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and took a 45 minute train to Lund, Sweden to meet my friends. I saw this as my first true ¨on my own¨ type test. Apparently I had to change trains in Malmo, though I was told when I got my ticket that I didn´t have to. And I got into Lund, tried to call my friend Robert, who has been studying there since August, on my cell phone but I guess I had no minutes left. ****. To add to that, it was ...

Today I went by myself to Ystad, Sweden down on the coast of lower Sweden. It was a nice town full of beautiful yachts and big ships. There was some nice views of the water and I wandered a bit around the old part of town but there really wasnt much to do so I travelled by train back to Lund via Malmo. The trip was about an hour and a half. The afternoon Vera showed me ...