Winn Karlstad Scandic

... against a backdrop of geriatrics who have spend their entire pension fund on a massive (non brand specific) Winnnebago. To complete the hippy make-over we finally adhered the sparkly "Purple Ohm" sticker (purchased last year in Ibiza) to the back of the van this afternoon next to the number plate. This complements the Green Earth sticker and the Toro sticker (that I suspect Sime and Sal put on her when they were travelling around Spain in Alahabama Whirlygig....aka Madam). To ...

After a very cold night in the van with temperatures dropping to 10 degrees it did mean that the clear skies of the day before had brought with it a gorgeous sunrise with just a couple of clouds. Funny, I used to always struggle to get out of bed to check out sunrises, and now with Jasper its quite a regular occurence!<br><br>So after a lie in, we took in the serenity as you might say!Thats for you Sashy! The ...

... the country houses were mostly like grand homesteads with perfectly manicured lawns and grounds. It is clear the Swedes take immense pride in their rural presentation. Not a single rusty old Volvo shell to be seen......<br><br>To top off a wonderful drive we ended up at an absolutely stunning campsite right on Lake Vanern, Duse Udde. With only a handful of other campers, again we pretty much have the place to ourselves. <br><br>Too funny, Jasper's bath here is a red sports car!

... key in hand, the boys headed over early in the morning to crank up the wood fire and get the oven heated. Joined by Johan&#8217;s dad Krister and his girlfriend Deborah, we spent the afternoon cranking out lots and lot of warm flat bread&#8230;. Good stuff! We were a mess, but loved making it. Krister and Deborah had us over to their beautiful lake side summer house for dinner where we learned about all the local fishies. Johan took Stopher out ...

... is doing a good job telling me I have an hour before my train back to Norway. Also last night there was another Lene Marlin concert here in Karlstad (yes the reason I'm here but dont judge me. bah i dont care anyway, it was totally worth it). It was put on at short notice but was really amazing, she had a band behind her of at least 10 people including a string quartet, a drummer, and a percussionist. Then after the show I followed the Italian fanatics again and got to meet ...

... away on Friday - boring I know. Its really great here, everyone is happy and Swedish, unlike the grumps in Norway. There are cycle paths everywhere and it seems like everyone rides a bike even old people. I have visited some older areas with cobbled streets and cycled (I have hired a bike) out to a rune stone in a farmers field, which is just like a memorial thing that is ...

... our Sweden through the groupstage, where it all came to an end, but our trip had just started and we went on to explore other parts of europe for 16 days. The countries we paid a visit were Italy, France, Spain, England and Scotland. My next trips will be a cruise to the finnish town Åbo and about 2 weeks later Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. 'til I return!

19 minutes past midnight and we are leaving Karlstad by a bus that is taking us to Örebro, where we'll change to another bus that will take us to Stockholm Skavsta Airport in Nyköping. In about 17 hours we'll hopefully be in Innsbruck in some pub or fan-area where we can view the game between Sweden and Spain.

... Squares bustle with markets and shoppers, buildings all seem to have a fresh coat of paint and the houses are all bright colors with white trim. The city lends out free bikes to tourists and locals so we hit the town on the first day, riding over bridges and through parks in the hundreds of designated bike lanes. We weren't the only ones riding either -we must have passed two hundred other riders out for leisurely rides or ...

... I gave them a 5 minutes brief about Singapore and it was our turn to go in. The double doors of the small Ice Bar ensures that the room temperature is kept constant. I ordered my appropriately named cocktail called Aurora Borealis (a tad weak, I suspect it was only half a shot). The drinks, served with glasses made from ice, were cocktails all mixed with Absolut Vodka the only kind of alcohol served here. Inside Abba was playing again with 'Dancing ...