Holiday Scavenging - The Swedish Grand Finale

As promised, part two of my attempt to complete Rinda's Summer 2013 Scavenger Hunt whilst on holiday in Scandinavia.  This summer I was attending a reunion with friends and colleagues from my first job abroad in Västerås, Sweden.  To make it more interesting for Hubby we combined it with a road trip from Copenhagen (see my earlier post) to Stockholm for our first holiday without children for many a year.  We travelled from Denmark to Sweden across the Øresund Bridge by bus (only 50SEK each) and grabbed an Earthcache before collecting our hire car in Malmö and driving northwest across Sweden.  Along the way we spotted a traditional windmill ... and a modern one:

#16 - A Windmill

We stopped overnight in Jönköping.  Why there?  Because I remembered it from geography lessons when I was about 13/14: we learnt that this was the centre of the matchstick universe!  The matchstick museum there was absolutely brilliant - with a lovely mosaic pattern outside and fascinating machines, artefacts and art pieces inside:

#14 - A Mosaic

On the way there we spotted some doubtful advertising :-)

#7 - A Funny Sign

All too soon it was time to drive on towards my old stomping ground.  I took Hubby to Anundshög, an ancient site just outside Västerås where we admired some ancient stone ships and spotted a seahorse:

#12 - A Cloud In The Shape Of ...

Västerås hadn't altered too much in the last thirty years: yes, there were new office blocks, larger suburbs and the names on some of the shops had changed, but much of the centre was just the same, including the Town Hall:

#2 - Västerås Town Hall

I have no recollection of the theatre standing opposite, but then I was rather more interested in films than plays in my twenties.

#2 - A Theatre

The next day saw a visit to the local Open Air Museum at Välby (completely FREE!) to give Hubby a taste of Swedish historical buildings.  They had plenty of fences:

#13 - A Fence

... and another one

After a very enjoyable morning, admiring the gardens, buildings, furniture and tools along with interesting explanations from the costumed guides, we set of for the reunion itself.  Our accommodation could easily have been on display at Välby - we stayed in loft bedrooms above a museum room and the communal kitchen was an old soldier's house - with little benches by the front door:

#10 - An Outside Bench

The reunion took place at Sandvik Music Festival, right on Lockvattnet lake where we saw some glorious sunsets and an amazing thunderstorm:

#5 - A Sunset

The festival bar was very relaxed:

#18 - Our "Local" Bar

And we didn't feel too old and out of place amongst the younger music lovers:

Though some of us couldn't take the late nights and early alcohol:

#6 - A Napper

After a happy weekend in good company we headed off for a couple of days in Stockholm to round off the trip.  Skansen scored us loads of animals (and more historical architecture) but the highlight amongst elks, reindeer, and brown bears were the baby lynxes (lynx?) playing on the rocks of their enclosure:

#11 - An Animal In A Zoo

Sergel's Torget was inaccesible due to roadworks and renovations (a shame as this iconic attraction is beautifully illuminated at night) but a nearby statue was well protected :-)

#8 - A Tower

#9 - Something Out Of Place

The Stockholm metro yielded more mosaics and other decorations:

#14 - Another Mosaic

Despite travelling through two capital ports, across a sea bridge and past dozens of lakes, the ONE item I had yet to find was a fisherman.  Then I spotted this and just about gave up:

NOT A Fisherman In Sight :-(

So it was back to the airport to spot a final plane:

#4 - An Aeroplane

Killing time in the airport shops, I was overjoyed to complete my hunt with an appropriate:

#19 - A FLY Fisherman

Many thanks to Rinda for adding some extra fun to our Scandinavian adventures with the Summer 2013 Scavenger Hunt.  Now to complete my English hunt before September 21st!

Holiday Scavenging - (Almost) All In A Danish Day

I'm back!  From a trip down memory lane, attending a reunion with friends and colleagues from my first job abroad in Västerås, Sweden.  Hubby and I combined it with a road trip from Copenhagen to Stockholm for our first holiday without children for many a year.  According to my pedometer, we walked 19km (nearly 12 miles) around Copenhagen on our first day ... partly because I was trying to squeeze in a sunset shot for Rinda's Summer 2013 Scavenger Hunt and the sun didn't set until around 9 in the evening!  We'd started 12 hours earlier with a theatre on our way to the Tourist Information Centre:

#2 - A Theatre For Performing Arts

With only one day in Copehagen we didn't have time for any museums or exhibitions, but this one looked interesting:

#20 - A Dinosaur

Instead, we chose a walking tour of the city and spotted some fire engines on our way to the meeting point:

#15 - Fire Engines

We were entertained, informed and exhausted by our tour, but it did mean we notched up half a dozen photos for the hunt including a wistful photo of somewhere to sit and rest:

#10 - A Bench

Hubby & I love the Scandinavian dramas on BBC4 and were glad to pass by the eponymous parliament building from the series "Borgen".

#3 - Danish Parliament Building

Copenhagen was full of towers but we agreed that this was one of the prettiest and it apparently affords some of the best views of the city ... but we didn't have the energy to tackle the 400 steps (including 150 on the OUTside)!

#8 - A Tower

Hubby and I both found this sign amusing and wondered if many dogs paid attention:

#7 - An Amusing Sign

Even more odd than a beach in the centre of a city was a submarine out of water - an interesting museum if we ever return to Copenhagen:

#9 - Something Out Of Place

Our walking tour finished by the Amalienborg Palaces, guarded by several of these fellows marching (with folded arms!) across the beautiful mosaics:

#14 - A Mosaic

We'd spotted the submarine whilst zooming in for the windmills, but later in the day we came across a "proper" windmill on the green ramparts of Kastellet near the Little Mermaid.

#16 - A Windmill

Copenhagen is remarkably peaceful for a capital city; the traffic isn't too intense as nearly 40% of the inhabitants cycle rather than use their cars and the place is awash with green spaces.  The summer weather meant that the parks were full of relaxed people, some of whom were snoozing on a VERY hot afternoon:

#6 - A Napper

They wouldn't have been lying there 30 minutes later because a thunderstorm was set to cool us all down briefly.  Luckily we'd moved on to the shelter of the shopping district.

#1 - An Open Air Market

A quick change at the hotel into dry clothes and we enjoyed a romantic, candlelit dinner for two:

#17 - A Candle

Followed by another walk to wait for the sunset:

#5 - A Sunset

Phew - thanks for sticking with me for 14 photo finds in 12 hours.  Part two of my Holiday Hunt (The Swedish Grand Finale) coming soon! is posted here.