Last lap

Our last day here dawned dull and dreary, so it wasn't too hard to pack up, jump in the car and head for the airport.  We had a day to enjoy first though, so stopped off at Uppsala around lunchtime.  The guidebook suggested there were interesting things to see and we found a convenient (and free!) place to park right by the cathedral. It being Sunday, however, there was a service going on inside - not the best time to go exploring.

The rest of Uppsala was closed on this chilly Sunday lunchtime and any hope of finding somewhere to eat a hearty lunch was dashed.  Eventually we stumbled into a deserted Italian restaurant and each had a bowl of pasta, but this was mere fuel and nothing memorable.

But exciting things were happening on the river now, and standing by the weir, we watched as the first of many kayakers came down and through the rapids.  Totally crazy, we thought!

There's only so much excitement to take in however, so after a few races, we decided to head out towards Gamla Uppsala - the original old city - where there seemed to be interesting things to see.

This was another of those old landscapes and the site of three burial mounds, thought to be those of important characters...possibly kings...where some archaeological treasures have been found.

The museum here was open - good grief! - and so was the little old church, where a baptism had just finished.

The inside was lovely - more painted walls in similar style to those in Vadstena, and some rune stones too.  These weren't quite in the same league as yesterday, though.

Taking one last look at this wide open space, we gathered ourselves together and headed for the airport.

We've had a grand week here in Sweden, have been incredibly lucky with the weather and look forward to returning in June, to Umea - rather further north - when we'll hear more music, enjoy good company see another part of this fascinating country.

Update on Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 3:52PM by Gill Thomas

When time came to board the plane, we heard those magic words "You've been upgraded".  Sure enough, instead of the Airbus we'd expected, there was a long-haul format 767 on the stand, so not only did we get to eat supper from china plates with real metal cutlery, we got to recline and think of England too!  Thanks BA - we'd booked those flights on points, too, so can't even claim to have paid for the fun