Long day

 

We left home at 7.45am to drive to Heathrow for our flight to Stockholm which left, on time, at 11.25am.  Losing an hour en route, we arrived slightly early, some two and a half hours later.  We changed terminal and caught an onward flight here to Umea, which took all of 55 minutes - by the time we had picked up our rental car and found our way to the hotel, it was 7.30pm.  We've had a simple meal in the brasserie downstairs and now find ourselves sitting in our room on the 13th floor in broad-ish daylight.

It's 9.48pm and the cloud has descended so quickly that in the time it's taken me to type this post, the view has changed a little.

  

Isn't it strange that, however short the flight, it always seems to take a day to get anywhere?  The one exception being our Santa Monica jaunts, when taking a Friday lunchtime flight can have us mooching along 3rd Street Promenade in the early evening, basking in the Californian sunshine.

But hey, who knows, it could be positively balmy here tomorrow.

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

The Rock

We began the day with another drive through pine forests from Orebro, this time to Vadstena, an historic place on Lake Vattern.  Another cold morning, we wrapped up warm for a walk along the lakeside and were surprised to see a woman emerge from the water in a bikini - our car thermometer read 2C and the water must have been only slightly above freezing.  She was, it has to be said, rather pink!

Our first stop was in the convent church of St Birgitta, a principal destination for pilgrims and an important historic site.  We found the interior to be breathtaking, especially the vaulted ceiling which was so beautifully painted.

By the time we'd meandered through a few old streets we felt in need of refreshment and stopping in a little Konditori could not resist a couple of traditional Semla

Sitting outside in a sheltered spot, the sunshine on our faces, we tried hard to convince ourselves that there were calorie-free (but failed)

Vadstena is also noted for lace making, so seeing an open door to a small lace studio, we took a closer look.  Not being a lace maker myself, I'd appreciate a comment or two explaining what particular characteristics make this lace different from some of the English lace I'm more accustomed to seeing when I'm out judging craft competitions.  All I could say is that it is different!

We left Vadstena early afternoon and drove through open countryside with wetlands and wildfowl in abundance.  We often think that certain parts of England have an "old" feel to them, somehow; that one can sense the long history associated with particular fields and open spaces.  The same could be said for this part of Ostergotland.  We parked the car in a remote spot and walked over to take a closer look at The Rock.

It was well worth the visit and we both agreed it was the highlight of our day.  Carved with the longest runic inscription known, it was beautifully placed by the old church where it had been discovered.  Not only was the stone itself fascinating, it was suitably framed under a fine shelter supported by the most lovely wooden pillars.

Oh, and for those of us who have difficulty interpreting runic inscriptions, there was a helpful translitteration in a nearby building

So, another interesting day.  We're rather looking forward to dinner tonight at Wongs since it seems a long time since those Semla.  Last night's place promised more than it delivered, sadly, and though the service was excellent, the food didn't really live up to expectation.  Never mind...another day, another dining experience!

Sneeze and snuffle

I don't really think the huge variation in temperature here can be blamed for the sneezes and snuffles experienced in the last 48 hours, but we are finding it incredibly difficult to manage our own temperature control in spite of dressing in layers.  Outside can be really cold - 2C this morning - or quite warm in the sunshine, with temperatures rising to a balmy 14C yesterday afternoon, though as you can see in the picture below, the river is still partly frozen.  Indoors, whether in shop, hotel or restaurant, we've found oven-like heat to be so overwhelming that we've felt quite beside ourselves at times.  Suffice to say, we find ourselves climatically challenged.

We really enjoyed our brief stay in Karlstad and found it an ideal size for pottering about.  Whilst Mark spent yesterday morning at the orchestra rehearsal, I found plenty to amuse myself and didn't really need the rather incongruous mariachi band playing on a street corner to jolly me along.  We met up with our Swedish friend and the orchestra conductor for a lively and entertaining lunch and the level of optimism regarding the eagerly anticipated performance was high.

The place was very nearly full and though it was "only" a school theatre, it was a very comfortable one and just right for the concert.  Mark's written a full review of the performance if you are interested and it will appear on his website shortly.  Suffice to say, however, that it was breathtaking, included a marvellous performance from a young British violinist and well worth the journey!

This afternoon, we arrived in Orebro, where a welcoming group had assembled in our hotel room, each with a tag introducing himself and a price ticket alongside.  Dear me, the lengths to which hotel groups will go to eke out a few extra krone on the bill - in this case, I guess, from guilty business-fathers away from home once again?

We've done a bit of a recce, bought a new supply of paper tissues and some Olbas oil and booked a table in a strangely named restaurant for dinner.  We thought the Orebro Slott was rather impressive, too.

Not quite so sure about the rather disconcerting statue under the bridge in the river, however.

 One thing we do like, however, is the lengths to which almost every shop has gone to decorate their entrance/window/displays for Spring.  Utterly charming and enough to blow away any chill reminders of that frozen river in Karlstad.

In search of the lake

This morning we set off to drive along the Eastern side of Lake Vanern, the third largest inland lake in Europe, we'd read.  Though our hotel here in Karlstad is perfectly comfortable and convenient, the view isn't exactly wonderful.

So, we set out along the road to Kristinehamn and beyond, making our first stop in Mariestad, a lakeside town where we parked by the harbour.  Though we'd taken the road which appeared on our map to run alongside the lake, had we seen water at all?  Apart from a quick glimpse of a kind of creek and a bridge over the Gota canal, not really.  High trees lined both sides of the road and it was hard to imagine that all that water was so close.

Mariestad proved a short distraction from our main objective.  It was market day and the stalls selling spring flowers and Easter bits and pieces caught our eye immediately with the bright colours and bustling crowds of people.  Whilst there, we popped into the tourist office and accepted the offer of an English language walking guide to the old town and set off to take a look at some remarkable old buildings.

In stark contrast to many of the other pavements we've walked since being here, these paths were completely clear of grit.  In fact, we admired the smooth surface provided for prams and wheelchair users and the total lack of obstacles and other hazards.

The secret lay just around the corner.  The road sweepers were in town and working hard at sweeping up all the grit and gravel which had accumulated during the winter.  This must be quite some task.

Stepping inside the cathedral, we found the light and airy space quite surprising and the contrast between the heavily decorated and the rather plainer areas very pleasing.  One small motif continued throughout - the stylised wheatsheaf motif was to be found on the woodwork, each pew end and also in the stained glass of the windows.

By now it was lunchtime and we still had not seen much of that huge lake.  We walked along the last stretch of the recommended route and came across a fine view.

OK.  Enough to convince us that the lake really did exist, but perhaps not enough to satisfy our wish to see more of it.  We continued our drive south and headed towards Lidkoping and on to another recommended place, according to our guidebook.

Lacko Slott was described as a "fairytale castle on the lake" and though it wasn't quite as we'd imagined, this description was correct.  Sadly, it being only April, the place was deserted except for a few workmen and won't open to visitors for another month or two.  But we managed a walk around and a short explore of the area around it, including a walk to the lakeside.

Mission accomplished.