Bye bye Sweden

With today's blog entry, our Scandinavia trip comes to an end after 115 days. We will miss the delicious desserts, wild camping, and beautiful nature. But our journey continues in East Germany, where we hope to find delicious desserts too :-)

17th August 2023

The hotpot yesterday at Skalsjögarden was fantastic. Jonas & Sabrina & the team at Skalsjögarden did everything to make us feel comfortable. Thanks again and we wish you continued success with Skalsjögarden.
Today, we continued towards Stockholm. We visited the largest Swedish copper mine in Falun, which was closed in 1992 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took an English guided tour for 270 Swedish Krona per person (about 25 Swiss Francs), which also took place during the day. The lowest point of the mine tour was approximately 67 meters deep. The tour was great and impressive. After the tour, we took a walk around the mine and then looked for a bakery in Falun for the obligatory coffee and dessert.

18th August 2023

"Stockholm is calling"... We arrived in Stockholm this afternoon and settled into our campsite. The city center is only 30 minutes away by metro, which is ideal for us. After checking in, we headed straight to Stockholm. We had to get used to a big city like Stockholm again. We haven't seen such crowds since Oslo, which was a few months ago. In the afternoon, we took the hop on hop off buses to get an overview. Then we headed straight to the Old Town (Gamla Stan) and enjoyed a well-deserved aperitif. In the evening, we met Appenzeller, Heidi, and René at the campsite. The Appenzellers invited us to try Alpstein Bitter (similar to the more well-known Appenzeller) and we spent a cozy evening with them.

19th August 2023

Today, we witnessed the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. We secured a great spot and admired the spectacle. After that, we took the hop on hop off boats to visit the various islands of Stockholm. In between, we visited one of the many museums in Stockholm, the Nordic Museum, and later the Photography Museum.

20th August 2023

Today was museum day. We visited the Viking Museum, the Spritmuseum (Alcohol Museum), and the ABBA Museum. The last one was definitely a highlight for us 😊 If you love this music, you could spend hours there... Heidi almost didn't want to leave.
Stockholm is probably a city with the most museums. We didn't count them all and didn't visit all of them, otherwise, we would still be there today...

21st August 2023

Today, we had planned to take a 3-hour archipelago cruise. Unfortunately, it was fully booked. Somehow it fit the day. The metro already had various disruptions in the morning and we experienced a "puff" à la Swiss Federal Railways 😊
Since the archipelago cruise was fully booked, we decided to take a 1-hour canal tour of Stockholm. After that, we left Stockholm and headed south, finding a secluded spot near a forest clearing. It's getting pitch dark again these days. Before going to bed, we heard elk roaring, which didn't make brushing Heidi's teeth any easier...

22nd August 2023

Following in the footsteps of Inga Lindström. Today, Reto had the opportunity to visit some filming locations of the Inga Lindström films with Heidi. We started in Trosa, a small and pretty village with around 6,000 inhabitants. After our obligatory coffee visit, we headed to the slightly larger town of Nyköping, which has about 40,000 inhabitants.
The villages were exactly as Heidi remembered them from the films. We enjoyed the good weather and beautiful scenery in both villages.

23rd August 2023

Today, we visited more towns featured in the Inga Lindström films. We started with Söderköping, which has around 8,000 inhabitants. Söderköping is located on the Göta Canal. To get some exercise, we climbed up to the viewpoint, which involved about 330 stairs.
After the visit, we went to our campsite in Berg, right by the lock staircase of the Göta Canal. Reto observed a larger ship going through the locks during a lock inspection. The Göta Canal is one of the largest constructions in Sweden. It connects Gothenburg with Stockholm and is about 190 kilometers long. The locks in Berg are the largest on the Göta Canal. They cover a height difference of about 30 meters over 11 steps along a distance of 1 kilometer.

24th August 2023

The towns featured in the Inga Lindström films still occupied our minds. Today, we visited Lynköping. Lynköping is a major city with about 110,000 inhabitants. It is a beautiful city, but the charm didn't come across as much due to its size. We then continued to Vadstena, a town with about 6,000 inhabitants. Vadstena is located on Lake Vättern, which is about three times larger than Lake Constance. The village has a charming city center, a monastery, and a water castle.
After the visit, we went to our overnight spot. Tonight, we had the privilege of staying in a special place. We parked Oski right in the middle of Ekopark above Lake Vättern and enjoyed the evening sun.

25th August 2023

For today's rainy day, we had planned to visit the village of Gränna. Gränna is known for its candy canes and other sweets, some of which are produced on site. It is a small, pretty, but also touristy village with about 3,000 inhabitants. After a short hike to the local hill, where we enjoyed the view of the village and Lake Vättern, we visited the numerous candy stores. The abundance of sweets we have observed during our Scandinavia trip is somewhat concerning. In Scandinavia, you can buy Haribo-like candies in self-service shelves by the sack, just like bread and cheese in our country. Unfortunately, you can also see it in the population's appearance. On the other hand, alcohol is strictly regulated and heavily taxed. Maybe there should be some rethinking when it comes to sugar too.

26th August 2023

Today, it only rained once. The actually very beautiful town of Eksjö and its beautiful houses didn't really stand out. Additionally, the city festival was taking place and we would have liked to stay there for a while. But the weather pushed us further. Our next stop was Mariannelund, where we visited the Filmbyn Museum. It is a modern museum dedicated to the history of film adaptations of famous Astrid Lindgren stories.

27th August 2023

Today was also dedicated to Astrid Lindgren. First, we drove to Kathult, where the film "Michel" was shot. Reto knew the story from his school days. After that, we drove to Vimmerby, Astrid Lindgren's birthplace, and visited the Astrid Lindgren Museum, which also housed her childhood home. At the museum, we could read Astrid Lindgren's biography. The museum really captivated us. After all, we encountered many books by Astrid Lindgren during our school days, such as "The Children of Noisy Village," "Ronja the Robber's Daughter," "Pippi Longstocking," and many more. Afterward, we visited the village and the Astrid Lindgren monument.

28th August 2023

On our way to Kalmar, we visited the small DAF Tjorven Kalmar Car Museum. These cars were built from 1965 to 1971. There were 2,170 units produced, of which over 1,200 were for the Swedish Post and 370 were exported. The remaining cars were produced for the Swedish industry. Afterwards, we went to our rented cottage in Kalmar and gave Oski a proper cleaning inside. Then our vacation started with a break.

29th August - 1st September 2023

On the first day of our vacation, we visited a glass museum in Nybro and witnessed the production of a glass vase, which was very exciting. After that, we spontaneously visited an elk park and booked an elk safari. We drove through the elk park at a walking pace on a tractor with 3 trailers. The elks are very tame, and we even had the opportunity to feed them.

The next two days, we visited the island of Öland. The island can be reached from Kalmar via the Öland Bridge. Öland is a maximum of 16 kilometers wide and 137 kilometers long, with a population of around 26,000. The island is also known for its numerous windmills and bird reserves. The southern part of Öland is characterized by agriculture, with numerous burial sites from the Ice Age and a lighthouse at the southern end. The central and northern parts have beautiful beaches and a lighthouse at the very north. There are also various nature parks in the north.
Overall, we noticed that the season in Sweden is coming to an end. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find the nice cafes for our daily dessert. Most of them are only open (if at all) on weekends.

On the last day, it rained again for a change. We used the time for something meaningful. Heidi went to the hairdresser and was done within 20 minutes, and Reto gave Oski a shower 😊 In the afternoon, we visited the beautiful Kalmar Castle and explored the charming old town of Kalmar. Kalmar has about 40,000 inhabitants.

2nd September 2023

After leaving our cottage, we continued south. We visited the archipelago islands on the Baltic Sea coast and found a campsite by the sea just before Karlskrona. And the weather was once again on our side, allowing us to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

3rd September 2023

Today, we visited Karlskrona. Karlskrona has about 70,000 inhabitants and a charming old town. First, we visited the Naval Museum, where we were even able to tour a submarine from the 1980s. After that, we strolled through the old town and continued south. We parked Oski at a golf course 😊

4th September 2023

In the best weather and warm temperatures, we visited a waterfall. Well, it didn't impress us much, so we didn't need much time there. We continued driving because it was time for coffee and dessert. In Andrarum, we were able to enjoy our ritual in the oldest café in southern Sweden. Let the pictures speak for themselves. After that, we drove to Kivik and visited the Kivik Cider Mill. Heidi, with her RAMSEIER past, felt right at home 😊 We visited the small experience world with an apple tree garden and a shop.
After our visit to the cider mill, we went on a coastal hike at the adjacent national park.
Today, we probably parked Oski "wild" for the last time in a hiking parking lot next to a lake.

5th September to 6th September 2023

Again, in the best weather, we visited the town of Simrishamn. Another charming town on our Sweden trip. Here, we decided to explore East Germany and immediately booked the ferry from Trelleborg to Rostock. We spent our last two nights in Scandinavia at a beautiful campground, with a perfect pitch right on the sand dune by the sea. It was the perfect ending to our Scandinavia trip.

7th September 2023

Wakeup at 5:30 am, departure at 6:45 am. We reached Trelleborg and the ferry at 8:15 am and were able to check into our reserved cabin early. We are looking forward to the next few weeks in East Germany.