I know this post is late, but lots of things have been happening. I still wanted to write about my weekend holiday to Sweden! This was the first time I've been out of the UK since 1999 when I was 12 and went to New Zealand for a summer. There's been a few reasons why this has been, but that's not important here.
My boyfriend invited me to go as his dad's second wife and their young daughter have a summer house there. I was a bit unsure and at first decided no, but then I changed my mind and decided to give it ago. What helped was the fact I wouldn't have to pay for anything! So, I got my passport sorted and my boyfriend booked the flights. I've no problems flying but due to my anxiety I wasn't sure how I'd be.
Things went fine, though I did get patted down by security and having to go through the body scanner! (turns out the metal under wiring of my bra was to blame!) I was also worried about my suitcase getting lost! Paranoia whilst traveling is like double the normal amount! I did get my suitcase back on the other side, so it was all fine. The flight itself was okay and kinda remind me of a roller coaster when it goes up. I'm glad the flight was short though!
When we arrived in Sweden it was pretty late, they are an hour ahead so it was about 10pm. It was dark, so I didn't get to see a lot but what I did learn was that all the roads over there are really quiet even during the day his dad said. We were traveling maybe 5-10 minutes without seeing another car. the drive was an hour and a half and though I was tried, I was too excited to sleep.
We got to the house and had a tour, the house was really cute and big then we went to bed. In the morning, I had a good look around and you can see the front of the house below. They had a large kitchen across from a living room/dinning room then there was an outside deck area and a corridor running down the side led to the bathroom and three bedrooms. The bedroom we had was a good size and looked over a patch of the back garden.
I was hoping to see some deer or even elk during our stay but I didn't see any!
From the house its a minute or two walk to the lake side,- you can see it in the cover photo but also further below in the last section of this post. My boyfriend's dad left the area natural, so you have to go through some tall trees and grass before walking on the getty and being on the lake. It's really pretty and quiet out there. My boyfriend and I often escaped there to have some time alone.
On our first day, we went to what use to be Sweden's royal family's summer castle. I had in made the British castle style, - large, dark stone walls, tall towers, twisting staircases and the feeling of being in a medieval movie. So, I was shocked to see a manor house instead! It was only a small place, with lots of history behind it and due to the lack of money it was never finished nor fully furnished, even though like 4 or 5 queens lived there. The grounds were very pretty and the weather held out.
The next day we went on a tour of a few places, but one of the most important and interesting was
The Ramsund Carving which is the legend of Sigurd the dragon slayer carved into a stone in the viking age. It was looking very faded and the bright sunshine through the pine trees didn't help. There was a lot of information about the legend and the history of the area, but I can't recall much now. It was very interesting and I wish I could have spent more time here and researching the legend.
That evening my boyfriend and I took a walk around the area where is Dad's house is. It's mostly the countryside are outside of Eskilstuna and there's not much out there. It reminded me of the countryside back home, but it was a lot quieter. It had been rainy and overcast for most of the day, but it was an okay evening. It was nice to walk and have a chat though we just talked about how nice Sweden is!
I really like that all the buildings and most are painted red and stand out. I learnt the reason for this is that from a distance you think it's red brick which Swedish people believed would make people think they were rich! Close up though, you can see that most of the building are made of wood.
I love the photo of the clouds rolling back in.
We took a lot of selfies!
On our last full day we went to Parkin Zoo. I thought this would be a nice way to finish our break and it meant we could go somewhere all together but not have to stick together like we had to do when visiting other places. Being in the zoo reminded me more of home which I thought would be good if I was feeling homesick as it would take my mind off things, but actually Sweden as whole kinda felt like home, so I shouldn't have worried!
We saw lots of animals at the zoo, below are my favorites;
This wild cat is real, honest! It was just watching another catching a cricket and so was standing very still.
Lizards are so cool because they are laid back.
These wild dogs were awesomeness to watch because they were so active. I've not seen them before either and I really liked how they seemed to be a cross between a wolf and a fox.
Otters and meerkats are the stable and stars of any zoo. They are small, cute and fascinating to watch.
Capybaras are one of boyfriend's favorite animals and though I joked about him over this, I like them too!
Us with some lemurs watching us.
Even though we were tried after a full day out, we decided go down to the lake in the evening to see the sunset. I had been wanting go but the weather had been against us. I'm glad it was warm and sunny for our last day because watching the sunset over the lake was so romantic!
We took lots of photos and had a really nice time. It was a great way to end our last day in Sweden.
Overall, we had a great time and I really liked Sweden. I'd like to go back some day. As for doing more traveling, well I've my list and now I need some more money!
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