A short foray into Scandanavia

03 - 07 October

An old friend of mine from flatting in Christchurch, Elana, had recently moved to Lund, in Sweden, for the upcoming semester and so I went to visit her for a few days. The 3rd was a long day - train to Geneva, flight to Copenhagen, and a train across the Øresund Bridge (almost 8km long, linking Denwark and Sweden) to get to Lund, where Elana met me at the train station. The temperature was noticeably colder - everyone walking around in big winter coats and scarves already. She cooked up a storm for dinner and I fell into bed exhausted.

The next morning I explored the town a little with Elana, when she didn't have uni. It's a lovely old town, with a very old university, lots of good looking people and (again) very good English speakers!

Central Lund

Elana and I in the botanical gardens - note the sudden appearance of a lot more clothes!

For the weekend, Elana had something a bit different planned - a road trip north with two American friends from her course, Erik and Emily (yup, me and three E's). They'd hired a little car for a few days and we headed off on Friday night to Stenkällegården, a campground in the middle of almost nowhere by Tiveden National Park.

Despite a bit of post-midnight-getting-lost-in-the-country dramas we got there and the next morning woke up to some beautiful autumn surroundings. Indeed for 2 full days we lost ourselves in the wonderful landscape, which despite how photogenic it was, it was almost completely deserted. The three E's are all avid photographers... So a warning, lots of photos coming!

Welcome to Stenkällegården - myself, Emily & Erik

The campground where we hired a cabin, at dawn

Who let Pieter loose on the kid's playground?

The small lake at the campground

The three E's and I

We headed off into Tiveden National Park and found a lovely tiny information centre, where - even miles from nowhere - the ranger told us in perfect English a good loop track we could do in the park. It is known for a number of very large boulders, all overgrown, and this part of Sweden is covered in gorgeous, reflective little lakes... Well, take a look for yourself.

To Stenkälle

Elana wandering off into the distance

One of the many tiny lakes

Boulder hopping #1

Boulder hopping #2

Elana and I at another lake 

Having a bit of fun

Wild blueberries!

That evening we put a group effort in for dinner, rocked some good old Kiwi music (to Erik and Emily's amusement), and ate smores.

Why has nobody introduced me to smores before? Gingernut + marshmellow + chocolate + gingernut, 5 minutes in the oven. Way to hit a sweet tooth.

The next day we decided to head off on a drive around the area. There were some incredible idyllic lake views, picturesque tiny churches, amazing wetlands, some fika (cake & coffee Sweden-style at an awesome cafe), and a lot of laughs...

Autumn colours in full swing

Cute little village hut

Gorgeous quiet landscapes

Deserted and idyllic... I'm running out of adjectives

And the fun... Fencing with Elana

More fun

All these tiny churches have these belltowers and are nestled in odd places in the countryside

And at this one they invited us to head up inside

What struck me was the friendliness of the Swedish people we met just wandering around the day - they loved the fact that four crazy English-speaking people were exploring their country and they loved to practice their English too.

It was with some reluctance that we headed back to Lund on Monday morning. I spent a day organising things for the next couple of weeks and headed off on Tuesday morning after a very enjoyable catch-up with my old Christchurch buddy - thanks Elana!

Enduring memory of the Swedish countryside...