On the Road - Skywatch Friday

 

I'm back home since yesterday evening; and today my brother drove back up to Karlstad. We had pretty much perfect weather for most of our trip - just a bit too hot the last day (...and the AC in the car not working...). 

As usual we managed to take a wrong turn now and then - but that just meant that we got to see some things not in the original plan, but still worth seeing!

I have lots of photos from both camera and phone, and have started the process of downloading them to my laptop and sorting them. However, as I'll also be going to friend's birthday party (70) on Saturday, I'll probably not get round to much blogging until next week. But here are a few teaser "Skywatch" photos from along the road...

Linking to SkyWatch Friday

 

I'm Back

 

 

▲Photos from driving along the east side of lake Vättern.▼

Just a short post to tell you that I'm back from the holiday trip with my brother. All went well, and broadly according to plan (which was rather flexible to begin with). I have lots of photos, which I've hardly begun to sort and edit yet. So there will be several travel-related posts to come over the next few weeks. But I thought I'd start with a short summary (for my own sake as much as for anyone else's!)

My brother lives in Karlstad (in the province of Värmland), situated on the north shore of Lake Vänern (the largest lake in Sweden). On Thursday, 7 July, he drove down to Borås (where I live), and stayed the night here. On Friday the 8th, we set off together and drove east, past the southern end of Lake Vättern (the smaller oblong lake on the map - but the second largest in Sweden), and north-east to Linköping (in the province of Östergötland), where our aunt and uncle live. On the way we made a stop at Gränna. We arrived in Linköping in the late afternoon (a bit later than planned as we managed to take a wrong turn somewhere on the way...), spent the evening with our aunt and uncle, and the night at a hotel in the city centre.

The next day (Saturday, 9 July) we drove on to Karlstad (again with a couple of stops on the way). Linköping was the only hotel night on the trip this year, as in Karlstad I stayed at my brother's (five nights).

Sunday and Tuesday we spent in the city of Karlstad (where I too lived for 10 years back in my twenties). On the other two days (Monday and Wednesday) we made day trips further up north in Värmland. 

And on Thursday the 14th, we drove back down to Borås; but this time on the west side of Lake Vänern (and again with some short stops on the way). We arrived back here in the evening. My brother stayed until after lunch on Friday, which gave us time for a walk downtown and lunch at the restaurant in the city park to finish off our week(+) together.

"Teaser" collage from Värmland / Karlstad
(photos from my phone)

 

 

 

December 20 - Friday

"On the road" ... somewhere in Skåne

Typical landscape for Skåne, the southernmost province of Sweden.

On the Road - Skywatch Friday

On the road towards Varberg on the west coast (Monday July 8 - the first day of our holiday). The grey&black striped plastic around the hay bales in the fields (first photo) made them look like giant pieces of licorice candy. 



 
Kallbadhuset (the "cold bath house") at the seaside resort Varberg in the province of Halland Sweden: The present building is from 1903, but there have been similar bathhouses here ever since 1866. 

How To Make a Holiday Last Forever

"On the Road" - somewhere in Skåne (July 2019)

Based on previous experiences, I have decided to try a slightly different approach to blogging about this year's holiday trip. The reason is that when looking back at my Blog Archive, I find that  last year (for example), I spent four months blogging about four days in July - out of six. Then suddenly it was Christmas time (!) - and after New Year, I never got round to picking up the thread from last summer again... *lol*

To avoid repetition of that pattern, I'll now try one summary post for each day we were away (six) - with maps, but just one or two photos from each of the places where we stopped that day. 

Later, I hope to return to some places in more detail - and perhaps related to topics and themes rather than a strictly chronological account of the trip.

Linking to Our World Tuesday