Sweden August 2019

Up early and tried to finish off as much food from the fridge as possible before leaving the cabin. This led to a weird breakfast but a clean fridge. The instructions give a very clear list of things to be done before we left, such as cleaning the windows, mopping the floor, etc, so we did as many of them as we could be bothered to do, and still left the place cleaner than we started it with. Took a slow drive to the airport,  filling up the car on the way, which cost us £40. Dropped the car off, wandered to the airport to drop the bags off, and waited with food until the time to board the flight.

Very relaxed start to the day, where I even went and sat outside with my first coffee, or at least until I realised there was no Wi-Fi or mobile signal. Decided to do something that wasn't theme park related for our last day, so planned a good long walk, starting along the coastal path and then heading inland towards a lake. The route was supposed to be 15km long and take about 5 hours. Starting at 11, we picked up the trail at the end of the lane. The first part was following the coast, the sea was a bit choppy from the wind, but the weather couldn't have been better with broken clouds. Past an old marble quarry and then inland to Kölmarden theme park. This was closed today, even the restaurants that have sprung up around, so no ice cream for me (which I was secretly glad about). Away from the park and further inland, slowly climbing through alpine forests to reach the lake. We were all hot and bothered by the time we found somewhere for lunch, but

A more relaxed morning, fending for ourselves, with coffee and frosties for breakfast. It was interesting that, given the choice in the supermarket, we all went for frosties and milk over a cooked brekkie. Back to Kölmarden theme park for another day of riding wildfire and seeing the animals. Again, because we had already ridden all the coasters, there was no urgency to get around the park. A couple of rides on wildfire to start with, and one of the ride ops, Emma, recognised us from yesterday and started chatting to us. We wandered around the animals, seeing the bears get fed, then wandered to the tiger enclosure to eat lunch before they had theirs. We'd just finished eating in a small covered picnic area overlooking the enclosure and the boys rushed to try to get a better view while we packed up. It was that point that the heavens opened, so we (obviously) didn't go outside, but the boys didn't come inside either! Both of us could see really well, but half

Woke up to the sound of nothing this morning, and soon ruined it by trying to make my own coffee. All up, fed with frosties (no more breakfast feast now we have to do our own...) and our the door by 09:30 for the very short trip to our last theme park. Kölmarden is primarily a zoo, with a couple of rides tagged on, one of which cost nearly $12 million. Needless to say, that was the reason for visiting the park, along with the 2 children's coasters. The ride is amazing. We rode it 6 times throughout the day (the boys did 8) on one of the first rides of the day and the very last,  and it just got faster and more thrilling each time. The coaster is right at the back of the park, a good 20 minute walk from the entrance, and the paths weave their way past animal enclosures, such as monkeys, elephants, camels, etc. They also have an amazing cable car that takes 30 minutes to go around some of the enclosures, so you get to see the animals from above, which gave a

Up early today, but not from the planes which I'm now finding soothing, but by the thought of driving in Sweden for the first time. Coffee and brekkie on our usual balcony, then packed up, checked out and on the bus to Bromma airport to the nearest Avis and pick up a car. The airport is teeny and very quiet, so much so that there was no one at the avis desk, just a note saying they'd be back soon and a phone number if we were impatient. 10 mins later and we'd gone through the speech about extra insurance, upgrading to a bigger car, etc. The Avis man suggested that the car might be small for four people but we smiled politely and told him it would be fine and headed off to find it. We found it, a very small Toyota yaris, which struggled to get my case in the boot, yet alone the other couple that we had. Trudged back to the man who did not look at all surprised and for a small upcharge, upgraded us to the spacious Kia Niro. The drive to Kölmarden was just

Up at a reasonable time for the morning foray into the breakfast room, but had to ask for our little hidden balcony to be unlocked, which they willingly did. Wandered to the metro station and using yesterdays day pass (which runs for 24 hours), did more station art spotting. There some really lush ones, and some not so good, but my favourite had to be the children's drawings, which were done by the artist (was a child) and their children. Just after 11am, at the end of the line and our ticket finally ran out. Got another one, which will cover the airport run tomorrow, and we headed to the harbour and one of the ferries. This took us back next to gröna land, and a short walk (passed the ABBA museum) to the Vasa museum, which houses the largest intact viking gallon, which has been submerged in the harbour for 300 years,  where it sank on its maiden voyage because it was top heavy. The ship is 95% reconstructed from the salvaged vessel and is amazing. Ende

Woke up about 8:30, then panicked that brekkie finished at 9. Fought our way into the breakfast jumble sale, grabbing what we could, only to find that it actually finished at 09:30. Got a day pass on the metro, and headed off to the centre so we could see the changing of the guard at the palace. The marching band lead the regular soldiers to the palace, and so we marched behind them with the other tourists racing to get the best photo spot. There are guards there that were getting pretty irate with people being the wrong side of the rope, especially when a tour guide led a while group right up to the front door of the palace,  but unfortunately no showing of force. After that excitement, we had a tour of the palace, which took a good few hours, each room slightly more impressive than the last to keep your attention, including the crown jewels, where somebody got shouted at for touching the cabinets.  The palace is on a small island, which is one of the old

Got woken up at 07:10 this morning by the first plane cooking into land,  after that they were pretty regular. Seems like the hotel is on the final approach to the smaller airport, but I spose it is a reasonable hour for a Tuesday morning. Breakfast was like the opening morning of a jumble sale, with no spare tables and people grabbing whatever food they could. We found an empty roof terrace with half a dozen tables, so based ourselves there and did quick supply runs for bacon and coffee. Walked back to the metro station and got a single ticket for around £3 each, which allows travel on the metro, buses, trams and ferries within 75 mins. Our destination was Gröna Lund, which is a family run theme park in the middle of Stockholm. Because we're members of the coaster club, we actually got free entry and a wristband, allowing us onto all rides and saved us about £180! They have 7 coasters, 2 children's ones, the rest more towards the extreme end. None o

This time the morning was nice and relaxed, having triple checked the train times every hour throughout the night. The breakfast was an enormous affair, stacks of hot things you choose from, a vast selection of bread and cheese, as well as omlettes and waffles. Needless to say we got our moneys worth. Checked out and left the luggage in the hotel while we foraged for cake, then found a supermarket to get enough snacks to last the train journey. Got to the railway station a good hour before the train was scheduled to leave, and were on-board as soon as the doors opened. The journey across the country was amazing, something we're glad we did. Not only is it so relaxing not having to drive and concentrate,  but seeing the lush scenery and different towns was brilliant. We arrived in Stockholm around 7pm, and just a short metro ride to the station nearest the hotel. Each of the metro stations is fashioned like a cave but decorated in a different way, like an ar

Nice relaxed morning, woke up nice and timely, down for brekkie, back to the room to finish packing and to check out. We had a train booked to take us to Stockholm, added it to the calendar and everything, but, when you go to a different time zone, Google helpfully changes these appointments for the change in time at your new location. The appointment showed as the train leaving at 11:55, so checking out at 10:35 gave us a nice relaxed stroll to the station, when in fact we had a mad dash to try and catch it. We missed it by 2 minutes! We also discovered that the railway station "helpdesk" contained the most unhelpful helpdesk helper we've ever experienced, who not only couldn't help us with the ticket we had, wouldn't rebook us or even phone the train company for us, and even laughed out loud when we said we needed to get to Stockholm today. We were unable to change the tickets (non-changeable and non-refundable), and because of the end of the festival (possi

Up about the same time again today, but it was very apparent that we all needed more sleep - coffee and breakfast didn't really help, so tried a ginger and chilli health shot. Back to the room and planned the day while the kids crashed. The weather forecast wasn't good, with heavy rain for the afternoon, so tried to plan outdoor things in the morning. First stop was the miniature golf, just around the corner. There were 12 holes, but because of the rain overnight, a lot of the holes had added danger water features, which were hilarious. From there it was onto town to the tourist information office to buy 2 all day bus, tram and ferry tickets (kids go free with a fare paying adult), then to the food festival along the river for a selection of food, ranging from British fish and chips, to a wild boar and elk kebab (which was lush). Decided to take a tram as far along the coast as we could go, which was Saltholmens Brygga, just to see some of the city that we

Up later today, but still in time for another hearty breakfast. Sam tried a yoghurt, biscuit and pancake combo but the rest of us stuck with cheese and ham.  Then a quick pop to the supermarket then back to Liseberg for just after opening. Another day, but also our final day spent at the park, this one a more relaxed one as we'd already ridden all the coasters. The weather was a lot warmer too, so we tried the water rides, got completely soaked, and dried off in the sun with an ice cream. This was no ordinary ice cream though,  but a £4 Mr Whippy monster dipped in chocolate. It seemed like a good idea, and, to be fair, it was lush,  until we realised that the chocolate actually held the melted ice cream together and there was absolutely no way to eat it in a dignified manner. Our last meal in the park, then the last couple of night rides. We had to wait until 10 for it to be dusk but it was fully dark by 11. Picked up some merch, then back to the hotel for a late

Up at a reasonable time, cleaned and down for our brekkie. The offerings were good - continental and cooked, with plenty of coffee. We're staying in the Liseberg hotel, so obviously there were a couple of people dressed up as rabbits wandering around.  They're the mascots of the park, so come to the hotel in the mornings to entertain children as well as scare them. I wasn't brave enough to push the kids out of the way to get a selfie. Maybe tomorrow though. Popped to the supermarket across the road to grab lunchtime snacks, then a 10 minute walk to the park. It's built on the side of a hill, so some of the rides and coasters take advantage of the terrain, and there's even a couple of escalators to get you up there. They've got 6 coasters, 2 are family ones and 4 are thrill rides. Got loads of rides on them, plus a fair number of the flat rides throughout the day, with hardly any queues. The park itself is beautifully maintained and really c

So, up really early and the traffic was extremely kind so we got to Heathrow by 5am, which was enough time to drop the bags off and scavenge for breakfast. Had to wait ages to take off, the pilot saying he was waiting for some codes to come through the computer before we could fly, but it wasn't until we'd arrived and turned the phones back on we heard about the IT system failure, so guess we were lucky. Got the coach from the airport to the city centre. It is really easy; goes from right outside the arrivals and only takes about 15 minutes.  We had booked it in advance before we'd left (and saved 10%), then only a 15 minute walk to the hotel. The room is massive - we've got 2 single beds, with 2 more on a mezzanine level which the boys have claimed. Had a walk around to get our bearings, and first impressions are its a nice city with plenty of green spaces. There's also a summer festival happening in various locations, as well as a choir competition. Food was

It's early, way too early. Sat on the coach, it's still dark outside and I've been up a couple of hours already. On the plus side, I did see the clock reading 3:33 which isn't something that happens often.