FurryTiles

Say “sommarstuga” to a Swede and there’ll be a thousand-yard stare of longing, or a loopy grin of remembrance – or the triumphant glint of proud ownership.

Sommarstuga means summer cottage – and after the deepfreeze of long and dark northern winters - is the essence of Swedish summers that immediately bring Midsommar’s Afton, midnight sun, and the glorious sprouting of greens and wildflowers to mind. Closely followed by tastebuds remembering the delicacies on the outdoor grill and snaps (think Absolut)

So on this visit, we bypassed Stockholm altogether (apologies to those looking for Stockholm info). In the days of my wild globe-trotting youth, I spent a year in Stockholm and managed to get my linguacells around the basics of the Swedish language – but corrections of any translation/spelling errors are most welcome, as the geriatric cells are invading the linguacell and memorycell areas and all too often claiming victory.

Instead we headed northwards on the E4 past the university town of Uppsala and on to G&auml;vle, then swinging inland towards Sandviken and Hofors and the village of Tors&aring;ker. And finally on a narrow country road through rolling hills, to our homebase destination for the next 3 weeks, the tiny farming village of <u>H&auml;stbo</u> and our very own <i>sommarstuga</i>.

H&auml;stbo translates roughly as “place of horses” and indeed, horses outnumbered residents – the village is so tiny that the one and only, ages-old corner store folded its operations last year – but oh my, it was gorgeous and we were in bear and wolf country to compensate! And lots of ‘forest gold’ – those mouth-wateringly delicious chantarelle mushrooms (kantarelle), and early-ripening blueberries (bl&aring;b&auml;r).

Our sommarstuga was called M&aring;rtensg&aring;rd, a beautifully restored 1835 farmhouse, with much of the original framework and style retained – including a wood-burning stove in the modern kitchen, beautiful fireplace (kakelugn) in the living room and red geraniums in the windows! http://www.martensgard.com/DefaultEng.htm

We found our perfect sommarstuga by beginning our internet Google search six months earlier (they are popular with locals as well as visitors, so demand often outstrips supply) resulting in some of the following summer cottage rental websites:

http://www.stugknuten.com/

http://www.bokasemester.nu/

http://www.stugguiden.se/

We had friends with a dog and others with kids who would be visiting, so on top of wanting something exceptional, it also had to be pet and child-friendly/safe – Martensgard filled all our requirements and then some. Lucky us! Sometimes the travel gods not only smile, they positively beam!

(f) Jackie

FurryTiles

<u>Off topic</u> Wow! the Europe board must be the fastest moving of all Fodor’s forums ... I started this TR yesterday, and it was already buried at #199! I guess Sweden is a bit marginalised compared to the huge interest in Italy ‘n France ... but will continue my TR even if only for the Fodor archives, as somewhere sometime a Fodorite may emerge looking for info on an ‘off the beaten track’ holiday in Sweden.

<u>Also Off-topic</u> I love reading TRs on all the boards and have posted a few, but thought how much more effective they would be if the pix could be embedded in the text. Usually the TR comes first, and then a much-later separate thread with a link to hundreds of pix where unfortunately the reference/relevance can be lost.

So I’m going to unashamedly exploit this ‘marginalised’ TR as a guinea pig for what I hope will be easily accessible pix within the text, utilizing the tinyurl site to reduce the lengthy pic hosting link so it fits more snugly in the text.

Would love a heads-up from any Fodorite glancing at this TR as to whether the pix download quickly and if my idea has any merit. Thanks so much, or as they say in Sweden .... tack s&aring; mycket! Or back here in Oz ... goodonyer, mate! Now, <u>back on topic</u> ....

---------------------------

Wonderful Sweden was the second leg of the rtw travel dog – or, the 3 week mains in our four-course travel menu, following our entre/appetiser of a week in Beijing. We arrived in Sweden late August and departed in mid September for ‘dessert’ - a week in Boston, and concluding with ‘coffee and chocolates’ in Big Island.

Our early planning was to fly Beijing-Helsinki direct (to avoid changing planes at chaotic Heathrow), take the 2-day Silja line Baltic cruise to Stockholm, (separate Fodors thread) but as SAS announced new direct flights Beijing-Stockholm mid year, we snapped up the new route.

Sweden in late summer/early autumn is so lush and green, the nature so intense in its struggle to complete the rebirth cycle from deepfreeze to fecundity in just a few short months – such an amazing experience, especially when enjoying all its wonders ‘off the beaten track’ as we did.

Stockholm from the air – in the late afternoon sun – is quite breathtakingly beautiful, with the hundreds of islands dotting the glittering archipelago. (http://tinyurl.com/2azoc5). We were spending the first two days with friends in Solna, Stockholm’s northern satellite city, in a sixth floor apartment in one of the towering Bl&aring;kulla buildings – and were doubly thrilled to spot them from the air as we approached Arlanda. (http://tinyurl.com/ytnu9b). They are indeed pale blue (bl&aring and were considered, our friends told us, such a visual pollution on the landscape when first built in the 70s, that the now affectionately held term of Bl&aring;kulla was originally denigrating – with reference to folk tale that witches flew to Bl&aring;kulla (Blue Hill) after causing mayhem at Easter (P&aring;sk).


Both check-in bags arrived – not without a bit of finger-munching, as Beijing airport was in chaos due to a breakdown in the check-in conveyor belt, with one bag taken at the check-in, and the second one trudged across to the Oversize Bags (although it certainly wasn’t) section. We doubted we’d see it again – the first arrived quickly, and the second almost twenty minutes later, when a final dribble of bags arrived to just a handful – as compared to jostling hordes - of anxiously waiting passengers.

We breezed through Customs and Immigration at Arlanda Airport and picked up our small rental car (Hertz) at the rental car depot (free shuttle bus) for the duration of visit.

Solna is a thriving community and we loved the proximity of both Haga Parken and what we thought was another beautiful forest viewed from the apartment balcony http://tinyurl.com/ysft7n only to be told it is in fact Stockholms North Cemetary! We also got wonderful views of Stockholm’s skyline and the giant golfball that is Globen (huge entertainment centre) and lots of hot air balloons wafting through the summer skies.

Viewing downwards from our balcony was a group of preserved historical buildings depicting the times past of Hagalund – including the original house of renowned local artist Olle Olsson http://tinyurl.com/2hqkv7, who loved his Hagalund area so much he signed all his paintings with the honourific ‘Olle Olsson Hagalund’. His house – the pale blue one (perhaps the inspiration for the Bl&aring;kulla architects??) - is preserved intact (as written in his Will) and is open to visitors by volunteer staff just two days a week – Wednesdays and Sundays – and those travel gods smiled again, because indeed one of our two days was a Wednesday. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring this small museum, and watching a short video of his life and times. DH fell in love with his unique painting style, and we purchased four posters, one of which “The Auction” is now framed and hanging proudly in our bedroom ... especially fitting as indeed one of the objects up for auction in the painting is a big bed! http://tinyurl.com/2o9cny The other three made wonderful gifts and are now framed and hanging in various parts of the world – such a lovely connection!



We enjoyed lots of walks (our thang and favourite mode of touristing) and discovered the lovely old Hagalunds Church http://tinyurl.com/yqjt3p just in time for the 7pm bell ringing.

A celebratory dinner was a great success at the Mediterranean/Turkish-style “Isot Medelhavets” restaurant in nearby Rasundav&auml;gen 9, with mains ca. 200kr including a beer of choice. Servings were <i>very</i> generous and delicious – we rolled home!

Jackie

KL467

Nice trip report! I like your picture idea, and they downloaded quickly.

FurryTiles

Many thanks for the quick feedback, glad to know the pix are downloading quickly. Are you on broadband?

The pix lack a bit of clarity/sharpness as I reformatted for quick access from a bedsheet size of over 3.5MB to pillow-slip size of ca. 200kb; so they are downloading quite fast on my slow dail-up connection, too.

Cheers,
Jackie

travelgirl2

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

KL467

Yes, I am on broadband.

I am looking forward to more of your report!

FurryTiles

Thanks KL and travelgirl - here's the next instalment.

The drive from Solna/Stockholm to H&auml;stbo took about three hours, all on excellent roads until the turn-off for our country hideaway http://tinyurl.com/2btgmn
and our gorgeous summarstuga nestled amongst the typically Falu-red farm buildings
http://tinyurl.com/23zakz in the county of G&auml;strikland, affectionately called The Iron Kingdom
reflecting the many centuries of iron production in the region. There is so much to do and see in this culturally and historically rich area – even though it’s “off the beaten track” - that our 3 weeks were all too short.

More info on this area - also known as the Gateway to the North - at websites in English such as
http://www.gastrikland.com/index.asp/id/10/lang/1033 and
http://www.sverigeturism.se/smorgasb...kland/welcome/


We enjoyed many walks from our doorstep along the narrow country farm roads http://tinyurl.com/2476pr and surrounding forest, as well as many of the old iron-works in the area and tiny villages, such as Wall http://tinyurl.com/2xrvqh (and its impressive Missionshus – church) which housed the workers of Walls Kalkbrott (quarry), now a place of incredible peace and beauty deep in the forest. http://tinyurl.com/2dtb97

Of necessity, these old ironworks were situated near water and many have been incorporated into well-maintained parks and nature walks (naturstig). Some, such as Kratte Masugn expanded with restaurant/lodging as well as the nature walks http://tinyurl.com/268mej and swimming/boating on the lakes.

Our closest little township was Tors&aring;ker, with a stunningly beautiful church from 1691 http://tinyurl.com/2elsqc and in contrast, the equally stunning comical home of one of Sweden’s favourite cartoonists, Elov Persson, appropriately called Kronbloms Hus. http://tinyurl.com/23nq5c

As an aside, this is the area setting of a Swedish crime novel that is currently taking the reading world by storm – best selling in Scandinavia and the recent English translation getting rave reviews. Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s original title <i>M&auml;n Som Hatar Kvinnor</i> (Men Who Hate Women) published as <i>The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</i>.

I have to agree that it’s a brilliant read – not only for the plot and characters – but also, unintentionally perhaps, giving great insight to Swedish small country town living, the seasons and an opportunity to rewalk the streets of Stockholm as well. But a warning – it’s one of those “can’t put down” books so plan a sickie if you get hold of a copy!

Next – do bears shit in the woods?

Cowboy1968

Nice job!! Both the report and the concept to include the pics.

No worries about marginalization: This is much more exciting to read for me than the trillionth report about eating gelato in Roma ;-)

Midnightsun

FurryTiles:
It's great to read about venturing into the Swedish countryside, and the inserted pictures are easy access and great additions. The archipelago from the air gives me a great sense of anticipation; we will be returning to Arlanda in June, for our seventh trip to Sweden. We land on a Wednesday and head to Uppsala, so we are most grateful to hear about the Olle Olsson house. I agree with Cowboy 1968 that one can only read so many posts about gelato; although we love Italy as well. Indeed, over the last decade and a half it seems as if we've alternated Italy years with Sweden/Scandinavia years. In Italy we have typically rented cottages or apartments in small towns and have loved soaking up the small town life. We haven't been quite brave enough to try a rental in a very small town in Sweden, although we've spent time in Dalarna, Vasterbotten (Ume&aring, Gotland, Sundsvall, and Sm&aring;land. We've usually just been in each area for a few days (although my wife spent a summer in Ume&aring;, which is how the whole Swedish romance began), and we've wondered if there would be enough to explore in the vicinity of some of these small towns to justify a week's rental: ruins, churches, small museums, quirky (and good) restaurants. It's not usually hard to stay entertained in Tuscany, for instance, and your report makes it seem as if it would be equally charming to do a rental in rural Sweden. About our only remaining problem is finding a couple or two to venture with us if we decide on a large cottage rental. It's always easy to convince some of our friends to rent in Italy, but we haven't been able to convey our enthusiasm for Sweden quite as effectively. I'm looking forward to further installments of your trip report that we can include in our next &quot;marketing brochure&quot; to convince some friends to rent a place with us in Sweden. Many thanks!

FurryTiles

Hi Cowboy and Midnightsun – thanks so much for the positive feedback, great to know that the format with in-text pix links has been given .

Midnightsun, so cool that you’re contemplating an “off the beaten track” Sweden adventure and renting a sommarstuga in June; if you’re there on the 21st, you’ll be experiencing your screen-name! Have also ‘done’ Italy and loved it, but I would honestly say that countryside living/exploring is just as easy, if not easier, in Sweden. One of the plusses is that nearly everyone speaks English – even in the remote countryside - and many of the cultural/historical attractions are signed in both Swedish and English, and sometimes French and German as well. For example at Skommarhyttan , another old iron-works started 1540 with a lovely little waterfall and a village of just five houses, I was really impressed to see its history repeated in English on the other side of the information board.

Happy to answer any questions whilst I compose the next bit ...


Jackie

sprin2

Hi and we're also loving your trip report. We've spent two vacations in Sweden and while we love Stockholm, we have fondest memories of the small towns and exploring. We haven't ventured farther north than Uppsala, despite three weeks in that area so reading about your trip is great fun.

FurryTiles

Thanks for all the positive feedback – sprin2, Uppsala would be a wonderful town to visit on the way “up north” as we have done on a past visit. Such an old town with so much history – especially relating to one of the oldest universities in Europe, the largest cathedral in Scandinavia, Domkyrka from 1340 and the famous Silver Bible, the Gustavanium Museum and of course, all things related to Linnaeus (Carl von Linne).

Ok, now about those <b>bears and wolves</b> .....

When we arrived at our sommarstuga, our hostess informed that two wolves had been spotted on the outskirts of the forest just up the road, and that there were <i>lots</i> of brown bears. Wow! Indeed, in the info brochures in the cottage, there were two titled “If you meet a wolf” and “If you meet a bear” with instructions on what to do!
Of the two, the bears are the most dangerous – but both shy away from human contact so the chances of confrontation are actually almost non-existant.. Now those bloody ticks – no brochure on them, lol – were a lot more fond of humans and actually in anticipation of jumping on you as soon as they felt ground vibrations that something was on the way. At this time of the year, the ‘tick inspection’ was a must after every forest walk. The pic is one of my early attempts of a macro with my new Lumix, tick on the kitchen table, lol – but its actual size is about that of a fat flea http://tinyurl.com/2b8gsm.


We did get up close and personal with bears in the form of fresh bearpoo, which at this time of the year is blue – yep, from all the wild blueberries scoffed to gain weight for the winter hibernation.
http://tinyurl.com/24km8v

There are an estimated 2,500 wild bears in Sweden, and Gastrikland has the fastest growing population –so yep, we were definitely in bear country! Not only that, but bear-hunting season started just as we arrived. The culling – very strictly controlled by the Naturverksamhet – for Gastrikland was twenty-four – all hunters registered, licenced and given very detailed limitations. (Bear hunting season: 21 August to 15 October.)

But still, we were more conscious of avoiding the hunters rather than meeting bears, lol. So we all made sure to wear bright clothing and make lots of noise as we continued to explore deep into these marvellous woods, where truly you can't see the forest for the trees http://tinyurl.com/257o89
leaving the blueberries for the bears but finding lots of forest gold – chantarelle http://tinyurl.com/ysgpzv


We only heard just one or two gunshots during our entire stay, so I would say the bears were winning. We did have one adrenalin moment when there was movement in the thick bushes, and we immediately began a ruckus that could be heard for kilometres – only to see an elk step out, look condescendingly at us as if we crazy, before elegantly and s l o w l y moving off deeper into the forest. We needed to sit on a fallen log for a while, both to recover equilibrium and to support us as we laughed ourselves silly at the noise we had made – you don’t know what’s going to come out of your mouth at a time like that, and we voted that DHs was the best – loud shouts of &quot;bang, bang, bang&quot; as he stamped his feet! Mine was, to my disappointed, an unoriginal ‘shooo shoo’ but oh my, that ‘ooo’ <u>was</u> loud. Everybody’s hands were shaking too much to even contemplate a pic.

We did hear what we thought were wolves howling one night and were thrilled! They were hunted to almost extinction by the 1950s and there have been quite a number of programs initiated to re-introduce them so the forests regain their natural balance. It was a joy not only to hear them – they are such fascinating and intelligent tribal animals – but to know that the progam was working!

And more wildlife – we saw a snake! Coming from Australia where bush-walking is equally wonderful but the main danger is snakes – some of the most venomous in the world - the fact that Sweden has I believe only one endemic snake, seen by very few, and totally harmless was one ‘be aware’ antennae we didn’t need in Sweden. But those travel gods smiled again, and we count ourselves amongst the fortunate to have seen Sweden’s kopparorm (copper snake) in the wild. And crikey, what a sad little excuse for a snake, lol – to our eyes – but this time no shaking hands preventing a docu pic of two curves of all his glory http://tinyurl.com/29eaum

Just going back to Skommarhyttan mentioned above – with its five houses and an openair ‘post office’ as this is the end of the postal service http://tinyurl.com/yqdfo8
here’s a pic of the old smelter area with its little waterfall and bridge http://tinyurl.com/2zkyqk
and the multi-lingual sign explaining its origins. http://tinyurl.com/29wzo2

Next – excursions from homebase in H&auml;stbo further north and into the next county of Dalarna.

And in the meantime, anyone tried surstr&ouml;mming? Roughly pronounced “sewer strumming” which is curiously appropriate - a wild fermented fish experience requiring Vicks under the nostrils and many snaps?

Jackie

travelgirl2

Our Swedish friends teased us about trying this, but... no way.

Midnightsun

Jackie: Thanks for another installment. I feel like it’s serial time. We’re awaiting the next one. We will indeed be in Sweden on June 21. We have tried to time our visits to catch Midsommar, although we’ve had to be in the Lofoten chain off the Norwegian coast to catch the true midnight sun experience. We’re hoping that this summer we will be able to be part of a small town midsummer celebration in Mariefred. When my wife was in Ume&aring; she took part in the festivities at Gammlia, the open-air folk museum. It sounded delightful, so we’ve pursued midsummer celebrations ever since. A few years later we experienced a steady downpour on Midsummer’s Eve in Ume&aring;, and that year one of our Swedish friends treated us to herring and aquavit. The herring was novel, and I rather liked the senapsill (mustard herring), particularly after a few shots of aquavit. We never did get around to surstr&ouml;mming, although it was discussed.
Later attempts at replicating my wife’s Midsommar experience were not entirely successful. One year I was in Stockholm for the midsummer weekend, and although there were some festivities at Skansen on Midsummer’s Eve, the city was absolutely dead over the weekend, the quietest I’d ever seen it. When we finally found a restaurant open in Gamla Stan (Diana), we were just about the only patrons. Our waiter told us that everyone was “in Dalarna or out in the archipelago drinking beer.” Two years ago we were preparing for midsummer’s eve in Mariefred, but our flight was delayed by a day, and we totally missed the celebration. This year we are going to be traveling a few days in advance of Midsummer’s eve and staying in Uppsala before Mariefred. It won’t be the year that we rent a cottage, since we’ve already arranged our travels for this summer, but we appreciate your narrative for planning for 2009 or 2010.
I’ll be interested to hear of your ventures into Dalarna. We were not there at Midsommar, which certainly would have been festive, but were there in early July to visit Carl Larsson’s house and wander around the shores of Lake Siljan. We felt we had to visit R&auml;ttvik’s church when our travel brochure said that there were “87 outhouses, some dating from the 15th century” arrayed around the church. They were actually stables for the horses of the church-goers coming from the countryside, and it was a worthwhile visit, even if we were not treated to the world’s largest collection of antique port-a-johns! Some things do get lost in translation.
Thanks also for the recommendation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. My wife and I are great fans of Swedish detective fiction (and Italian detective fiction as well!) and we particularly enjoy books with a strong sense of place based in areas we have visited. Mari Jungstedt’s Insector Knutas novels are set in Gotland and Ake Edwardson’s Inspector Winter novels are set in G&oslash;teborg. Both series are quite good. It’s interesting to note that far more murders take place each year in Swedish crime fiction than actually take place in Sweden!

FurryTiles

Midnightsun, sounds like travel reports of all <i>your</i> trips to Sweden would fill a whole novel, you have so much info and experience!

Midsummer in Mariefred sounds wonderful – it’s often quoted as Sweden’s prettiest little town – and hope you’ll get a whole day of sunshine.

Loved your little vignette on the 87 outhouses – approximately how surstr&ouml;mming smells – and can see how the translation from “uthus” became “outhouse” instead of “out-buildings”, lol. Colloquial term for outhouse/dunny is utedass.

For prospective visitors to Sweden, thanks for the heads-up about the de-population of the major cities on Midsummer’s Eve, when everybody who can heads for the country. Think this would also apply to Uppsala, so excellent choice to join the exodus to the countryside and lovely Mariefred for the celebrations.

Just to elaborate on ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. This is journalist Stieg Larsson’s first published novel – part of a trilogy; the other two still being translated and due for release as ‘The Girl who played with Fire’ in 2009, and ‘Air Castles’ in 2010. The tragic story of this trilogy could be the plot for a novel in itself. Stieg wrote the books whilst working fulltime, delivered the three manuscripts to his publisher – and died of a massive heart attack aged 50, never to see any of his works in print or know of the high accolades and praise his best-sellers to be would gain worldwide. So sad.

Travelgirl – dem Svedes luv to scare ya with the surstr&ouml;mming weapon, but so many have actually never eaten it themselves. It seems to be more a 'delicacy' favoured in the northern parts, and most Stockholmers literally turn up their noses. Might do a separate section on Surviving the Surstr&ouml;mming Experience,

Now on to Dalarna – Falun, Leksand and Carl Larsson’s realm in Sundborn

FurryTiles

Our circular driving tour to Dalarna started off with great karma – in the small nearby village of Hofors we saw a huge Chinese restaurant housed in a typical Swedish Falu-red with white trim “outbuilding” – such a delight as we were still wearing Beijing dust on our shoes! tinyurl.com/ypevtj

Falu-red and white trimmed cottages/outbuildings rule in most of countryside – and we were headed to the birthplace of Falu red, a byproduct of the copper smelting in Falun that is a cheap, enduring and richly-coloured alternative to traditional house paint. Although our cottage was not Falu-red, all the barns and outbuildings were, as glimpsed from our beautiful upstairs window http://tinyurl.com/37m6f2.

The areas easily explored on daytrips, with H&auml;stbo/Tors&aring;ker as a base, were all inland and westward, rather than further north – as per map http://tinyurl.com/yrz8o9 (courtesy of our Hertz rented car). Rolling hills, fields ready for harvesting, agriculture and dairy farms, lakes, rivers and waterways, tiny villages, lots of pine forest – every turn presented a vista worthy of a postcard. So it really was just as much about the journey as the destination – to us, the scenery was a little reminiscent of both Tasmania and the mainland’s Barrington Tops area.

Carl Larsson, one of Sweden’s most-loved and best-known painters, is probably the least ‘off-the-beaten-track’; his estate, home, outbuildings, lake and gardens are lovingly preserved at <b>Carl Larsson G&aring;rd</b> in the village of Sundborn, near Falun, and is a popular tourist destination. The main attraction is the Larsson house, tinyurl.com/yw2qga which has been preserved intact as per his Will – and it feels as though one is stepping into one of his paintings with all the small details - every painted door and decorated niche, wall hanging and painted text in place. The guides wear a copy the simple dresses designed by Karin for her daughters, and the essence of a visit to this delightful museum is painted by Carl over the front door, ‘welcome dear visitor, to Carl Larsson and his wife’ (rough translation) although the Swedish version has a lovely, simple rhyme http://tinyurl.com/ypzk8f


Lots of info at www.carllarsson.se – (can’t seem to access the English version from this link, sorry). We paid 90kr per adult for the guided tour, about 45 minutes, but spent even more time exploring the shop’s Larsson memorabilia, lovely gardens and the many outbuildings also featured in his paintings.

Although Mr. Carl was an imaginative and perceptive artist whose works glow with love of family, my special admiration is for the equal but less-acknowledged talent of Mrs. Karin, his wife – although he certainly did. Not only did she run the household, she provided him with the much-loved seven offspring included in so many of his works, she designed furniture and textiles, clothes and wall hangings, painted and illustrated herself, wove cloth for much of the soft furnishings and clothes. When you enter their house (guided tours only) it is obvious they absolutely adored each other – their love of family and home still feels palpable. Part of the home is still used as the living quarters of his descendants, so it is indeed a “living museum”.

And on one of the outbuildings, perfectly framed by the Falu-red wooden wall, an equally wondrous work of art posed for camera-capture – a silver moth. http://tinyurl.com/yqzegc

FurryTiles

<b>Costs ‘n Prices</b>
Thought a list of prices for various categories might be helpful for self-catering sommarstuga visitors. Prices in Swedish kronor, as conversion rates differ. At our time of travel, AU$1.00 was just under 6 kronor.

Note: when grocery shopping – plastic bags are <i>not</i>free, and cost about Kr 1.50 each, paper bags Kr 2.50..

<u>Car</u>
Rental: small economy 4-door, approx Kr 2,200 per week, unlimited free kms
Petrol 96 octane @ Kr 11.79 litre

Also a heads up, the Swedish ‘mile’ = 10 kilometres.

<u>Accommodation</u>
Approx Kr 800 per night, supply own linen Self-catering.
Extra costs for cleaning on departure may apply

<u>Booze</u>
Beer available at most supermarkets, approx Kr. 29 per can
5 litre mini-keg Carlsberg export beer ... Kr 146.50
3 litre cask of Lindeman’s Shiraz ... Kr 215.00
.7 litre Dundee Scotch ... Kr 218.00


<u>Groceries </u>
A short list as a guideline:

Milk, 1 litre ... Kr 9.70
Eggs, dozen ... Kr 18.90
Cheese ... approx Kr 90.00 per kilo
Yoghurt, 1 litre plain ... Kr 11.50

Bread, sliced brown ... Kr 19.90
Marg, 250gr ... Kr 17.90
Cornflakes 375 gr ... Kr19.90
Juice, pommegranate 1 litre ... Kr 19.90

Strawberries ... Kr 50 per kilo
Ice cream, Big Pac vanilla ... Kr24.90

Bananas ... Kr9.90 per kg
Potatoes, fresh ... Kr7.90 per kg
Capcisum, red ... Kr 39 per kg

Pasta, penne 250gr ... Kr8.90
Rice, Basmati 500 gr ... Kr 26.00
Coffee beans, ground, 500 gr ... Kr 24.90

<b>Surstr&ouml;mming, Bockens lyx, 375 gr .. 50kr</b> yep, we did!

Toilet paper, 8 pack ... kr 30.00
Toothpaste Colgate ... Kr 18.90
Newspaper ... Kr 10
Shampoo, Balsam ... Kr 28.00

Reliable website to convert to your currency: www.xe.com

Any items not listed, just ask ... I keep receipts as alternative holiday souvenirs and include them in my albums. So cool to look back years later and see how <i>cheap</i> everything was!

Midnightsun

Jackie: Not entirely on the beaten track, I'll have to add to this thread that I purchased and read (in a very short time) &quot;The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.&quot; Besides making me all the more excited about returning to Sweden because of all the references to small towns in upper Sweden and places in Stockholm, it's one impressive read. The characterization is a cut above most mystery novels, not quite LeCarr&eacute; but close, and the suspense builds nicely from a leisurely to a frenetic pace. I can't wait for the next two to arrive in English translations, so I may have to jump start my Swedish reading and pick up the second volume in the trilogy when I'm in Sweden this summer. Many thanks for the recommendation!

FurryTiles

ttt for love_travel

FurryTiles

Gosh Midnightsun, so sorry I missed the post with your book report. So glad you enjoyed it.

Stieg Larsson's second book (<i>Flickan som lekte med elden</i in the trilogy is being translated and due for publication release in Jan 09, and the third and final one (<i>Luftslottet som spr&auml;ngdes</i to be released in Jan '10, so we have some gems to look forward to!

Hope you're having a fabulous summer in Mariefred!

H&auml;lsningar,
Jackie