After a great buffet breakfast at Camp Ripan (a complete ‘180’ from the lunch buffet in town) we got onto the four-hour train ride to Luleå – also in the Arctic Circle but much farther south. Luleå is the largest city in Swedish Lapland. The train this time was super modern and very comfortable – … More From Kiruna to Luleå

The next leg of our trip we parted ways with Kathy and Louis so they could explore Stockholm (which we’d done already with the young squad), and we were heading way up north to the Arctic Circle – to Sweden’s Lapland.  Andrew and I decided that since we were headed to a 15-hour overnight train … More The Overnight Train to Kiruna & Mining 101

On our last full day in Gotland we knew we had to take the ferry back to Stockholm from Visby so we said farewell to our hosts in the countryside and rented bikes to explore Visby. Visby has spread out from the central and still very much intact walled city – very reminiscent of walled … More Our Day in Visby

We spent the next day exploring the southern end of Gotland and the recommendations our ferry friends made were spot on. Along the route down the island we happened upon a very unusual grave site (called Gannarve) – a boat shaped set of stones that apparently housed the remains of ancient folks from the area. … More Another Gotland Day: Back in Time and Lots of Birds

We were very lucky to hit stellar weather while on Gotland – and actually aside from a day here and there the weather on our trip overall has been great…Sunny and warm (maybe mid-70’s during the day and 50’s at night) and light breezes when close to water. No complaints. At the recommendation of our … More Exploring Northern Gotland

When we were planning this Swedish adventure we asked a number of people for suggestions of where we should “not miss” along the way. A few – including the family we are exchanged with – mentioned Gotland. Knowing that Stockholm was really an archipelago of connected islands, I suspected that Gotland would be one of … More Off to Gotland

This was the day that Ruthie and the gang headed to Amsterdam on their way ultimately to Brussels and the music festival, Tomorrowland.  We had such a great time with them but we had the arrival of our dear friends from Seattle, Kathy Kline and Louis Holtzman, to look forward to.  Before everyone was mobilized … More Changing of the Guard: Farewell & Hello

All of us wanted to get an overview of Stockholm as an urban center made up of many islands connected by bridges and ferries, and one way to do that was on the 2 1/2 hour boat cruise through some of main channels.  In theory, this “cruise” made sense, but in practice – while we … More Touring the Stockholm Archipelago & New Friends

This was the first very full day of exploration with our band of young folks gathered by Ruthie to enjoy both the home exchange and Stockholm with us – and they are loads of fun to be with! This was our day to do some of the “must sees” in the city so we started … More Touring (Some of) the Sights & Sounds of Stockholm

We chose the house in Taby not only us to use as a launching pad to explore Sweden, but to share the experience with others. We are lucky to have had this work out well. Today we picked up Ruthie and two of her dear friends – Alex and Marshall – at the airport. Later … More The Gang’s All Here!