Thoughts about Sweden

1.We crossed the longest bridge in Europe from Copenhagen to Malmo in Sweden. This also has to be the most expensive toll in Europe per km, at ZAR 700 to cross.
2.Swedes love sailing and boating and it seems almost everyone owns a boat, even though the season is so short. We stayed at some great coastal towns, all of which had busy yachting marinas and festive summer nightlife.
3.There is a lot more to Swedish music than ABBA. Everywhere we went there was tons of live music, outdoor concerts and pubs with bands. I think Stockholm has more live music venues than London.
4.On average,there are definately a lot more blondes in Stockholm.
5. Almost everyone drives a Volvo.
6.Drinks are expensive, at about ZAR 70 per beer in a bar. Supermarkets are only allowed to sell low alcohol beer and all other drinks must be bought from the state run liquor stores. The legal drinking age is 20.
7.By the time we got to Stockholm, the weather had turned grim. Now I know why the Swedes love Phuket so much!! Sunshine and cheap beer.

North Germany and Denmark

Leaving Holland, we travelled back into Germany and headed north. We visited Bremen and Lubeck and travelled along the north east German coastline to Flensburg before crossing into southern Denmark. The weather was really hot and everywhere everyone was really enjoying the mid July heat. We really enjoyed a few days on the island of Funen,a rural idyll of rolling wheat fields and pretty coastal towns and yachting marinas. By now, everyone was on holiday, enjoying the long, sunny days, beaches and outdoor cafes. We visited Egeskov Castle, which also had a wonderful motor museum.
We spent a few days in Copenhagen and the hot weather continued. We are planning to spend more time in Denmark on our southbound journey.

Luxembourg,Germany and Holland

We spent a great weekend with Anique in Luxembourg, with still more football as Ghana sadly bowed out of the competition. We then popped back into Germany to Trier, the Mosel Valley and Cologne. An interesting fact – 4711 was the original Eau de Cologne ( light bulb moment! ) named after the perfumer’s house number.
We headed for Holland and Maastricht and more football – Holland into the final! We watched in a pub and the city erupted into a huge party that night.
We also visited Utrecht, Delft, and Haarlem before spending the weekend in Schoorl, with Christiana, Arjen and Paula, Tomas, Rosa and Julian. They have just moved into the wonderful, old farmhouse they are renovating and we had a great weekend. Finally, the World Cup Final weekend, but despite all the orange in the Benders’ household, as you know, Spain won.

Switzerland and Germany

We travelled to Basel to stay a few days with Justine and Arjen. We did a day trip, including a boat journey to Thunersee near Interlaken. Still following the football, we watched poor England go out of the World Cup. We had to have Homer’s brakes repaired and then we headed back into Germany for a few days in the Black Forest,( we didn’t get to eat the cake! ) Heidleberg and the Rhine River Valley. ( we did get to taste the wine ! )

Madrid and Munich

We left SA on 15th June amid all the soccer fever and spent a few days in Madrid, Spain. World Cup madness was there too, and what a day when Switzerland beat Spain! Madrid is a very walkable city, so we got right back into our 10+kms per day routine for Europe. We love the Spanish food, especially the tapas, so just as well we got to walk a bit of it off.We revisited some favourite art museums too.
Then we flew to Munich, picked up Homer and moved back to the campsite on the Isar river. It was great to catch up with friends, go to a few of our favourite restaurants and see all the football games too. Guess what, football madness had hit Germany too.Vuvuzelas in black, yellow and red were on sale everywhere. Watching in the beer gardens on big screens was fun, and we had to meet up with all the other South Africans at Killians for the Bafana games too.