Highlights of my Labor Day weekend:  Going for walks in the neighborhood and seeing lots of beautiful nature.  Getting my haircut, way past due! Incredible uncolorful and dramatic artwork at the Bedford Gallery. There was even a gorgeous piece from New Zealand! Going to see the Two Gentlemen of Verona put on by SF Free Shakespeare in…

I just spent a wonderful three days with my sister Lori in Rio Del Mar. We started with a stop at Filoli, where there was an exhibit of six trolls by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. I have been fascinated with the trolls that he has built all over the world from the time I encountered…

Time to catch up on my posting since I returned from Sweden. The flights back were relatively uneventful, though because of delays in leaving or getting to the gate I ended up having to rush to get through customs in both Amsterdam and Seattle and then rush to get to my gates. In Amsterdam we…

On my last day in Sweden I decided to take the ferry back to the southern archipelago as I wanted more time to look around Styrsö in particular. Near where I was staying there is a free 5 minute ferry to Stenpiren where the ferry leaves to go directly to the southern archipelago once each…

My original plan for today was to take the train to Malmö at the southern end of Sweden. Because of delay issues on an earlier train I had a credit for a free trip. Unfortunately the train was first delayed then after an hour it was finally canceled because of electrical issues on the line.…

Today I took a couple of buses and then the ferry over to the northern Archipelago. I only visited one island this time, Hönö. It was a very windy day, and I wasn’t keen on riding a bike around, especially since the islands in the northern archipelago allow cars so it wouldn’t be quite as…

Today was an earlier morning to catch my 7am train to Stockholm then Gothenburg. I initially woke around 3, looked outside and was amazed to see it was already getting light- I am very far north! I did manage to sleep a few more hours before getting up to make coffee and have breakfast. In…

My last day in Umea. I slept in a bit and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, making waffles to have with my coffee. Today’s journey was via bus out to a local lake and nature preserve, Grössjön.  Grössjön was a gorgeous place to hike- mainly forest and marshland, luckily lots of boardwalks on the marshy bits.…

Today I took the bus to Pitea, where my great-grandfather was from. It was a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Umea on a double decker bus! I had fantastic views from my seat upstairs in the front, what a treat to be able to relax and just enjoy the scenery instead of concentrating on…

I took the overnight train from Stockholm to Umea. It left an hour late so I was very grateful to have my own compartment so I could easily get ready for bed. The shared compartments had 6 beds! It was similar to the experience I had on the overnight Amtrak train, though I did have…