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…

The next morning, I repacked, had a last snuggle with the animals, said goodbye to Giorgia and headed to Borås to return the rental car. It was a beautiful, relaxing drive. I think knowing I only had one hour left of having to drive during the trip made it feel even more relaxed. I’m definitely…

It was a catch-up day today. I woke up really early, so went out to the dining area and got some coffee and lingonberry punch, my new favorite cold drink. I caught up on my blog – I had not done any posting for a few days. Stacy and I had breakfast (no Swedish pancakes…

On Saturday morning we woke up and seeing the positive weather report, had breakfast. Though not quite as fancy as the previous hotel’s breakfast, this one was still very nice and included Swedish pancakes. Today’s first new experience was purchasing an all day transportation ticket at the local 7-Eleven, which had a very impressive salad…

The hotel we stayed at had a fantastic breakfast spread, we both enjoyed lots of salmon. Yummy! Back on the road again on Friday, this time driving up to Sillerud Parish, where Stacy‘s great-great grandfather‘s family was from. Our first stop was at a hiking trail that took us to a viewpoint of Lake Vanern.…

Stacy woke up feeling better on Wednesday morning. Our first stop was Rolfstorp, the little town where her great-great grandmother was from. We found the local church and looked through all of the gravestones in the cemetery, but couldn’t find any that matched the family name. The church was open, and was one of the…