Sweden: October 14th- 18th 2010

I landed at the Arlanda airport on thursday evening. Hasse, Sanna, Vaulter and Ture were waiting my arrival. We spent the night in Uppsala and had a traditional Swedish meal, pancakes and pea soup with mustard. The next day I took the train into Stockholm. I spent the day in the Old Town seeing the castle and enjoying the town. I also made it to another one of the islands in the archipelago to see the Vasa ship that was restored after it sunk in one of the harbors.

Stockholm City Hall

On the water!





The next day we went up to Sundsvall to see Busa and his family. I also got to meet Leif and his wife aswell. Busa, Julia and Nora (his daughters) later showed me around the city and I got a full city view of the town and the Baltic.

We went back to Busa and Vicci's house for a delicious meal of enchiladas with homemade guacamole. I loved being in a family enviornment, some good, family cooking. Later that night I went out with Julia and her boyfriend, Adam, to meet their friends and see some of the night life. It was hard to leave everyone after they were so welcoming towards me. It made me miss my family in Minnesota, but it was nice to know that I had family in Sweden also.

Lake behind the Sundsvall home.

After the 3 hour drive home we stopped in Uppsala to  freshen up before we headed back to Stockholm to have dinner with Per, Evelina and their three kids. I had some more swedish food that was incredible. We made it a short trip because it was Sunday and it had been a long weekend.

Outside Per and Evalena's house in Stockholm. Beautiful view!

My last day I spent looking around Uppsala near the university, the castle and the cathedral. It was a beautiful town and it was nice to see where Sanna and Hasse spend time.

Loved my weekend with the Swedes. They all made me feel so welcome and I hope they feel the same.

Cinque Terre: September 30th- October 1st 2010

Whitney and I got up at 5 to take a train to the western coast of Italy to the region known as Cinque Terre which means "The Five Lands." There are paths and trails connecting each town that you can hike to get from one to another. We started out in the town of Monterosso and began the 6 mile hike. this hike was the longest but I thought it was definitely the most beautiful. It was raining when we arrived in Cinque Terre so the first hike was done in the rain. It was nice to have some cool weather because we were walking up many stairs. This part of the hike reminded me so much of Jamaica.



We found so many little waterfalls while hiking. They were so pretty. This hike also lead us through many vineyards and olive farms with beautiful views of the Mediterranean.

The next town we got to was Vernazza. The next to paths were not available for us to do because of all the rain they were unsafe surfaces. So we got on the train and went to Manarola. This was the second to last town. The clouds and started to clear up and the rest of the day was beautiful and sunny. The last path was paved and was known as Via dell'Amore, "Lovers Lane." All along the trail "lovers" will attach locks to the railings to secure their eternal love.

We finally ended up in Riomaggiore where we spent the night in a hostel, which was actually a couples house that they were not longer living in. I was happy to get away from the constant traffic noises in Rome for a night and enjoy a silent and peaceful night. I slept 12 and a half hours that night.

We left the next morning to go back to Rome but we made a quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. We obviously had to take one of these pictures. Everyone else was too. (Not to scale) :)