Our trip to Sweden began on the ferry from Helsinki. We woke up to the gentle movement of the ferry and saw that during the night we had entered the Stockholm archipelago. As the ferry approached Stockholm port we saw small boats heading out to the many summerhouses on the islands of the archipelago, midsummer was approaching and people were leaving the cities and entering party mode.

The few days we spent in Stockholm were well spent wandering through the old town, and around the canals. We hired bicycles and managed to venture a bit further out of the city to some of the smaller islands that make up greater Stockholm. Summer was a great time to take in these places, with most people out enjoying the sunny weather either on the canals or in the many parks.

After Stockholm we headed south to Malmö and ventured to Copenhagen, Denmark for the weekend before coming back to Sweden to head around the country to the town of Båstad. Båstad is a small town of around 4000 people, though this number grows significantly over the summer when people from all over Sweden come to stay in their summer houses to enjoy the beautiful countryside around the town. The town is home to my (Pete) Great-Great-Grandfather, and I was extremely fortunate to be able to meet some of relatives in Båstad. Staying with Kenneth and Anna was great, it was the first family home and home cooked meal we had had in months! Our new Swedish friends were incredibly welcoming and we can’t thank them enough for how welcome they made us feel. Kenneth took us on a tour through the old parts of Båstad and we even took a look around the house where my great-great-grandfather grew up before he sailed to New Zealand. Learning some of the family history was really interesting and made me appreciate my heritage and origins.

After a great couple of days in Båstad we were back on the train heading north to Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. Here we stayed a night and spent our time wandering the city, finding some very cool areas packed with cute little restaurants and bars, the city had a very young feel to it, with people out and about at all hours.

Finally our time in Sweden came to an end with us boarding a bus in the pouring rain of Gothenburg to head further north into Norway to explore Oslo.