Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands!

We've made it back to the motherland.  It was a three day drive that tested our patience, so we were happy to hand the car back.  We caught the train up to Groningen where we've already been enjoying seeing some more young people around.  And all those bikes.  We'd forgotten just how many bikes there are here!  It's going to be great to be car free for the next 11 days.

Before we left Sweden we took a look around Stockholm with Ben as our guide.  The city is quite pretty, lots of nice colourful buildings and the waterways dividing each part of the city from the rest.  We went out for dinner one night to sample some traditional Swedish food.  We had pickled herring, salted pork and reindeer stew.  It was all really good.  We also went to Skansen, an outdoor museum with native animals and a semi-working village.  The four days went by quickly even though it rained for two of them.

Everyone we talk to says that the summer in northern Europe has been pretty average.  Lots of rain and not very hot.  We seem to have avoided the bad weather pretty well though, until the last two weeks anyway.  It's worked out well.  Bring on summer at home.

11 days.