Down the coast to the city of Malmo just standing over the Oresund from Copenhagen.
It's a very present city with a wonderful coastland looking out over the sea to the distant city in a foreign country.
The castle contains an interesting museum, although I could have done with out the authentic noises of a decapitation in the castle courtyard. Rather to realistic. This ares of Sweden was occupied by Denmark for many years, but all seams to be forgiven now.
It was raining on Friday so I took a trip over the bridge to Copenhagen. Very wet so I took in a couple of palaces. It's a lovely city and not much changed since I was here 14 years ago. The little mermaid is still on her spot and surrounded by tourists even in the drizzle.
Stopped off at the seaside town of Helsingborg, just over the sea from Denmark. With the country so close I popped over on the ferry to experience a bit of Danish life. The ferries chug back and forth 24 hours a day. The trip only takes 20 minutes and locals have been known to spend the whole day on board, sampling the restaurants and the shops.
For some bizarre reason you can only by Alcohol when in Swedish waters and Tobacco when in Danish waters so the shutters have to keep coming up and down every half hour.
The speed of the turnaround of the ferries is impressive. An entire boat is emptied and refilled with cars, lorries and people, all within 10 minutes. So you have to be speedy getting off or you will be bedding back across the channel like and aquatic yoyo.
Visited the castle of Helsinger, the location Shakespeare chose to set Hamlet. I've been here before but this time they had a trio up of actors prancing around the castle acting out scenes from the play. Quite buzzard to be viewing a room when Polonius suddenly marches into the room, has a little chat, and then yells out the window as he has seen Hamlet frolicking with his daughter.
Crossed the country to end up on the west coast in the city of Gothenburg.
It's a lively city set on the river where the main town centre is still surrounded by the original moat. The gardens have an amazing rose garden that was still pretty impressive even though it was past its best.
The rain came on Sunday so I headed to the museum. Lots to see but hundreds of children underfoot. When the sun came out I made my escape over the hill to visit the botanic gardens. Set in a beautiful location overlooking the bay it is a very releasing place to spend a few hours.
Stockholm must be one of the most relaxed cities in the world. With its scenic location spread across over 50 islands the whole city has the feeling of living in a theme park.
One of the islands is taken over with a massive park, bringing the countryside into the heart of the city. As well as walks and lakes and trails the island is full of museums including a full recreation of an ancient Swedish village.
It's also the home of the Abba museum where, for a hefty price, you can found all about the famous four and their music.
The centre island is the location of the royal palace. Not the original, that burnt down in the 1690's, but a newer version, crammed full of relics. The King still uses it today and the crowd jewels occupy the basement.
The Kings ancestors mostly reside on another small island just of the main centre. It's crammed full of Kings, queens and nobles, one vault is open so you can see all the coffins feasting inside. The guide had some pictures of one of the kings in ten coffin taken when it was opened for restoration work. Let's just say he was past his best.
