Oh my! How fast two weeks can pass by. Just amazing. I got back last week from a wonderful holiday in Denmark and Sweden! Ok, it wasn’t that kind of holiday where you get totally relaxed from sitting at the waterside with a good book, working on a tan and where the hardest labor is zipping a fruity cocktail, but that wasn’t to be expected seeing the busy schedule.

It all started with a long but fast drive to København. With a two stop strategy, just about 1000km in 8 hours, was surprisingly fast to me as well. Could have been a bit faster if I wouldn’t have run out of gas just before the 2nd pit stop… There were some scary moments when the tank was almost empty and the promised petrol-station along the highway didn’t show up… I had no choise other then to take an exit into Germany to search for a gas-station in a tiny village. It got close, but luckily I made it! :-) Shouldn’t have been much further, seeing I put in over 39.5 liters where the gas tank of the car only holds 40… Pffff… :-)

København was as lovely as ever. It was great to see my roommate Kevin Arnold again, even though he has a habit of waking me up for some candy every day around 05.00 in the morning… But he is so sweet you forgive him very easily for that! :-)
Besides that the stay was quite relaxing. Cappo’s in the afternoon and a barbie in the park, drinking wine and beer and playing crocket in the evening. That must be what life is all about! ;-)

As I brought my bike, I also took it for a ride along the Danish coastline from København to Helsingør. A truely great fun ride! Beautiful scenery and with the road being rather flat with every now and then a short climb made it a bit challenging as well. Wasn’t to sure what to think about Danish cyclists when two people were drafting in my wheel for quite some time and not taking the lead… A bit frustrating and annoying, until the woman who we picked up last took the lead for a bit as well! Lovely! So instead of bad feelings towards Danish cyclists, an instant love for female Danish cyclists was born! Does anyone know if Rasmussen has a cute sister? ;-)

After København the trip took me to the beautiful little island of Hven (or Ven, but I go with the preferred old school spelling) just between Denmark and Sweden. Here I had to pick up the key to Jonas’ apartment I would be staying at in Stockholm and would combine that with the good fun of seeing Jonas again. We cycled a bit on the island, enjoyed the views of the pretty island and Denmark on the horizon, had a lovely dinner before I felt really old at some pre-party with only 18 year olds and more at place later, drinking at one of the few pubs on the island. I was a bit hang over and definitely not ready for the things that were about to happen the next morning… The short version would sound like: dehydration, fainting, busted eyebrow, boogie on the floor, island nurse and being stitched on the porch. Luckily I was only the frontrow slightly traumatized spectator in all that! :-) Either way all that excitement caused me not to take my planned picture taking trip along the island, so I will definitely have to visit the island again!

A 6 hour drive later I was back in Stockholm again. And being back in Stockholm felt like it always feels after having been there such a long time over the last couple of years. I felt like being home. And meeting up with all the special people just makes it such great fun to be there, and sad at the same time for not being there more often… If weeks can fly by, this one surely did! Lunch meetings, dinner meetings, picknick in the Archipelago, more lovely dinners… So much to do, and so little time…

Went cycling twice in and around Stockholm. One trip to Ösmo, on a to hot day, with a beautiful but to challenging ride back and the most horrible moment to run out of water… I have never in my life drank a can of coke quicker then when I finally found a place with some refreshments… But all in all it was a great ride! And the second ride was a mountainbike ride with Kim in and around Sollentuna which was just all fun!

On the way back the difference between driving alone and driving with someone next to you came chokingly clear… I could give Johanna a ride to her sister and sambo in Linköping and that was by far the fastest driving of the whole trip. Not measured by the number of km’s in time, but purely by how long the drive felt… The two hour drive almost felt like just 15 minutes… Amazing… what lovely company in the car can do! ;-)

After a very nice coffee break at Johanna’s sisters strawberry farm, where the coffee was served with strawberry cake and strawberry muffins, what else could I have expected?, the journey continued to Martin in Helsingborg down in the south of Sweden. Again to be surprised by the kindness of the people I was visiting. Martin’s parents were just the kindest and sweetest people you can imagine. Waiting for me with dinner when I arrived, eating early when I had to leave early and offering me a comfy bed to sleep in during the night… Just wonderful…

Got to see a bit of Helsingborg and had a nice walk with Martin and his family to the Ramlösa water spring, very close to his parents home. Walked through a lovely park, tasted some of the water (bit earthy taste) straight from the spring and met some very arrogant ducks. After a nice little cycling ride through the area it was time to continue the journey to København again. The boat from Helsingborg to Helsingør got me to København in just over 45 minutes. Impossible according to Martin’s dad, but I guess me just needing to go a little past Lyngby, instead of down town København saved me quite some time.

The stay in København was short this time, but therefore not less fun. Just one great disappointment this time… they don’t sell big “welcome home” balloons at Copenhagen airport… A big shame! Or a business opportunity? Well both, but it left me empty handed when welcoming Mette and her sister back from a R.E.M. concert in London.

After an always sad goodbye from København, the long drive home awaitened. Luckily it went without any problems and I was home 8 hours later. Home again. Praising myself to be very lucky to know so many fine and sweet people. I almost got to meet everyone I wanted to see. Some were occupied elsewhere and some I will definitely see soon!

Thank you all for a great time! :-)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2005 at 18:08 and is filed under Personal, Travel, Friends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.