Melissa’s 50th...

Two days after we returned from Croatia, the girls flew out to California to spend two weeks with my parents. The following evening, Jimmy and I flew to Stockholm for Eurohash 2013, which featured hashing in three countries in three days. The next day was my 50th birthday. We celebrated with lunch at our favorite restaurant, Hermans, a wonderful vegetarian buffet with amazing views.

Later that afternoon, we headed to the port to catch an overnight ferry to Helsinki for the kick off of Eurohash. This was the fanciest ship we’d ever been on; much more like a cruise ship than a ferry. We took a tour of the bridge, which was very interesting. I didn’t bring my camera on this trip, so we only have a few photos from the weekend.

We stood at the back of the ship as we left Stockholm and traveled around the large number of Swedish archipelago islands, which was a beautiful journey.

Jimmy had arranged a surprise for my birthday: a 50-bun salute! Definitely not a pretty view, but a hilarious way to start the hash weekend. When we arrived in Helsinki, we had a few hours to explore before heading to the venue. We hashed around downtown Helsinki, ending at the port for a short ferry ride over to Tallinn, Estonia. We stayed in the overflow hotel, which used to house KGB Headquarters. We had a nice dinner on our own, then met up with some hashers for a pub crawl. After breakfast the next morning, we were bussed to the start of the trails. Jimmy was thrilled to be able to go through an old Soviet training grounds on the long run; I had to stop running because my heel was acting up, so stuck with the medium trail which mostly went through the woods. After the hash, we headed to the port to get on yet another overnight ferry, this time back to Stockholm. That evening was a big party with a viking theme, which was great fun. The next day we did the walker’s trail, then hung out at the venue until it was time to head to the airport. It was an amazingly well organized weekend and we had a blast! Definitely the perfect way to celebrate the big 5-0!

Surviving Our Cycling Tour...

Here we are with our celebratory necklaces. You can see we were all smiles after our last ride together.
We’re still all smiles after Marianne’s and my final ride, and our journey back on the ferry (we even managed to sit in the jacuzzi for awhile). We were happy that we finished the trip with our bodies, our bikes and our friendships in tact. Most importantly for me, I did it! I had my doubts, but I managed to cycle for 7 days straight for a total of 289 miles, which exceeded Camilla’s original goal of 400k (249 miles) for her 40th birthday. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with for her 50th!

Valuable Lessons Learned on Cycling Tour...

* Don’t believe a little old lady who offers a “shortcut.” It wasn’t fun pushing our bikes through the sand (sadly, we’re just pretending to ride here), just to turn around and go on the original path that we thought was correct.

* Just because an area prints a map of bike paths, doesn’t mean that they actually have bike paths. Case in point was this hilly 55mph highway with no shoulder.

* Always make sure to carry food and water as some country routes have no restaurants or shops.

* Don’t forget your camelbak unless you want to do an extra 3.75 miles alone.

Fine Dining in Sweden...

One of the advantages of cycling so long each day was that there was no guilt whatsoever about what we ate. And it was also very easy to justify that we deserved fine dining after all our efforts. My favorite meal was on the coast in Kivik where I ate a cold seafood buffet featuring varieties of herring, salmon and mackerel. That night we drank local hard apple cider that was fantastic. Mat made us a delicious seafood soup, and on our final evening at Camilla’s house, we had an amazing seafood smorgasbord. Only Marianne managed to lose weight on this trip. Camilla and I like to think it’s because muscle weighs more than fat, but it’s probably because ice cream weighs more than sorbet.

Last Day of Cycling in Sweden...

I wasn’t originally scheduled to cycle on our last day, but finally came to the realization that that’s what we do--we get up and we ride. While Camilla drove Natasha and Lizzie to the ferry, Marianne and I set out for a 40.5 mile ride along the western coast. This was the only day that we were actually on official separated bike paths for most of the day. The scenery was lovely as we passed through Helsingborg and on down to Landskrona. We made it to the ferry to Ven with just a minute to spare (good thing we didn’t stop for a drink!) Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with the idea of going to this island; as the hottest day of the summer, it seemed that 1/2 the Swedish population was there. After a quick lunch and swim, we headed back to catch an early ferry, which gave us time for another enormous ice cream before meeting Camilla for our ride back to our overnight ferry.

Day #6 of Cycling in Sweden...

Today was unusual as we had two extra riders, both of whom cycle regularly to work in London, and only cycled 23 miles. We started out by crossing north to the coast for a swim. We then made the mistake of following some advice from a teenager and ending up pushing our bikes 1.25 miles through a single track (there’s definitely no mountain bikers in this crowd). Finally made it to the trailhead to hike to an ultra cool art installation, known as the micronation of Ladonia, made of tons of wood that looked like something Dr. Suess might make while on drugs. I would have liked to continue to explore, but we were on a tight schedule to meet Mat for lunch. After lunch, we cycled to the beach at Molle on the west coast. Then we made our way back to Camilla’s cottage, where we celebrated our accomplishment with French champagne, prawns and salmon. As our rewards, I gave Camilla, Marianne and myself matching necklaces made out of recycled bike tires by a Swedish artist.

Day #5 of Cycling in Sweden...

We packed up the car so Camilla could drive to her cottage in Hoganas (near the western coast) and pick up her sister, Natasha, and her friend, Lizzie. Marianne and I set off for what we anticipated to be an immensely hilly ride. Lucky for me, it was mostly rolling hills which were quite manageable. We were thankful that we packed a lunch as we didn’t pass a single shop or cafe. Was bummed we didn’t see any moose. Got excited when I saw some deer up until the time I noticed the fence around them. After 40.5 miles reached Bjuv. Met a few local drunks at the town pizza joint while waiting for Camilla’s university buddy, Mat (with one “t”) to take us back to his place. The other ladies joined us for a delicious homemade dinner of salad, fish soup and tiramisu.

Day #4 of Cycling in Sweden...

Today was the easiest ride of the trip as we were mostly on small country roads and never on gravel for the 43 mile trip to Lund, a large city which was once the historical center of Denmark. Had an awesome vegetarian lunch, then got some culture at the Open Air Museum above and the cathedral with a cool underground crypt shown on the right. Stopped for a beer at a golf course on the return route at the perfect time as we managed to avert a storm passing overhead. After another quick dip in the lake (I lasted less than 30 seconds!), we had a nice chat with an elderly Dutch couple also cycling around Sweden. Finished the evening with a dinner in the garden, which was lovely.

Day #3 of Cycling in Sweden...

After breakfast, we packed up the car to head to Gamlo Bo, a village along Ringsjon Lake (about 1.5 hours inland). Rode along another dreadful highway, then spent much of the day riding around lakes on gravel roads with lots of steep hills. Only rode 37.25 miles, but as it was extra hot and humid, I didn’t feel too guilty about walking at times. We made it back to the hotel in time for a quick jump in the lake before a huge electrical storm hit; I thought the water was freezing, so didn’t stay in long. Ironically, had to put on our rain coats for the only time during the trip so we could avoid getting soaked walking to dinner.

Day #2 of Cycling in Sweden...

Not all bike routes are created equally, as we quickly discovered. We were shocked to learn the map designated a 55-mph highway without a shoulder as an official bike path. I was near tears as I struggled up hills with big rigs behind me that couldn’t pass because the road was too narrow. After about 5 miles, we pulled into a small town and I pleaded with Marianne, our map reader extraordinaire, to find another route north to the city of Arhus. She was my hero as she found gravel roads that allowed us to bypass the rest of the highway. Along the way we passed by this lovely privately-owned castle. Had a delicious herring lunch in the patio of an art gallery, followed by monster-sized ice cream. Visited an old church, then headed back south where we had our funniest encounter of the week. An old lady saw us debating about what direction to go and she convinced us to push our bikes though the sand for a mile just to discover that if we crossed the river she suggested, we wouldn’t connect to a path on the other side either. After lots of laughs, we finally got back on the right path and made it to the Havang Dolmen, the 5000-year-old burial chamber shown above.

1st Day of Cycling in Sweden...

The most challenging part of our first day’s ride was getting out/in to Kivik over the giant hill surrounding this coastal city. It stunk to already be off my bike and walking just 15 minutes into the ride; however, didn’t feel guilty on the return trip at all. Otherwise, most of the 89K (55 miles) was rolling hills as we went along the coast south to the beach at Sandhammaren along the southeastern tip of Sweden. We’d worked up an appetite by the time we stopped in the cute town of Simrishamn for a delicious lunch of smoked salmon sandwiches on 1/2 baguette (the largest baguettes we’ve ever seen!) I’m not a fan of cold water, so I didn’t join Camilla and Marianne for a swim in the Baltic Sea.

We took an inland route on the way back north through miles of farmland (kept thinking of “amber waves of grain,” but couldn’t remember the words to America the Beautiful). We stopped for a tour of Glimmingehus, a castle built for a Danish knight in 1506, and got a bonus of some great chocolate cake. Made it back to Kivik in plenty of time to watch the sunset.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle...

On June 27th, two Brits, one American, 3 touring bikes and a case of wine were crammed into a funny car called a Kangoo to start a week-long cycling adventure in the province of Skane in southern Sweden. The goal was to help Camilla celebrate her 40th birthday by cycling 400K. We spent several months training in the dunes along the coast of Holland. Camilla worked hard to come up with a plan that would work for 6 women so that we would have a sag wagon to carry our luggage. Unfortunately, 3 of the women dropped out at the last minute, so it was down to Camilla, Marianne and me spending 2 nights at each location instead of changing hotels daily. We took turns driving on the German Autobahn to the overnight ferry. After a short drive, we dropped off our stuff at our first hotel in Kivik (on the southeastern coast) and started our adventure.

Colorful Sweden...

It was great seeing all the colors of fall while in Sweden, which is something we don’t see much of in Holland. We saw this waterfall on the grounds of a castle (unfortunately it wasn’t open to the public). Afterwards we visited a traditional Swedish Christmas market. On our last day in Scandinavia, we took the ferry back to Denmark and attempted to get into another closed castle. Despite not getting inside, we thoroughly enjoyed walking along the water’s edge and seeing the beautiful views. Overall, the combination of amusement park, big city culture and walks in the countryside made for a great vacation.

Exploring the Swedish coast...

Each day in Sweden, we ventured out somewhere different. We didn't let the brisk fall weather stop us from hiking in the woods or walking along the beach. Tristram and the girls went crabbing and enjoyed the challenge despite not catching anything. Camilla and I went on a nice bike ride into town along the rails-to- trails path to buy mussels for lunch. My favorite part of each day was getting to know Camilla and Tristram over gourmet meals after the kids went to sleep.

A Cottage in Sweden...

Within 2 hours, we travelled on a train, ferry, bus and minivan from Copenhagen, Denmark to Hoganas, Sweden and arrived at Tristram and Camilla’s adorable cottage. While the outside is original construction from 1840, the inside and the thatched roof was completely renovated in 2006. I was amazed and honored that these virtual strangers, who started hashing with the Dutch Treat Family Hash in March, opened up their home to us for 3 days. The girls had fun playing with 4-year-old Beatrix and 7-year-old Freya and I was thrilled that they all got along very well. Mostly they played inside, but they enjoyed getting a little muddy when they designed an obstacle course in the backyard “borrowing” construction materials from next door.

A Great Last Day in Sweden...

On our final day in Gothenburg, we went to the Maritiman Museum, which is the world's largest floating museum. Jimmy loved showing us around a Swedish Destroyer, which was similar to the one he served on during Desert Storm. This photo shows us in a 1962 Swedish sub which we had to climb down a hatch to enter.

That evening we headed out of the city by taking the tram near our hotel to the end of the line for a family dinner by the sea. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera to catch a photo of our best night of the trip. After a delicious seaside dinner, the girls got to go crabbing with some local kids while we watched the sun slowly set over the bay. A great ending to a great day.

Never Been on a Boat Ride Like That...

After 5 days in Stockholm, we took a train to the west coast to Gothenburg for 2 nights. We took one of the traditional open-topped paddan boat trips through 17th century canals in downtown and into the harbor. It was cool seeing a freighter in dry dock, but it was especially cool when we went under the "Cheese Slicer" bridge. When the guide told us to duck, she wasn't kidding.

Love that View!

Stockholm's skyline is beautiful, so we tried to find spots to dine with a view. We found this vegetarian buffet restaurant by accident when the girls needed an emergency potty break after a sushi picnic. They enjoyed eating corn-on-the-cob which is hard to find in Holland, but they especially loved playing on the hammocks. We liked the food and the view so much, we went back by ourselves to celebrate our 13th anniversary as shown here.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Wetsuits...

We managed to escape the hustle of the big city by taking a ferry to Vaxholm, just one of the 24,000 archipelago islands, islets and rocks off of Stockholm (guessing this one is too small to count). Jimmy promised to take the kids swimming; they didn't care that the water was chilly.

We're really fortunate to have such good friends to be able to travel with. The kids get along and behave so well that we actually got them their own room for 4 nights in Stockholm that was down the hall. What a treat! And we weren't even banned from ever going back to the hotel.

A Truly Amazing Museum...

We had heard that the Vasa Museum was impressive, but frankly that's an understatement (and this photo doesn't do it justice). It's shocking when you first see this enormous warship built in 1628 as part of a fleet to battle Poland. It's especially shocking when you realize that it sunk in the harbor just 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage killing at least 30 onboard and sat under 90 feet of water for 333 years. We were surprised to hear that the canons were recovered back in 1669 when divers went down using a diving bell, but then the ship was forgotten about for almost 300 years. As the largest object ever preserved, it was a huge jigsaw puzzle to put back together. If you ever make it to Sweden, seeing the Vasa is a must.