Tagged: holidaze

15
Sep
2022

BORNHOLM DAYS

There’s something really special about being reunited with family that you love. After a long absence like the one caused by the pandemic, it’s even more special. We drove to Ystad on September 20, with Martin and Karin, and took the ferry over to Bornholm. After arriving in Rønne, we ate lunch in the main square, walked around a little bit, and then headed north to the campgrounds just outside of Allinge which was to be our home for the week. John had arranged the cabins months in advance, and we had two of them: one for 4 people which...

25
Jun
2022

SUMMER APPARENTLY TURNS ME UPSIDE DOWN

Geez louise, my last post was in MAY. How do I manage to go this long without writing when my intentions have paved the way to hell and back, they’re so good. Part of the issue is my ongoing, renewed struggle with the pinched nerve in my neck, which began again with a vengeance about a month ago. Just sitting at the computer causes it to pinch, which causes my entire right arm to go tingly and numb all the way down to my fingertrips. It pinches when I tilt my head back, even just slightly. 🙁 GAH. Last time...

29
May
2022

THE SITCH

It’s the last day of a 4-day weekend and Mors Dag here in Sweden. We had Thursday and Friday off for Ascension day and a bridge day, and it’s been a relatively quiet, very relaxing weekend for the most part…except for some major bummer stuff that happened on Friday. On Thursday, Karin came over with Brumma and we hung out on the deck in the sunshine and watched the birds. The weather all weekend has been very changeable with a little bit of everything, including a triple rainbow over Flyinge. We get double rainbows quite often but I think this...

16
May
2022

ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE FINAL FIFTH

No rain at all for our last full day in Rome: 26C and sunny. We headed out and walked down the Via Nazionale to the beautiful Palazzo delle Esposizione where they were holding an exhibition of the world press photo of the year plus installations on many of the contenders and past winners. Sobering and disturbing to see and read about as so many of them showed the terrible violence that man inflicts on himself and his environment. Afterwards, we walked to the Metro and took the subway to the end of the gardens of the Villa Borghese, a huge...

15
May
2022

ROMAN HOLIDAY, PART 4

A big day and a big attraction: the Vatican! We were up at 8, breakfasted by 9 and it was another gorgeous sunny day. We took the Metro almost all the way to the Vatican and then stood in several lines: for entrance, for security, to exchange our vouchers for tickets, to pick up audio guides. We got in just after 11, which was almost an hour earlier than our scheduled prebooked time at 12. And we needed every minute of it. The Vatican museums are VAST and there is so much to see that you could literally spend days...

14
May
2022

ROMAN HOLIDAY, PART THREE

On Saturday, we went to the Pantheon, after a later wake up time and breakfast at 9 (as if we were on vacation, haha!). We had tickets for a guided tour at 11 and decided to walk (36 minutes) as the forecast said rain at 11, continuing all day. Instead, the sun came out and the forecast kept moving the rain back all day. We got there early and sat on the steps of the fountain across from the entrance for a bit before going in. Tickets for entrance were already sold out for the day, so we were very...

13
May
2022

ROMAN HOLIDAY, SECOND PART

We got up early on Friday morning, had breakfast, and then walked over to the main train station a few blocks away to pick up our rental car from Sixt. Anders has driven many times in Italian traffic (they are all apparently insane), so he was confident about handling the driving part, thank goodness, as I would never have been able to manage. We had a Jeep Wrangler, and we couldn’t get the GPS to work so we had to use Anders’ phone instead. Found out later that day that we couldn’t just put “Pompeii” but that we had to...

12
May
2022

ROMAN HOLIDAY, PART THE FIRST

We left for Rome on Wednesday, May 4, getting up at 4:30 am in order to drive to Copenhagen and make our 7:30 flight…nowadays the airport recommends 2 hours early for all flights, not just international ones. We didn’t have to wear facemasks on the plane but they were required in the Rome airport after we arrived. Living in a country that has basically ignored mask mandates completely, it was a bit of an adjustment for us (for me, anyway). EVERYONE in Italy wears masks…if they’re not wearing them, they have them quickly available. If they’re not wearing them at...

01
May
2022

MAY THE MAY BE WITH YOU

Yesterday, we celebrated Walpurgis Eve (Valborgsmässoafton). We’ve been celebrating it nearly all our years in Sweden at the home of Mats and Annelott about 45 minutes north of us. Mats builds a bonfire on the hill above their house in a stone-lined firepit, and we grill hotdogs and hamburgers and then sit around the fire and catch up and chat with a group of people that we mostly only ever see the evening of April 30, since they are more Mats & Annelott’s friends than ours. Last night, Mats’ brother Mikael and his wife Lene were also there, and they...

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