Friday, May 4, was our day to pick up a rental car and shift to a very different travel mode. Car trip, here we go!
The Stockholm airport is about 40km north of the city. That is one long taxi ride. All of the licensed cabs in Stockholm list the cost of a trip to the airport on the side of their cars. It’s either 495 SEK or 545 SEK ($62).
We picked up our spiffy new Volvo V40. For people who drive cars that are 13 and 16 years old, driving a car that still has its new car smell is quite heady. (Note to financial planner Bill: This may be what does the trick and gets us to finally buy a new car. We love this car!)
We had a few problems trying to get out of the airport area, but eventually got ourselves onto the right highway and headed south and west to Katrineholm. We had even more trouble getting through Katrineholm and finding our way to our inn.
This was to be our first stay in a historic Swedish country hotel. (We are planning to stay at a number of historic hotels on this trip.)
Dufweholms Herrgard is located on a lake, and its setting sounded just right for a little decompression from being on a ship with a lot of other folks for 3 weeks and a few days in a major city.
Almost as if they knew Jerry would be there, the inn has the largest collection of corkscrews we’ve ever seen. This is just one of four large cases we came across while we were there.
After getting situated, we headed out for a walk around the inn grounds and along the lake. Pretty spot. Wildflowers. Birdsong. Some very noisy ducks and geese.
Saturday was probably the prettiest day we have had on the whole trip. Cloudless skies, mild temps. We decided to drive about 25km north to Julita Gård, an open-air museum. Actually, it’s an old working country estate, which is now affiliated with the Nordic Museum in Stockholm. It sits on a Lake Oljaren and has 2200 hectares of land, dotted with cottages, a manor house, old stables, a church, myriad agricultural buildings, and some beautiful gardens.
We had a great time walking all over the grounds and simply enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. There were very few other people, so it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves.
When we got back to the inn, we had some tea and then spent what was left of the afternoon outside either along the lake or in the garden. A lovely, quiet dose of Swedish lakeside life.
The inn looks really peaceful. What a beautiful setting! Uh oh Bill, a new car is coming home with them!
Enjoy your road trip!
I just had an email from Costco saying they’re currently having a special on Volvos . Perhaps you should come home early and stop by the airport Costco!! Or maybe you’re on a “drive & buy” program – that would be one nice souvenir!
Enjoy exploring that beautiful looking countryside – hope there are many more blue sky days to come.
We’re enjoying your pictures and dialog! You’re good at that!
Hope all is still going well.