The Swedish summer has finally arrived. Just in time for everyone to have gotten back to work again. It sucks a little bit, but better late than never, I guess. My first week back at work was great. Not too many people, I had things to do and had a relaxing and quiet start. The weekend offered amazing weather and Mikael and I were invited to a cozy little house by the lake of Hjälmaren that his family had rented for the week.

Three and a half hour drive after getting up super early on Saturday, we arrived in Örebro where his grandma and grandpa’s widow had no idea we were coming or what we were doing that day. Surprises are fun. We spent three hours on a cute boat going around the canal of Örebro and then had lunch out on open water in Hjälmaren (is it called open water when the average depth is 1.5 meters?). It was hot! Sweat was inevitable but it didn’t matter. It was such a nice little trip. And I am so surprised about Örebro. What a nice city! The water, old architecture, the castle. I had no idea! And the lake, the water might not have been very nice, but what a beautiful lake with rocky shores and green trees right on the shores.

Swimming was the main attraction as soon as we could after the boat trip. There was a nice little pier out into the lake where we were staying. The water was muddy and I didn’t even let my feet down to touch the bottom, but I was told that you sunk knee deep if you stood up. Ugh. We also had a friendly snake swimming with us. Harmless, but nonetheless scary when it swam straight for us and cut us off from the ladder that would take us to safety.

It was such a lovely day. It was great meeting so many members of his family. His aunt and her husband with their dog had driven their camper up from Germany now that Sweden finally was open to visit for them, his mom and sister were there as well as was his grandma and the widow of his grandpa. Who are getting along really well. His family is interesting :). And very friendly and easy-going. I got lucky there as well.

His family from Germany slept in the camper, the rest occupied the whole (and very tiny century-old house) so we set up our tent right next to the water on the farmer’s property. He had sheep and hens but we still managed to sleep a good eight hours without being woken up. How? It was very cold during the night though. We were frozen, the one’s in the house had the opposite problem. Don’t know who had it worse, haha!

On our way home to Gothenburg the next day, we stopped at a limestone quarry, Kvinnersta Kalkbrott, to go for a swim. We visited it quickly after the boat tour but we didn’t dive in and saved it for Sunday. I thought the quarries up in Sala were cool. They are. But this one was so even, the edges very straight. The water was super clear and had a comfortable temperature. It was perfect. (Also as it was in Sala two summers ago)

It was a great weekend, I have savored every moment of it! ❤