Sunday

Off to Cong and its ruined abbey today
 
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They are very proud of “The quiet man” being filmed here.




 
The little monk’s fishing house was fun
 
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Fish was a staple in the diet of the mediaeval monastery and this small building was used by the monks to make the task of catching fish a little easier.
 
It is built on a platform of stones over a small arch which allows water from the river to flow under the floor. A trapdoor in the floor may have been used for a net and monks could sit by the fire waiting for their catch. It is said that a line was connected from the fishing house to a bell in the monastery kitchen to let the cook know when fresh fish was available.

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This monk will never catch anything…
 
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Monday

Irish style lawn mowing
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Clifden bog walk
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Tuesday

Walk along the beach today
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Time for some Ragtime at teatime in a posh hotel
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Wednesday

Omey Island with tidal access, just follow the one-way signs
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Omey waves
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Omey ruin
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Thursday

The Nualas were loads of fun
 




Friday

Inishbofin today
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Saturday

Unfamiliar luxury
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One of Ireland’s famous but maybe not so favourite sons (Oscar Wilde).
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Pick your favourite
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As in the beginning…
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Where to?

Well it starts like this, The weather in Berlin looks good and the flight is to Rome.

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And we have to go on that, so it’s an island

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Elba – Napolean’s least favourite holiday spot

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Birthday flowers – Italian style

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First thing, first morning, first impressions

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Refreshing important Italian vocabulary

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Video Cavoli beach

Gerhild’s birthday




The birthday girl

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An exciting day

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You can spray that again!

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Spotty bargain from the market meets loopy lady

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After The storm

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Marciana and Monsters

Great view from Marciana to start and finish the walk

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One big step

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One small Gerhild

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Napolean Day

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Interesting Toad in the Hole Dish

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Street art in Portoferaio

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Mountain sunset near Marciana Marina

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Porcini

Really fresh – cough, cough

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Mmmmmmmmm

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Our trusty Cinquecento

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S. Ilario

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Capoliveri

Nice steel sculpture celebrating Elba’s past

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Walking Monte Calamita

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Capoliveri

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Siena

The view from our hotel bar in Siena

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Siena is in Tuscany

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Siena Cathedral is famous for its stripes

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And every (male) pope known at the time

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Siena 2

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Montepulciano

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Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Sweden

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Swedish national parks

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Look at individual pages


The exchange rate was about 10 SEK to 1€.

Thursday 7 fetch camper

Elk

14:00 Auto abholen – U Ruhleben

VerleihfirmaSpandau

Friday 8 May Ferry


Off to Rostock 232 km – 3 Std.

Onto the boat by 13:15 at the latest
Rostock – Trelleborg 13:45 Nils Holgersson
Arrives: 19:15

1 hour drive to Ystad

Warten

 

Waiting to board.

tt_line_nils_holgersson

Saturday 9 May Wanås Konst sculpture park

Wanås Konst sculpture park

Wanås, 289 90 Knislinge, Sweden
Super Seite – http://www.wanas.se

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Arch

Bunt

Tree

Red

Schaukeln

Zimmer

Alholmens Camping & Restaurang http://www.altholmens.se
Camping Card 150 SEK
Übernachtung 200 SEK

Abendbrot

G. zaubert etwas in der Miniküche!

Sunday 10 May Karlskrona

Today we had a look at Karlskrona. Sweden is closed on Sundays. I ate my first Köttbullar from the very meaty, low-veg. buffet in the Marinemuseum. Gerhild could only find some floury veggie burgers. All of the fish were out at sea, hiding.

Dentist
Just in case your Swedish doesn’t include the word for dentist…

Head
Karlskrona

Klintemala
Klintemåla – just outside the village.

Klintemala_harbour

Monday 11 May Skurgata

Klintemala
Whether it was the cuckoo or Gerhild, we woke up at 4:30 this morning.

Dog
Easy-care log dog on the way to Skurgata.

Skurgata_1
Skurgata gorge – web site

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Gerhild leaping logs

Graenna
Right next to the beach at Gränna – Grännastrandens Camping 240 SEK

Cooking
Delicious spaghetti dish with pesto and paprika.

Tuesday 12 May Trosa

Rune_stone
Sweden’s first poem in rune script.

Restaurant
2x Dagens Lunch – fruit flavoured drink, fried fish, mashed potato, salad buffet, coffee, biscuit for just 178 SEK, delicious! Restaurant Vätternskutan in Vadstena.

Town_hall
Trosa’s old town hall

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Half of Sweden is painted this colour.

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Phonebox
Swedish phone box full of free Swedish books (and Gerhild) right outside the library.

Wednesday 13 May Trosa – Stockholm


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Breakfast

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Somewhere to put your tea

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Free parking in Trosa Harbour.

Wikipedia says – Today Trosa is one of the top four wealthiest communities in Sweden (32% of the population earns more than 1,5 million SEK a year.) Many famous people have summerhouses in or close to Trosa, for example the well-known chef, hunter and actor Per Morberg as well as Tommy Körberg, the Swedish Royal Family, Mikael Persbrandt, ABBAs Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.





After checking in to Bredäng Camping – First stop in Stockholm – the fantastic Fotografiska Museum

Foto_Austellung
Vee Speers

GB. England. Weymouth. 2000.
GB. England. Weymouth. 2000. Martin Parr on the subject of Englishness – or what is it? This is what we came up with at 5:30 this morning.

Saying sorry when someone steps on your foot. Nostalgia for the days of empire. Having no interest in languages other than English. Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, William Brown, Doctor Who, Mr. Bean, Basil Fawlty, Monty Python. Class consciousness. Land of hope and glory. Eccentricity. Self effacing. A certain tolerance. Mustn’t grumble. Put on a good act. Beating around the bush. Miles. Pounds, shilling and pence. Driving on the left. Glorious isolation. Fish & chips, steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, chicken tikka masala, brown ale. The Daily Mirror, The Beano, The King James Bible. George Formby. Fish paste sandwiches. Tidy queues at bus stop.

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Johan Strindberg

Thursday 14 May Stockholm Moderna Museet

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Stockholm’s sky this morning.

First we did a boat trip around Djurgården,

Maman
At Moderna Museet there was an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois. Wait until you see Gerhild’s new Bourgeois earrings!

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T-Station
No, not part of the art exhibition, this is Kungsträdgården suburban train station. It looks like the trolls helped to build this one.

Manhole
This troll has just finished work for the day.

Friday 15 May Stockholm Vasa Rut

Retro_2
Today was an antiquities day, starting with some clothes. There are so many vintage/second hand shops that Gerhild was suffering from sensory overload.

Vasa
Then antique ships when we had a peek  at the amazing Vasa

Reunion
Antiquities? No way! Reunion with Rut after forty years, in the Panorama bar on top of the Kulturhuset

Saetrakogens_nature
The Bredäng camp site is right next to the beautiful Sätraskogens nature reserve (more photos on Flickr)

Oyster
Look what Rut found for us in the forest – Oyster Mushrooms

Saturday 16 May Stockholm Millesgården

Bredaeng_Camping
The camp site is pretty full at the moment, but still quiet and peaceful.

millesgarden
A sunny Saturday is just right for the magnificent Millesgården (web site). What a place!

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Millesgarden_3

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Petrus Bakeri (Tripadvisor link) for good bread, small cakes and a cup of tea.

Sunday 17 May Stockholm


Rain

Sunday was a treble rain day. We couldn’t get into the Stadhuset to see the room where the Nobel prizes are awarded. Here’s a nice dry picture of the inner courtyard instead.

Cityhallplanet
“Cityhallplanet” by Linkahwai from Wikipedia.

Nobel_Prize
A dynamite Nobel prize.

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What’s that?

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Dog design!

Monday 18 May Gripsholm Castle

Gripsholm
Gripsholm Castle

KandGinWindow
Window seat in the castle

Konst på Hog (web site, Google translated Wikipedia page)
Church
How to improve your full rubbish tip

Bench
These Swedes weren’t very talkative

CampSite_18_May
Beautiful place to park (free) next to a lake.

Wine
Don’t think that our wine reserves will last …

Tuesday 19 May Läckö Slott

Picasso
A 15 m Picasso sculpture in Sweden.

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Our Läckö Slott camp site web site

Getting_dark
Night falls ever so quietly