JONKOPING
We had booked into the Ibis Hotel, Jonkoping, about 5 hours drive from Heby where we have been staying. Jonkoping is at the Southern end of a huge lake (Vattern) in Central Sweden.
There is a lot of new housing near the hotel.
Some more.
and more under construction. This place seems to be on the up and up.
The big lake.
The old town and harbour with many restaurants on the water front.
Looks like a brewery right on the street.
Our hotel. Did us well. Small, comfortable, modern room and very good breakfast.
Cathy's cousin David Neil who lives in Lund near Malmo in Southern Sweden with his Swedish wife Weronica and a large Afghan hound dog. We haven't seen David for 38 years and we had a lot of fun catching up with both of them. Weronica had prepared a great meal.
Lund Cathedral (High Lutheran).
Vaults.
Astronomical clock.
The shipyards at Hamburg, Germany.
The Traffic jam! We were virtually stationary on the Autobahn for three hours barely 1 km from an off ramp to Bremen.
We finally got off and found a room at the Ibis Hotel in central Bremen.
It gave us the opportunity to discover Bremen, a place we would never normally have gone to. It was well worth the visit.
Next day we made our way to Naarden near Amsterdam Holland where Jan, our daughter-in-law Liz's father lives.
Jan's street.
The Cathedral was holding an exhibition of Press photography. Very interesting and quite a lot of it confronting. Here is Jan with Cathy.
Naarden is a fortified town with a moat around it and much history. The city walls are called "The Vesting"
We took a boat trip around the canal. The guide left it to Jan to interpret for us but spoke so fast he couldn't keep pace. He spoke non stop but all we could see were walls, water and the odd duck! But that didn't take anything away from the experience which was restful and cruisey.
The trees along the canal and in the courtyard of "The Arsenal" were planted by our son Glenn 20 years ago and are thriving.
Jans house. Luckily Heather, Liz's sister and Jaqueline were free that night and we all went to an Italian restaurant nearby where we had an excellent meal. Afterwards Jaqueline took us on a guided tour of the Vesting and filled us in on a lot of History,
Our Etihad plane waiting at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
Abu Dhabi airport, home of Etihad airways in the UAE.
Leaving Abu Dhabi.
Sunrise over Sydney Australia.
The driveway has been surfaced, hooray! The contractor doing the work advised us that the substrate be dry before it could be topped. That was in November and only recently were they able to finish it which shows how much rain we have had in the past six months.
Spring wildflowers are out.
and citrus fruit ready for picking.
A view of The Blue Mountains from the back of Andrews place across the road.
YERP! Where we have been.
