Sporty Sweden

Svana Gard (Swan farm)

We've spent the last few days in amazing Sweden with our friend Mikael. 

We were lucky enough to be able to visit his parent's property, Svana Gard, which is right on the 12th largest lake in Sweden (there are thousands).

 Sunset on the lake at around 9:30pm.

It is such a pristine, scenic and peaceful place. Mel ran around with the puppy dog, we walked around, sat in the sun at the lake, and when we got a little more adventurous later in the afternoon jumped into the brisk water. 

For Dave it has been a boy's own paradise with Mikael. The boys played tennis (8 sets in 2 days), a friendly soccer match (our team won 7-4 with the Aussie ring-in scoring one!), ping pong and Kubb (an ace Swedish game). Mel also found a local gym and joined it for a couple of days, mincing her poor leg muscles through a number of intense classes. 

Mel and Dave went to visit a canal just outside the town on Linköping which completely bisects the country from left to right. 

We timed it so we could see a boat moving up about 15 metres or so through a series of 3 locks. Really cool (actually it was literally really cold that morning!). We also visited the chocolate factory in a nearby town and stocked up on weird Swedish chocolate (some Plopp anyone?). 

Last night topped off our sporting couple of days with a visit to the local bowling club to watch the Champions League final . Loads of fun - thanks Mikael for being the perfect host and such a good sport.