Uppsala!

A highlight of our trip to Sweden was visiting some friends of ours who lived in India while we were there from 2007-2009. Erik, Anna, and their girls Ellen and Vera, took us around their beautiful town, Uppsala, and then loaned us some bikes to explore on our for a second day. 

Erik and Anna at a wonderful meal full of all sorts of delish Swedish specialties, outside their apartment on our first night:

Like seemingly everyone we saw, our friends rely heavily on bikes to get around.

Neighborhoods were composed of dense apartment buildings, bordering central park green spaces, and surrounded by lovely pastoral settings, all within a few minutes bike ride. This arrangement seemed like a city planner's dream come true.

Have I mentioned yet that we had some great food in Sweden?

The city's cathedral, built (if I remember correctly) to show up the Finns who had recently built a cathedral that was tall, but not as tall as this one:

The palace. Yep, Sweden still has monarchs (though apparently their genetic line is from France, rather than Sweden). The government decided in 1980 that girl children can inherit the throne.

The green pastry, made of marzipan, is called a vacuum cleaner in Swedish.

Tim and I biked 30km on our last day, thanks to the bike and map loan from our friends. At one point, we followed this river from the center of town south to Lake Malaren, where we jumped in, just to say we had.

Tim at our swimming hole.

Everyone was out enjoying spring.

This pic is from the Swedish-children's-lit-inspired play area at the airport.