The Family Came to Visit!

Family picture in Stockholm (not our first destination, but I figured it would be appropriate to start with the family photo :o)

Destination 1: Visby, Sweden. Visby is a medieval town on the island of Gotland located just of the Eastern coast of Sweden.

Our street.

Lots of red roofs!

One of many ruins in the sunset.

Destionation 2: Stockholm, Sweden. Changing of the guard at the Palace.

Experiencing the narrowest street in Old Town!

Nice view form Gamla Stan at sunset.

Destination 3: Oslo, Norway. (I was there for only 1 night, so you will have to ask the others to fill you in!)

Flåm railway through the Fjord region in Western Norway.

So much water everywhere! May is thought of as the best time to visit this region because of all of the water flowing down from the tops of the mountains. It was BEAUTIFUL!

The town of Flåm.

On the boat going through the Sonjefjord. Amazing. So amazing.

Approaching Bergen after a 5 hour boat ride through the Fjords!

Destination 4: Bergen, Norway.

May 17 is National Day, and we were there to experience it! This is at the parade...

Maybe one of the cutest scenes EVER. :o)

Bergen at sunset. This place is gorgeous!!! We loved it there.

Brother!

Destination 5: Karlstad, Sweden. Enjoying Fika with my friends in Stora Torget.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Walking around Karlstad at sunset...this is around 10:00 or so...

Tulips at Karlstad's annual Tulip festival!

Hej hej everyone!!!

Well, it now has been about two weeks since I have last written, but I have a good excuse...my family was here! Two Fridays ago, I met my slightly jet-lagged family in Stockholm's Central Station, and for the past two weeks we have been traveling through both Sweden an Norway! The places we visited (in order of the trip) were Visby, Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen, and finally good 'ole Karlstad. This afternoon they caught a train to Stockholm, and are flying out tomorrow morning.

It was so good to spend time with my family. I was just telling a freind that it was kind of strange in a way, because seeing them made me more homesick than I had been in the entire semester--even though they were with me. Ha. Talk about ironic! It was not bad by any means, I just had the feeling that I would be ready to go home in a few weeks, whereas before, I would practically tear up every time I thought about leaving.

So in the end, they came at a perfect time. Not only was it perfect for them to experience Sweden's beautiful "almost summer" weather :o), but the timing worked out great for me too. I now know that I will be happy to go home in a few weeks, but will also be sure to soak up every last minute of my time here.

I could go into detail about what we did in each city, but instead, I will let the pictures do the talking, and then we can all fill you in with the rest in person! I hope everyone is well, as always.

Until next time (don't worry, there will still be a couple more!)

Lauren