Thursday 31 May - took the train to Uppsala, 1 hour north of Stockholm. It is a University city and has the largest Cathedral in Sweden. Today was cold, wet and windy and only got up to 9 degrees.

Train trip

Uppsala was a pretty city.

Cathedral
It was built in the 11th century and was different to other cathedrals that we have seen. It was completely painted inside with murals depicting various scenes from the bible.

Morgan at the front door of the cathedral.

Gustavian museum
It is a part of the University and was opened in the 17th century.

The dome on the building was over the anatomy lecture theatre.



Morgan standing on the very steep stairs to the anatomy lecture theatre. Students had to stand during the lectures.

Exhibits in the museum were dated back to 2300 BC.

Wednesday 30 May - flew from Frankfurt to Stockholm by Scandinavian Airlines. Morgan was at the airport to meet us and we took the fast train into the city. It went at 200kms/hr. The weather was cool at 16 degrees and windy.

We stayed at the Rici Hotel in the middle of the city centre. The room was very small and we had to pay $330 Australian per night and was a 4 star hotel compared to the $115 for the 5-star Westin Hotel in Frankfurt.

Atrium in the middle of the hotel

Harbour cruise - Stockholm is on 14 islands. We went under 15 bridges and through 2 locks. The cruise was very picturesque.

City Hall

At night we went to dinner with Morgan's host family at The Gondolen restaurant which had magnificent views of the city.

Wendy had reindeer steak and Tony had a small lobster.

Sun set at 10pm

Tuesday 29 May - sightseeing around Frankfurt on the hop on, hop off double decker bus. It was a beautiful day about 25 degrees.

Old Town
Market Square

City Hall

Other buildings in the old town

Beautiful roses on the streets

Trade Fair building

European Union sign in the park where the "Occupy" protest was occurring

We went to a Michelin star restaurant called the Tiger Palais. We had a four- course dinner and then a circus theatre show afterwards. It costs 95 Euro ($120 Australian) for both together. The meal was divine, the service exceptional and the show was great. The circus show was in a small theatre beside the restaurant and it held about 80 people. They had to move some of the audience on to the stage in order to do the trapeze and tight rope acts.

At the restaurant we sat in an alcove that had circus performers painted on the walls.

Heidelberg on Monday 28 May - old town and river cruise.

Old Town
Gate to the old bridge (for pedestrians and cyclists only)

Old bridge



City Hall



Statue of Madonna and child in Kornmarket (the old grain market) near City Hall. Part of the Heidelberg Castle can be seen in the background.

Cathedral

Hercules sculpture in Central Market Square

Man (and his dog) was driving a 1936 bugatti around the old town . The Japanese tourists loved having their photos taken with the car.

River cruise - on a solar-powered boat
On the far side of the river are large mansions  and behind them on the slopes were vineyards.

Solar panels on the roof of the boat

The old town



Funicular railway - 1/2 way up was the Heidelberg Castle. Restaurant right at the top.

Heidelberg Castle

A building that is part of the Heidelberg University. University buildings are scattered throughout the city area.


It was about 27 degrees and so everyone was out on the river in boats, canoes and paddleboats or having picnics and BBQs along the river bank.