Holiday in Sweden 2015 - Jan-Eric Osterlund

The south side of Marstrand en evening in August.
In between the rocks a little grass and small floweres are shooting up.
But in general not much can grow on the skerries. This is southwest Marstrand in evening light.
We had morning coffee (although I was the only one having coffee) at Berg's konditori on Jen's birthday.
And we celebrated the evening at Lyktan. Mia, Emil's brother Hampus, Jennifer and Jan Cederberg, Mia's father.
Emil and Mia with the entrance to Marstrand harbour behind them. The town of Marstrand is in the background and on the top of the islans the fortress of Carlsten is guarding the port on every side.
Jennifer on her birthday
Bengt and Eva preparing lunch at Stranderang. We had Gaspacho soup to start with.
In the afternoon we had time for a game that Eva's brother had made himself. Two teams, the ladies and the gentleman were competing against each other.
I hate to admit it, but the ladies were more successful!
Consequently Anders looks very woesome after the gentlemen lost to the other sex.
Dinner in the evening. Birgitta Lind, Anders Vedin, Jennifer, Eric, Mikee, Eva Gustavsson and Asa Vedin. Lars Lind, Bengt Gustavsson and I are behind the camera lens.
The children withdrew to the inside of the house with their iPads and games.
Two days later we got visitors to Marstrand. Birgitta Lind, Christina Wieselgren, Jennifer, Eric, Mikee, Sigge Sigurdsson and Lars Lind at the veranda outside Villa Maritime.
At a walk around Marstrand. Birgitta, Lars, Christina, Sigge and Jennifer.
At the dinner in the evening, Eric and Mikee got a separate table in a corner. At Mäster Johan
The harbour of Arild in south Sweden a couple of days later.
Typoical houses in the south of Sweden.
Most of the houses have thatched roofs and are built with a wooden frame and with cob (stone and mud) covered with lime in between.
Looking east towards Arild at sunset.
At Tivoli (Copenhagen) the next day. Eric was a little bit cautious and Jennifer and I are outright scared to go on one of those hilarious rides, but Mikee loves it!
Here she is preparing to go up a big tower and then drop back down in free fall. At least she pretends to be happy...
She starts to rise.
Here they are already coming close to the top.
And at the very top ready to fall down. Mikee is where the arrow is pointing.
But after coming down, she is still smiling! See the red circle at the bottom left.
The next thing she wanted to ride was this contraption with two funny airplanes attached. They turned in every direction as they moved very fast.
Mikee's face can be seen inside the red ring at the top left. She has turned around and been completely upside down, but is on her way back.
And here another turn and she is totaly upside down now! Mikee is again inside the red ring at the top left.
And here we can see her a little bit closer.
Mikee tried her balance on the drum, but fell soon off.
Karin and Julia with candy floss.
And Eric and Mikee got candy floss too.
But it wasn't easy to eat.
Julia, Karin, Ivonne and Tore Robertson with Mikee and Eric.
The Robertson Family.
And Eric and Mikee again. It wasn't because of the candy floss that Eric had lost a couple of teeth!
We went with the Rabbe family in the archipelago south of Gothenburg. They live at Särö.
In Särö.
Eric, Jennifer, Rasmus, Maja, Linnea, Mikee, Jenny and Anders.
We stopped at the restaurant in Särö to get coffee and cinnamon buns. Everything is in great style with the Rabbes, and we love cinnamon buns.
Approaching a tiny island. The sea was incredibly calm with a very beautiful light.
Seals near Särö. The seals love the small skerries that hardly appear above the water line.
Everyone ashore (except Jennifer and Eric, who stayed in the dinghy).
Mikee admiring the view on the flat skerries. The skerries are very tempting to lie down on. They are warm after a sunny day and very smooth, having been polished by heavy ice during the last ice age.
Budkärr. The beautiful sky is reflected in the calm sea.
In the evening the Rabbes invited us for a BBQ. Eric and Rasmus are playing computer games. They have connected their units to each other.
Maja helping preparing dinner. Linnea is in the background.
Eric is admiring Rasmus, who is two years older.

The south side of Marstrand en evening in August

In between the rocks a little grass and small floweres are shooting up.

I haate to admit it but the ladies were more successful!

Consequently Anders looks very woesome after having lost to the other sex.

The children withdrew to the inside of the house with their iPads and games

At a walk around Marstrand. Birgitta, lars, Christina, Sigge and Jennifer.

At the dinner in the evening, Eric and Mikee got a separate table in a corner.

The harbour of Arild in south Sweden a couple of days later.

Here she is preparing to go up a big tower and then fall back down.

Here they are already coming close to the top.

And at the very top ready to fall down. Mikee is where the arrow is pointing.

But after coming down, she is still smiling!

And here another turn and she is totaly upside down now!

And here we can see her a little bit closer.

Mikee tried her balance on the drum, but fell soon off.

And Eric and Mikee got the candy floss too.

Julia, Karin, Ivonne, Tore, Mikee and Eric.

Eric, Jennifer, Rasmus, Maja, Linnea, Mikee, Jenny and Anders.

Eric is admiring Rasmus, who is two years older.

For two weeks during the holiday period we went to the West Coast of Sweden. That has become a tradition that we fulfil most years. We spent one week staying on Marstrand. This year we had a furnished apartment at Villa Maritime. It contained its own kitchen and family room as well as two bedrooms and works well for a young family, where the kids need some space. It is great to be able to prepare a meal at home too.

Not that we did prepare many meals at home in the end. We were invited out so many days that it felt like going from one party to another. But I had time for a little bit of photography as well. And it was the first with my new camera, the Canon EOS 5DsR

Just after we arrived at Marstrand, Jen had her birthday. And as we got married the same day, it was also our wedding anniversary. Ten years! See my blog, Wedding Anniversary. Emil and Mia Clase invited us to drinks at their place, Lyktan, at the entrance to Marstrand harbour. And afterwards we went to Tenan for a celebratory dinner.

Eva and Bengt Gustavsson (the inventor behind Modufolin®, the drug that Isofol has in clinical testing) invited us to their summer residence at Stranderäng further north near Nordens Ark. We saw all the animals at Nordens Ark, played games with several other friends as well and were given a sumptuous luncheon and dinner. What a day!

We had hardly time to relax until Sigge (godfather to Eric) and Christina arrived with Lasse and Bittan for a day at Marstrand. We had the lunch at the veranda at Villa Maritime and the dinner at Johan’s. And in between time for the obligatory walk around the island. It was so hot we had to search for the shadow, which isn’t something you have to do every day in Sweden.

After the week in Marstrand we drove south to Arild stopping in Falkenberg for a lunch at Åsa’s and Anders summer house. Arriving at Arild we had a walk around the very beautiful village, before a dinner with my old HemoCue partner, Sven-Erik Nilsson, and his wife Anna-Karin. Arild is a lovely village with thatched cottages build in the style of Skåne (in the very south of Sweden) and Denmark. Skåne once belonged to Denmark, but it is far too beautiful to be allowed to do that, so the Swedes had to take it over.

The next day we continued to Copenhagen in Denmark, where a visit to Tivoli (the famous amusement park in Copenhagen) awaited. We met up with my friend from high school, Tore Robertson and his family. In the evening we turned back to Sweden for the most Swedish of all meals at the home of Ivonne and Tore: Cray fish. Jen and I were impressed that their two children, Karin and Julia, were eating cray fish too. Eric and Mikee were not that adventurous.

Finally it was time for some business for me. We returned to Gothenburg for a couple of Isofol meetings, as Jennifer and the children strolled around the city. It was full of life, as Gothenburg had musical soirées everywhere on the streets and all citizens were out in the evening. We were lucky to get a table at one of my favourite restaurants, Kometen. They serve lots of traditional Swedish fare, like löjrom and herrings and Wallenbergare and to that I had to have a snaps.

But before that we had a visit to Särö, south of Gothenburg, where the Rabbe family has its home. We went out in their small and very fast dinghy to the small outlying islands. South of Gothenburg the archipelago becomes thinner and thinner until the islands totally disappear. Just outside we could see seals basking in the sun on the skerries and the light was very attractive, making the afternoon magical. And in the evening we had a BBQ at their home. Rasmus, their youngest son, entertained Eric, while Mikee disappeared with Maja and Linnea, their two girls.

And after Gothenburg and Särö it was time to fly back to England. Two very special weeks had come to an end.

When you watch this family album at the Tivoli, Mikee has a couple of pictures where she is really far away. I have put a little red ring around her, so that you can spot her, but it may be difficult to see on a small smartphone. But the other photos should be fine to watch on any medium.