Day 1 - Monday : games in the park
We had Monday morning for a lie in and a chance to recover from the previous day's journey and then met together at the park in the centre of Norrköping. It was a lovely sunny day and we played volleyball (sort of - we were all quite useless at it!) and them miniature golf. This was great fun and took most of the afternoon (with an ice-cream break thrown in, of course.)

In the evening the girls spent time with their hosts and watched the fireworks (this week a competition was being held in Norrköping to find the best fireworks display in Sweden!) and the leaders went on an "Elk Safari" - a drive out into the forest to see if we could spot any wild elks. Just as the last light was fading we rounded a corner and there it was, by the roadside : an elk! It was HUGE and we were thrilled to see her : she just stood there and looked us over, them melted quietly back into the forest. A very satisfactory night all round.

Day 2 - Tuesday : canoeing on Lake Glottern
It rained overnight so we all turned up at the bus stop with waterproofs on; it was still raining when we got into our canoes (three to a canoe, two paddling and one in the middle) and set off down the lake. However, it soon stopped raining and gradually the weather improved and became hot and sunny.
The lake was absolutely beautiful - flat calm, surrounded by forests, and incredibly peaceful. We had a picnic lunch by the lakeside and spent some time swimming before getting back into our canoes and paddling on further, stopping again at a spot where the water was so deep and the rocks so sheer we could climb up and jump into the lake over and over again before eventually making our way back.

The evening was once again different for the girls and the leaders : the girls spent their evening with their hosts while the leaders had been invited to a traditional Swedish Midsummer Banquet! This was a wonderful occasion - all the Swedish Scouters plus three English Guiders and a stray Austrian (who spoke only German....) The food was traditional Swedish (August is the start of the crayfish season so it's used an excuse for a party) - raw herring with a sour cream and chive dressing, served with new potatoes and salad, followed by "Janssen's Temptation" - grated potatoes and onions cooked in cream - with anchovies! - and finally a huge platter of crayfish. These proved to be very hard work to get into - quite delicious, but we thought they were barely worth the effort. It was a wonderful social event, which culminated in a ladies against gents Kubb game on the lawn (the men won, but we think the mysterious Austrian was the Kubb World Champion, in spite of his insistence that he'd never even seen the game before!)

Day 3 - Wednesday : Stockholm
An early start from the bus station nearly ended before it started - one of the Swedish scouts' parents forgot to pick up one of our Guides! Luckily she made it just in time and the journey was otherwise uneventful.
Once in Stockholm we took a tour on an open-top bus to see all the sights, then after lunch (in McDonalds) the party split into two - most wanted to go to the funfair (a real one this time) while two wanted to visit the Nordic Museum. As these were virtually next door to each other it was easy to arrange, and both parties spent a happy afternoon. We joined up again and travelled across Stockholm by boat to catch the bus.
Hurrying to catch the bus, we were slowed down by a very odd and amusing incident : Swedish TV suddenly appeared and insisted on trying to interview Dianne and Gill, first in Swedish and then in English, and we only just managed to get to the bus on time!

Day 5 - Thursday : Kolmården Zoo
Kolmården Zoo is the largest zoo in Scandinavia and is just outside Norrköping, so it was an obvious place for us to visit. We went off in separate groups, some took a ride on the cable car to begin with, and there were tigers and polar bears, rhinoceros and elephants, chimpanzees and gorillas, and every other kind of zoo animal you could think of, and NONE of them in cages. We met up again to see the dolphin show (almost stolen by the baby dolphin which kept "doing its own thing" just in front of us) and then for a ride on the Safari Bus, through the safari park part of the zoo, to see lions, zebras, antelope - and elk!

In the evening all three groups (East Yorkshire Guides, Matteus Scoutkår and the Skoldkåren group) met for a farewell get-together. We made tooled leather souvenirs which everyone signed.

Day 6 - Friday : shopping in Norrköping
Our last chance for souvenir shopping, and since it was Norrköping's market day, a good day to do it!

In the evening the group split again, the girls all getting together with the Matteus Scouts for a final farewell and the leaders going to Maria's family summer house out in the country - a lovely traditional Swedish house set in idyllic surroundings. Afterwards we watched the final entries for the fireworks competition - they were all very spectacular so we're glad we didn't have to choose a winner! (The winner was announced on Saturday and got to do a final display, but by that time we were home.)

Day 7 - Saturday : homeward bound
Compared with our journey to Sweden, our return journey went like clockwork. We took off from Stockholm in pouring rain but soon broke through into sunshine as the clouds were very low. The food on the flight from Stockholm to Amsterdam was very Swedish - it included raw herring with sour cream and dill, much to the girls' disgust, as well as cheese and ham with crispbread and salad - and then we changed planes at Schipol for Humberside. Gill asked if we could visit the cockpit and they said we could, three at a time, which effectively took the whole journey. The clouds cleared as we crossed the Humber and we had a panoramic view of the village of Paull, down river to the Humber Bridge, and across Lincolnshire to our final approach to Humberside Airport. The pilot made sure of our landing - he thumped the plane down onto the runway - and we were soon on our way to our own homes (no missing luggage this time!)