Category Europe
Today we have taken things easy compared to the other days and focused on a single tourist site, Siena. It is a larger city than all the other places we visited and there were a lot more tourists. It has several well know places to visit like the Cathedral, The Palio horse races on the Piazza del Campo and the hospital Santa Maria della Scala. We strolled around there for several hours and though we didn’t go in to all of them (the tickets for the cathedral, for example, were unreasonably expensive), we saw most of them from the outside.… Read the rest
During most of my business trips my parents and I don’t bother to see each other but this time, since my wife joined, they couldn’t resist. So on Tuesday Yini and I took the train north from Napoli to a small town called Chiusi Chianciano Terme in Toscana where my parents picked us up in their rental car. The hotel is in another town not too far away from Chiusi but there are several picturesque little towns in the area so we stopped by a place called Pienza and strolled around there for an hour or so before going to … Read the rest
Except for Pompeii, one of the most famous places in the area around Napoli is the Amalfi coast. It is basically a coastal road connecting a number of small towns and villages along the south side of the Sorrento peninsula. Since the road was bound to be small, Yini and I decided to rent a scooter – or more precisely a Vespa – and ride from Salerno out to Sorrent then all the way back to Napoli.
I set out in the morning to go collect the scooter from the rental shop, and after picking up Yini back at the … Read the rest
I thought I might get some more chances to post but me and my colleagues have kept busy in the evenings with dinners with our customers and such, so there hasn’t really been much worth posting about. Most of the time business trips end when the work is over but because this is Italy me and some of my colleagues decided to stay some days extra. I’ve also promised my wife to take her to Pompeii and this was a good opportunity.
Renegade wife arrived already on Friday evening and joined us for dinner. Yesterday our little group dispersed, one … Read the rest
The company I work for has sold a machine to a customer in Milano and I and three of my colleagues have gone there to install it. We landed around noon on Sunday, and after picking up our bags and getting to the hotel, we had a few hours to see the city. We spent them in the vicinity of the city’s main tourist attraction, Duomo di Milano, or Milan Cathedral. The cathedral is very easy to reach, just take the subway to the Duomo station. The Piazza in front was full of tourists milling about, taking photos and such, … Read the rest
Sunday was our very last day in Sweden but because we had several hours before our plane left we decided to make one last excursion in Stockholm. To make the most of it we left the hotel a bit earlier than normal and took the tram to Stockholm’s big outdoor museum Skansen.
We spent the morning and early afternoon walking around among the various old houses, farms and churches. There is even a small zoo with a few moose, seals, and Yinis favourite, brown bears.
Old house with thatched roof 
This old cart is pretty cool 
Yini’s parents posing in
Saturday was our last whole day in Sweden, so we planned to go to the archipelago. Our goal was to use the Hop On Hop Off bus to get to the pier where we could take the boat, but after waiting at the bus stop for a good thirty five minutes we found out the buses weren’t running properly, so we changed to the metro instead. When we got to the pier there was already a long queue so the boat got pretty crowded but still not too bad. We had a pleasant enough journey out to Vaxholm, the most … Read the rest
On Friday we took the Hop On Hop Off tour bus, hoping to see the city in leisure. This turned out to be a bit of a failure because the bus was exceedingly full. None the less, we got to old town around mid morning, and spent the rest of the morning walking around old town. Perhaps a bit too much walking for Yini’s dad but otherwise nice.
Random street in old town 
Another street view 
One of the churches 
Another church 
Old town central square
We also made a visit to the royal palace, I’ve never been inside before, … Read the rest
Thursday morning was spent preparing for our departure at a leisurely pace. We also rowed out to the little island nearby, and as we were landing I told Yini to take the bow line and jump ashore. From where I was sitting I didn’t see how far it was but apparently it was too far because poor Yini lost her balance trying to get over and fell in the water. Luckily neither her camera or her phone were damaged.
After lunch we packed up the last things, got in the car and drove to Västerås. There we split up, my … Read the rest
On Wednesday we didn’t make any longer excursions. Instead we stayed at the cottage making a few shorter outings in the nearby area. In the morning, Yini, her parents, my mother and I went out in the forest picking mushrooms. Despite the recent dry weather we found quite a lot. Yini and her parents really enjoyed it.
Cleaning the mushrooms
After lunch the Yini and I joined my brother to row across the lake to the golf course. We anchored the boat then got in the water and went snorkeling for golf balls. It … Read the rest