From Lapland to Stockholm

This is the last part of the trip in Scandinavia. For the description of the first part of the trip see From Oslo to North Cape (Norway). 29 July 2008; Tuesday Rovaniemi (Finland) - Stockholm 1200 km; Temperature 19º, clear. We should set off for Stockholm straight away, considering the 1200 km between us, but the curiosity of a visit to Santa Claus Village is stronger than us, so we head north and here we are back at the village. Now all the facilities are open: the post office with plenty of letters from children all over the world, Santa's office, the rather gloomy path in the polar night and, dulcis in fundo, in the main office we find ourselves face to face with Santa Claus, which we really weren't expecting. We leave behind the childhood reminiscences and head for Stockholm. A long route between little lakes and pine woods.

We're skirting the Baltic Sea, the temperature has risen considerably, we're now around 20 degrees, Swedish kids are splashing in the sea. The most interesting stretch of the E4 is certainly the one between Örnsköldsvik and Sundsvall. Around 22:00 a fiery red sunset. We reach Stockholm around 23:00 and in the blink of an eye we find the Haga Kristineberg Hotel (850 SEK) that we'd booked via the Internet. 30 July 2008; Wednesday Stockholm - Sandefjord; 700 km; Temperature 24º, clear. The Haga Kristineberg hotel is a good option for a visit to Stockholm; it's in fact located 100 metres from the Kristineberg metro station, which in about 10 minutes takes you to the city's old town. Morning and early afternoon devoted to visiting Stockholm: the old town, the Skeppet, the royal palace, Riddarholmen, the city hall. Lunch in a little restaurant on Torget square, a magnificent reindeer fillet.

Around 16:00 we leave Stockholm with a good 28 degrees, to reach Oslo; we prefer to get as close as possible to Sandefjord airport. The last km on Swedish soil give us an encounter with a moose, at least after so many warning signs about crossing moose, at least one real one we saw. We arrive at Sandefjord around 24:00 and settle in for the night at the Motel (950 NOK) near the airport (4 km). 31 July 2008; Thursday Sandefjord - airport - Bergamo; 4 km; Temperature 22º, clear. A leisurely wake-up, breakfast and off to the airport for the flight to Bergamo