Sundsvall we have finally arrived!

We arrived at the Sundsvall train station an hour past when we would have if we were still on the train. Here we were greeted by Lena’s cousin Ingela, and her husband Lars. It was so good to see them again! After hugs and hellos, we drove to their beautiful home about 10 minutes away and got settled in, for this is where we would be spending the night. A few minutes later, Anneli, Lena’s other cousin, Ingela’s sister, arrived. We had lunch and got caught up on the past few years since we had seen them last. Of course we brought our wedding and honeymoon albums along to show them. A few hours later, the four of us, Anneli, Ingela, Lena and I, decided to take a drive and check out the scenery of this beautiful town.

We first drove to the top of one of two mountains that border Sundsvall. Here we found a hotel and ski lodge called Södra Berget. The view from up here was amazing looking out over the town and the Baltic Sea. There was a large wooden tower at the very top that was obviously used by skiers as a starting point to ski down the mountain. I thought of climbing up inside for a better view, but the girls were ready to go to the other side of town and to the top of the next mountain.

A short drive later, we found ourselves at the top of a mountain opposite of where we just were. Here there was a very nice lounge/restaurant with again a gorgeous view of Sundsvall and the surrounding area! You could clearly see the Hotel Södra Berget from here.

We took a nice quite walk down some paths through the woods along the side of the mountain until we found a nice spot to sit and have fika while looking out over the town. If you don’t know what fika is, it is what the Swedes call a coffee break. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fika ) Sometime between breakfast and lunch, and again between lunch and dinner, you take a break in your day and have coffee and cookies or small cakes. Ingela had packed a bag with all the necessary items needed for fika, a thermos of coffee and an assortment of cookies.

Again, the view from up here was amazing and I could have spent hours here soaking up the beauty of this place! After fika, Ingela, Lena and I decided to walk down the mountain and meet Anneli at a parking lot half way down. There were wooden stairs and walkways leading down through the woods and it was a very nice way to explore the mountain. I’m sure glad we didn’t walk up though!

Once we meet up with Anneli, we drove back to Ingela’s home to relax, drink a little wine and chat a bit more before dinner. After a great dinner, we had to say our goodbyes to Anneli. Though our visit with her was short, it was very nice seeing her again!

We spent the rest of our evening talking over a few more glasses of wine and relaxing. Not sure what was planned for tomorrow, but it didn’t matter to me, I was having a good time anyway!