Day 24: Tidying up

Örebro Slott with Cycle de Vie

Today was our last full day in Örebro, so Karina and I went for a pedal out to Karlslund.  We rode into the centre to take some photos of Karina in front of the Slott (castle) in her Cycle de Vie t-shirt for the shop in Townsville.  

Svartan

 We then followed Svartan (The Black river) out of town – riding against the flow so to speak – and also following the signposts, so we couldn’t go wrong.

Karlslund Manor

Karlslund is a lovely manor house on the outskirts of Örebro with extensive gardens, especially an kitchen garden, plus a range of artist’s studios.  But we were there too early for anything to be open.   The manor house is a restaurant and conference centre and a popular venue for weddings.  There is also a horse riding school and stables, so there is very much a horsey, British feel about the place.  I didn't get a very good photo there so check out - http://www.orebro.se/5997.html - if you would like to know more. 

One of the small cottages within the grounds

On our way home, we diverted into the bakery I couldn’t find before.  This bakery specialises in sourdough breads of all different flavours, plus a wide range of yummy pastries, so we spent some money there!

Karina with Zingo

We went out to say goodbye to Ciri & Kalle and were treated again – this time with the yummiest gingerbread-spiced cake! 

Ciri's Gingerbread-spiced cake

Karina is planning on baking cup cakes with this recipe – wish I was in Townsville.  Marianne & Elin brought little Zingo over to say goodbye also.  Yes, there’s no getting away from it, our holiday is drawing to an end.

Flying banner

The Queen looking for the cook's boy!

 Agnete dropped us off at the Slott at 2pm so that we could go on the English tour of the castle.  This tour was decidedly shorter than the Swedish tour I did last time, but was enlivened by a couple of drama students, one acting as the queen and the other one as the Chancellor.  The queen was pretty believable – ditzy and concerned with how much food to get for the banquet!!  The Slott is the home of the region’s governor and is not open for general roaming around.  However it is used by the locals as a conference venue and also for weddings – they were preparing things for the one that day.  The guide did give a good account of some of the history, but I was a bit was disappointed about the brevity of it.  

This castle is quite different the the fortress at Savonlinna, Finland.  Although originally built in a strategic position to keep those Danes out of Sweden, it was more a castle for royalty to stay when visiting this region, whilst in Savonlinna one could almost hear swords clashing and see Russian or Swedish bodies being tossed from the parapets (whilst the Finns watched on in the neighbouring villages!)

within the courtyard of the Slott

thick walls

boosting your Vitamin D

Karina and I then strolled back through Stadsparken, Wådköping and back past the gorilla to the apartment. 

Reflections in Svartan

Towards Stadsparken

sculpture

Daisy Daisy give me your answer do!

There's a gorilla in there!

Later we loaded the bikes onto Suzi and drove over to the garage to give them a thorough clean, so there would be no hold up going through Australian customs.  After blasting them with a high pressure hose, soaping and scrubbing and rinsing and drying with the air compressor they looked like totally new bikes ready for another adventure.

So back to the apartment to pack and cram our extra things into postal boxes to send back the easy way.   Anna and Curtis came over for a quick goodbye also.  It’s always a bit sad and depressing at this end of a holiday…