sommaren är här

Now time for a weather update. 

Summer is here. 

Summer in a photo.

Spending the evenings sitting outside with friends enjoying the sights and tastes of summer.

Clear blue skies

Warm weather

Long days

Cold Cider

Watermelon

Ice Cream

Swedes in the summer.

Soaking up the sun.

Cycling home at 12:30. The sky was still blue.

 Currently we are getting just under 18 hours of daylight here compared to Ithaca where they are receiving just under 15 hours. The sun is rising around 3:50 and setting around 9:45. Just how the darkness was disorienting, the long hours of daylight have been messing with my internal clock. The bright sunshine wakes me up most mornings around 4:30 and often as I am falling asleep at night the sky is still glowing blue. 

This past week has been full of clear blue sky's and sunshine. The highs have been in the low to mid 70's, once reaching 80 during the hours of peak sunlight, but boy does it feel hot! I don't think my body is use to this kind of heat. I have found myself over heating two or three times already and I will often wake up in the middle of the night  sweating even with my window wide open. Needless to say I am loving every minute of the warm weather and sunshine. I am finally returning to my normal shade, longer the ghostly white color I turned during the dark winter.

The Rest of Gotland

Sorry for the delay.

 Here are the rest of the photos from Gotland. 

On Friday we went on a bus tour for Gotland and then over to the small island of Fårö.

The shoreline.

Det är blåsigt!

We took a steep staircase down the jagged, rocky cliff.

Back up the stairs.

 We stopped at a small fishing village.

Colin.

Camouflage.

 Next stop on the tour was to see the Rauks, vertical rock protrusions formed when "part of a headland is eroded by hydraulic action, which is the force of the sea or water crashing against the rock. The force of the water weakens cracks in the headland, causing them to later collapse, forming free-standing stacks and even a small island."

 Many of them look like faces!

After playing on the rocks we paid our tribute to Ingmar Bergman. We visited his grave site and the small movie house where many of this films were premiered.

 The tour continued through the beautiful country side. 

Apparently there are tiny horses (1 meter tall) that live on Gotland. We spent much of the bus ride trying to spot these tiny horses along with gnomes, trolls and fairies. :)

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Saturday was our last day in Gotland. We had the whole day to spend on our own before the ferry departed at 4pm. Liv and I decided to go for a walk in the morning. We walked around the wall in the bright sunshine. We picnicked in the park, enjoyed an ice cream by the water, and then got on the ferry and headed back to Uppsala.

Visby Glass. Best soft serve ever!

This was such a nice trip. It was fun traveling with all (well nearly all) of the students on the CIEE program. It was really fun to travel with a large group of students, stay in a hotel together, and be treated to nice meals cultural/educational activities.

Foodie

CIEE treated us to a lovely dinner at a local restaurant.

Tuna and Salmon Tartar with Caviar and Avocado Crema

Perfectly Seared Trout with Leek Risotto and Greens.

"Strawberry Carpaccio" with Hazelnuts, Mint, Olive Oil, Salt and Chocolates. Looks nice but it did not taste too good :( The chocolates were the only tasty part.

CIEE also treated us to a lovely lunch when we were on a bus tour of the small island of Fårö.

This resturant was very cute, rustic, and very homey. It felt like we were in a Scandinavian family's dining room.

The kitchen

Quorn "chicken" Fillet with fresh and crisp spring veggies and a tomato sauce.

Bread!

Yum.

Aound Town

After our fika break we continued with our walking tour of Visby.

Ruins

Blue Door. (French Inspired?)

The city of Visby is encircled by a Medieval Defense Wall. The wall was constructed during the 13th century, the towers were added later in the 15th century. Of the 29 towers constructed, 27 still remain today.

Handstands by the Wall.

So Swedish.

Love.

Group shot.

There are sheep all over Gotland.

We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather the entire weekend. We continued our walking tour in the bright sunshine. We pasted many ruins and many churches.

After walking around the city we were given some free time to explore on our own before eating a delicious dinner. Check out my nest post for photos of what we ate :)