The adventure will soon begin.

Armed with 100 kilos of luggage (Lin's travelling light this time), a camera and a crusty blogette, Billy Badger and the crew will soon be off to savour the delights of Scandinavia following in the footsteps of the infamous Viking King, Wopatoma.

The intrepid team will go where no man has gone before:

To Beau Beanie, in search of the Northern Lights and the Crusty Baguette.

Still smarting from being abandoned in 2012, the rabbit has assumed the alter ego of  Wopatoma, King of the Vikings , in the vain hope of making this trip; hence the tat that was purchased on eBay. The sword renders him a rather meaner adversary than previously and I'm going to leave explanations to Lin - she is very diplomatic! The alternative is just to do a runner again.

That's D for Denmark hopefully. Bags packed - three weeks away and everything crammed into two bags. Not bad. Just need to negotiate the M66 tomorrow and we'll be on our way.

Lin's broken the news to the rabbit and we're a bit concerned as he didn't attack us but instead has gone into deep melancholy. Playing the sympathy card.

So, next stop Copenhagen where the weather forecast is a very pleasant 24 degrees.

The end of a long day. Everything got packed (in 2 bags as well). I fear that could be an excuse for a major "bag investment" before long though. 

We had fun in the perfumery at Manchester Airport and a crisis or two over missing keys and misplaced boarding cards but we made it. I think we've just walked from one end of Copenhagen Airport to the other. EasyJet landed at one end and the bags appeared at the other.The rail journey into the city was great though and took about 15 minutes. The hotel is close to Central Station and just round the corner from the Tivoli Gardens. Checked in about 10.15 and have literally just unpacked and crashed out. Plenty of time for exploring tomorrow.

Kicked off with a wonderful buffet breakfast. Went round about three times before finally raising the white flag. 

Did the canal tour (it is amazing just how much water there is in Copenhagen) and then had a stroll round the city, taking in a few sites on the way. Then this afternoon we took ourselves off on the train further north to Helsinger (the Elsinore of Hamlet fame - the play not the cigar) to see Kronborg Castle.Got back to Copenhagen just before the rain, which is still hammering down. Enjoyed a Japanese meal (always like to enjoy the local cuisine when we're travelling ...). Seriously, we will try Danish tomorrow but just couldn't be bothered this evening. Bracing ourselves for another long day of sightseeing tomorrow, weather permitting. If all else fails and the weather doesn't relent then it's "culture" time - there are museums and art galleries everywhere. And...shoe shops, bag shops and clothes shops. Fortunately I don't think Lin noticed.

The weather wasn't great this morning but after three laps round the breakfast buffet we decided to jump the train west of Copenhagen for some Viking hunting. Seems the weather was more clement out there so we spent 3 hours at the open air museum in Lejre. We learned a lot about Danish history, culture, customs and crafts (see photos for more information). Back in Copenhagen we visited the Danish Jewish museum (very enlightening) and the Hans Christian Andersen museum (informative and entertaining) before wrapping things up with a visit to the Tivoli Gardens with its amusement park, shops, restaurants and gardens. Overall I think we managed to narrowly beat the weather 1-0. Tomorrow is our last day here and the weather forecast is again not good. Hopefully, though, we can see a few more of the sights before getting the train to Stockholm tomorrow afternoon.

It was absolutely dashing down this morning but somehow we managed to get to Amalienborg palaces relatively unscathed and, amazingly, reasonably dry. By the time we'd finished the sun had made a fairly lame attempt to appear so it was off to town to explore the "you know what" shops. In between we managed to savour the delight of a local smorrebrod for lunch and then it was off to Central Station for the train to Stockholm. On the way Lin fulfilled one "travel wish" - to eat a REAL Danish pastry in Denmark. We're on the train now - comfy seats, plenty of legroom, free Wi-Fi and still two more enormous Danish pastries to eat. Due to arrive in Stockholm at 21.30 and then we should have some fun trying to find our hostel.

Actually, negotiating the Stockholm Metro wasn't too bad. Made it to the hostel about 10.30 and after making our beds (or bunks to be more precise) we are about to sleep on them. Lin doesn't trust me in the top bunk so she has grabbed the elevated position. Is that like taking the moral high ground? Anyway, we shall see how long that arrangement lasts. 

Right so where to begin. We are staying in a really great hostel a couple of metro stops outside the centre of Stockholm. Our room has no window which is a little disconcerting. Also there was no breakfast provided, so activities this morning involved "racing" down to the local supermarket rather than racing round the breakfast buffet. Once we'd recovered from the shock of the prices we invested in some breakfast basics, headed back to the hostel and ate slowly and with great appreciation before hitting the "capital of Scandinavia". We have done a serious amount of walking today, mainly around the medieval quarter of Stockholm, called Gamla Stan, taken in another canal boat tour, defied the laws of gravity in the Skyview, got our money's worth out of the metro and bought stuff for dinner back at the hostel; a busy day.
Stockholm is a lovely city and it has a really good feel about it despite the costs. We invested in a city card a few weeks back and this has helped defray the cost of travel and sightseeing. Tomorrow we're off to one of the islands (there are 14 in Stockholm alone and thousands throughout Sweden). This one's called Djurgarden. We will be doing a bit more Viking hunting and visiting the Viking Ship museum to see, among other things, a fully preserved Viking ship. Who knows we may yet discover the secrets of Beau Beanie and the Crusty Baguette.

Well would you voulez-vous it? Guess where we've been today? We headed off to Djurgarden this morning to visit the Skansen open air museum and when we got off the tram discovered that right opposite was...the ABBA museum. At £20 a pop I was tempted to hide and leave Lin to it but I didn't. After two and a half hours of Abba nostalgia I wasn't feeling too bad about the twenty quid, in fact I really enjoyed it (but don't mention that to Lin). Lin, on the other hand was ecstatic. So, all in all, a good start to the day. We spent the next few hours immersed in more ancient Swedish history and customs (ie. Predating the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest). Farming, crafts, animals like reindeer and wolves among other things and then finished off at the Vasa Museum to see a four hundred year old Viking warship which sank about 20 minutes into its maiden voyage in August 1628 and was recovered virtually complete and intact at the end of the 1950s. Really amazing to see. All in all a very busy, tiring but really enjoyable day which covered the full spectrum of Swedish culture and history. How to follow that tomorrow?

Made the most of the hostel's facilities and got some laundry sorted and then it was off for a right royal experience. Spent most of the day at Drottningholm Park with its palace, Chinese pavilion, 18th century theatre and absolutely stunning gardens. This is the summer residence of the Swedish royal family. Needless to say we spent most of the day there enjoying the sights and some great weather. Afterwards, we decided to do a dummy run across the city to make sure we could find the ferry terminal for the journey to Helsinki tomorrow afternoon. We have a few hours left in Stockholm tomorrow and we will probably do a bit more walking around instead of all this travelling underground; must say, though, that the transport system here is great. After three days we have begun to get our bearings but now it is time to move on and start the adventure all over again in Helsinki. Lin, by the way, is really looking forward to the boat journey.