Before we knew it was time to move on. This time to just more than an hour north of Stockholm to the university town of Uppsala. It had in fact the first university in Sweden. We were going here not to see any particular sight but to use an apartment there to have a bit of time out and catch up on housekeeping etc,. Need to do that every now and then.

On the way we stopped at Sigtuna (founded in 980), the second oldest town in Sweden after Birka. Right on Lake Malaren, Sigtuna's main street is lined with colourful old wooden houses. It has the smallest town hall in Sweden and some lovely homes and gardens. Just the spot to have a coffee by the lake, and later good to buy some fresh rolls from the very welcoming lady at the baker's shop. 



Next day we found Uppsala not to be the quiet little Uni town we had expected, as it happened to be the day that graduates from schools (and maybe uni-not sure) have their annual street parade. Well. we thought it was a parade, but it was more like a freedom of the town event, where trucks and tractor trailers endlessly circled the town with their noisy dancing passengers. The sound of car horns, blaring music and raucous shouting and cheering (that was assisted by lubrication of the students by various beverages) made for a lively afternoon.

Apparently it is an age old custom. All the students wear sailors caps, the boys are in suits and the girls usually in short white dresses.  The families encourage them along with photo boards (usually with a picture of the student as a small child), as well as flowers and little stuffed toys. It seems a lot of fun for all, though we did wonder how this would ever be allowed in Australia on the basis of safety of the students. It seemed to me preferable to a week of jollity at schoolies.