Two weeks off, the Crusaders are 6th in Europe after our first two months of work and in first place in the Swedish Super Series, there’s only one thing to do; take a vacation from our vacation. Fredrik Eklund, the league’s leading receiver offered for the American crew to join him in a trip to the southernmost city in Sweden including a day trip to Denmark.
Our first day was into Copenhagen where we toured the old city from east to west and north to south. Sights including the middle ages Castle, a summer home of the ruler, the little mermaid, a plethora of decorated elephants littered throughout the city, the new port, and finished the day at the second oldest amusement park in the world and Disney’s inspiration: Tivoli. Denmark offered us a day loaded with bright sunshine as well as the big city atmosphere of Europe passing by throngs of people on our way to the popular sights.
Day two put us in road trip mode as we traveled by car from Fred’s home of Malmo up the coast of Sweden through Helsingborg and to the harbor town of Molle. After some beautiful views of the cliffs and both Denmark to the South and more of Sweden to the North in sight we headed back for a picnic lunch by the beach. With any normal tour guide we would have had a simple midday with rocks and sun, but we chose an ex-Army ranger to give us a tour of his country side so we trekked down the side of a mountain to the architectural wonder of Nimis. 
What started as a sculpture by a Swedish artist became a compilation of tunnels and towers made of driftwood and countless nails. 
This creation brings you down to the beach in style as you feel like a 7 year old in adventure land choosing between a number of different pathways that all lead to the same great place, amazement. We had a bean salad lunch on the rocks there and hiked back up to the top where we headed back South towards Malmo but stopped at Fred’s mom’s house for a Swedish BBQ and swim in the North Sea. The water was still cold in June, but it did not deter us from enjoying a swim and the burnt energy gave us the appetite to devour an incredible patio barbeque with Fredrik’s family.The third and final day we stayed in Malmo and hit the beach once again, this time for some beach volleyball where we Americans got to show off our skills besting the Swedes in straight games. We had tacos for dinner and met some of Fredrik’s local friends before we headed for home first thing Monday morning. We made it home in time to see our team being honored for their Swedish championship win last season at the downtown Independence Day festival. A Queen cover band made the event entertaining as well as the light clouds and warm 75 degree weather.
We had a great break from the action but now it feels right to be back in game preparation. We face the 4th ranked STU Northside Bulls this Saturday, although they are 2-2 they have provided good contests in both of their losses. We’re on the road for the first time since our loss in Austria and the first time this season in Sweden so that will provide some different scenery.Head to our facebook to view a lot more pictures of our vacation.
