We stayed in Karlstad, a medium sized town at the north end of Lake Vanern, (the largest fresh water lake in the EU apparently) (future quiz question), Curling was in the Tingvalla ice rink, and at the end of the competition we finished 12th out of 27. Not as high as I had hoped, but still respectable. It was especially good to beat Australia and regain the Curling Ashes.

We travelled there by flight from Edinburgh to Oslo Rygge (minor airport south of Oslo used by Ryanair) and took a hire car for the 3 hour drive to Karlstad. Monday 18th was a day off so we had an excursion to Stockholm by rail. The city was nice in the spring sun with blossom coming out. Some of us went to the Vasa museum (wooden warship that sunk after launch)' and others to the Abba museum. Stockholm is a city built on an archipelago and we were disappointed to find that the water taxis and tourist cruise boats were on strike. Being Swedish, the pickets were very apologetic and helpful in offering alternative ways of getting about.

Swedish railways are one of the more liberal systems, and open access operators compete with the national SJ operator. Outbound we travelled with "Togab", a company that uses ex SJ 1970s carriages and an interesting mix of traction - second hand Swedish Rc, and Austrian 1043 electrics; and ex Danish and Norwegian MY / Di3 and MZ type diesels. Returning, we took a SJ regional train, also loco hauled but with updated carriages. 

The country is very pricey compared to the UK (and even more so compared to Saudi). Drinks are very expensive. Fortunately we had stocked up in the duty free on the way out. Food wasn't cheap either, and whilst we had several meals out, some jointly with our Mixed Doubles and Ladies teams, other times we ate simply at chain stores to keep the budget intact. Culinary highlight of the week was reindeer stew, quite delicious! The hotel provided a breakfast smorgasbord, and we were able to stock up packed lunches from it.

On Sunday we drove back to Oslo, this time to the main airport for our Norwegian flights back to Edinburgh, or in my case an Aegean flight to Riyadh via Athens.