It was a great train ride from Malmo - the Swedish rail system is wonderfully pleasant, efficient and friendly - to Orebro.After checking into our room at the Plaza Hotel, we went out looking for some dinner. It's a small town and things were rolling up early so we ended up at a local Pizza joint that seemed pretty busy. Great pizza and great fun. We were far off the tourist trail and only one person in the restaurant spoke English. The chef from the back came out and we talked about our order. He found it hard to comprehend that we didn't want meat or fish on our pizza, but was happy to make it with onions and peppers. It was special for us to be in this town in the heart of Sweden and the pizza chef thought it was really great to meet two Americans who had come his way.
We spent the next day touring the town. It's got a true medieval heart centered at Orebro Slott. The castle itself has actually been turned into a conference center, but they offer a fun guided performance tour that features people from the tower's history reenacting scenes and involving the audience. It was fun. If you have kids a definite must.Orebro is a big destination town for camping and cycling in Sweden. While we were there they were having their annual summer arts festival. In addition to public sculptures, we caught some public performances of dance and music.
Just down from the Slott is Wadkoping, one of several open air museums in Sweden where buildings and life from medieval times are preserved. We saw the one in Lund from the outside, it was very museum like. 
The one in Orebro is a living museum, with shops, restaurants and lots of activities for kids. We also visited St. Peter's church and caught the noon chimes of the clock at the Radhuset or city hall.
The other fun thing in Orebro is the Svapen or water tower. A famous design that has been copied by towns and cities around the world. It has an observation platform on the top with, of course, a coffee shop and a gift shop.After a day of touring we hung out in a nice outdoor beer hall in the center of town with a view of the castle before catching the night train.
