Friends

Our friend Kathleen is now gone to Stockholm, to continue the rest of her journey through Scandanavia and Russia. She has had quite a long trip beginning in France. It was nice to see her and her travelling companion, even though it was only for 12 hours. She is celebrating her 60th birthday with this trip. We are really enjoying Sweden and this home exchange experience. It allows us to experience real life in Sweden. The hospitality and generousness of our hosts is greatly appreciated.


--
Dan Klimaszewski

Jordgabbar Fields Forever

This is the title because we haven't mentioned that we get a free pint of luscious strawberries everyday, and "jordgubbar" is the Swedish word for strawberries. They are very, very good, and we are pleased that the growing season is so long. We have tried to pay for them, after all, it is our hosts who helped them, not us, but they insist. They are as friendly and giving as we have found all the Swedes.

Dan took Kathleen and Linda to Linkoping early in the morning, they had just stopped overnight. We then drove to Orebro today, with a stop along the way to Medevi. We continually notice the beautiful green color of the fields, a green i cannot quite describe. This country is so clean! Everything is clean and neat, and makes you feel comfortable.

Medevi is an old town that used to have a spa, and it was the oldest mineral spa in the Nordic countries. We stopped at a few of the stores first. Hillary bought a necklace in one store, and the friendly owner told us he has an Icelandic horse, which is a very popular breed here, known for it's gentleness and friendliness. They are small, and although we'd like to ride them, Dan is actually too big for them! We will try and take a picture of them, as they are really cute. We also bought a salt shaker in a pottery shop, and the owner, the potter, was quite interested in our home trade, wanting the web site. We generally find the shop owners eager to talk to us, we think to practice their English, but also because they are all so nice and polite. They generally ask us if we have family here, if that is why we are here, out in the country, and are surprised that we don't, but are interested that we do a house trade.

When we were walking around Medivi, we came to the old spa and a woman who works there insisted that we have some of the water, from the old well from the 1600's. The waters have curative powers allegedly. It tasted quite good. We all noticed that we all got quite sleepy after tasting the water and leaving the town! But we plowed on anyway.

We moved on to Orbero, which is also a lovely town. There is a University there, and it was lively and thriving. There is a castle there, which was right in the middle of the town, but we didn't take a tour. We walked around it, and saw all kinds of creative artwork, like many shirts in a row hanging from a window of the castle into the water. Also a sculpture in the water that looked like fried eggs. We thought perhaps there was an art school at the University.

We shopped a little, and Hillary found her Ekelund towels, which i also bought. We then had a "take-out" fika, and then drove home.

Oh, our dinner was interesting. We went to the nearby store of our village, Nykyrka, and met the owner, who of course knows Per and Inger well. She helped us buy a veal roast, and then took the time to give us the recipe to cook it . she had to run around the store to show us all the ingredients, so nice of her. It was very good, and we felt proud that we cooked it from her recipe.
By the way, it is very hard for us to understand Swedish. I don't know how they all manage English so well, except they learn it early and watch English t.v. But we think we are getting the pronunciation of the village, Nykyrka. It is sort of like "kneejerker" only it's "knee-scher-ka."

bye for now, Copenhagen tomorrow.

Does Anybody Know What Time it Really is, or Does anybody Know What Country we are in?

As we travel around the country, even driving back from the airport, we continually notice how comfortable we feel in this country, how familiar it feels to us. But we continue to do this as the topography changes! Yesterday, we decided part of it looked like "Colorado with the Lakes of Minnesota and the backwoods of Wisconsin." We often think it looks like the U.P., most often think it looks like that and upper michigan. This prompted Ken to note that we could have taken a driving trip across the U.P, then driven to Plymouth to the Ikea for dinner, and saved ourselves the cost of the airfare! (joking, of course, we're loving our adventures)

Today we slept in late, then Dan and Pat went into Motala to the Tourist Bureau to find out about bus and train info. We managed to get all the info we needed, then drove back home, got ready to go, and the four of us went into Linkoping to pick up our friends, Kathleen and Linda, who were visiting us on their way to Stockholm.

We walked around a bit, and bought a birthday cake at a bakery for Kathleen, who's "big" birthday is in a few days. (It was a lovely little cake, by the way) We then headed over to the train station.

O.k., disclaimer here for people who are tired of reading about Pat's bathroom adventures, don't read this paragraph. i had to go, and this was a pay toilet, which annoys me alot. Anyway, the coin didn't open the door, it was broken, i guess, and a nice Swedish woman tried to help. When she realized it didn't work, she said, in what was Swedish, "sheet"! i then turned to her, nodded, and said, in English, "Yes, oh shit"! We both burst out laughing loudly. toilet annoyance being a universal language!

We picked up our new guests, but because our car is small, Hillary and I took the bus back from Linkoping to Motala, where Dan and Ken would pick us up. We had a great time on the bus, it was relaxing and a pretty ride. Got to see the drawbridge up on the Gota Canal and a sailboat pass through. Nice to just relax together.

The guys picked us up and we bought groceries. Hillary and Ken cooked a great stirfry for us all, and we sang Happy Birthday to Kathleen. Later, Linda regaled us with her funny stories, like about how she has a pet rat that visits the balcony of her condo, how cute she thinks he is!
Linda, by the way, has walked all the San Francisco stairways that has been Pat's other quest, for those of you who followed that blog in february. They were tired, we were all tired, went to bed early. They were o.k. with the barn and the chamber pot.

Weather was very bad today, by the way, cold and rainy. Pat

7-7-08 In the Real Dark Night of Sweden it is always Five O:Clock in the Afternoon or, we appreciate Hillary

Woke up and decided our day.
Went to see the Cathedrale, and found a beautiful young woman practising singing modern day Catholic hymns for the upcoming Mass. Her name was Sara Nyquist, and she had the sweetest, most beautiful voice. We just sat and were entranced. It felt so spiritual, and was interesting because at dinner the night before, we had a lively discussion on our differeing levels of spiritualism and religious beliefs.

Since the castle didn't open til 11, Hillary had found a local museum called the Kalmar Läns Musem. (I am so happy I finally get to use those extra letters on the keyboard)
This was a fascinating museum, hard to believe it's a local place. Interactive, video explanations, recreated tableaus and scenes. Amazing. it was mostly about the sinking of the ship Kronan", one of the largest ships to ever sink. It sank in 1676, during a war with Denmark. Eventually, they will bring up the entire hull, and it will need an entire museum to house this. The king of Sweden is involved in this fascinating project. The other part of the museum was a display of Jenny Nyström, a Swedish well known artist and illustrationist. She originated the elves that we see on Christmas cards today, and all over, really. This also was a charming exhibit, and we really liked her art work.

We ended this was a Fika at the cafe, again, charming! We had coffee and sweets. The Swedes actually say a coffee and a Danish, but we won't do that. The sweets were very good, the best baked goods we've had. Loved this museum, it was a highlight and we thank Hillary for her eagerness to read up and find things!

We then went to the castle, and took a tour. This too was fascinating, as it's a medieval castle still in operating shape. There are marriages performed in the chapel, the second most popular place to get married. (the first is Arlanda Airport!) We saw the mens and womens dungeons, gruesome! Saw where the royalty would have feasts, and sat at the table they had laid out with the foods of the time.

We then decided to drive over to Öland, but had to limit our time there. We weren't overly impressed with this, but it was cold and rainy, and we didn't see the beach. We looked for runes, or gravesites of the Vikings and people in the Bronze Age, did find some, pretty much in several places. This was interesting, and again, were glad Hillary pushed us to do this!
Ken drove the first part of the long way back, on a slippery wet road. It was 5:00 when we left Öland, and it seemed to be 5:00 the entire way back, because of how long it stays light! We had to stop for dinner at a buffet place outside AStrid Lingsten's amusement park, believe it or not, and it wasn't very good, but our only choice. We didn't care, we just needed to eat before the rest of the drive. The place had many children, many crying babies, we were the only people over 40 in the place, and they had Bob Dylan music playing the background.

Dan drove the rest of the way home, and, fortified by food, we got really silly. Were trying to come up with names of this blog, for each day. Some have no relevance to anyone but us, but since this is mainly our journal, i will mention some.
We Gota Canal and then we Kinda Gota Canal.
Nada Moose in sight.
Not from Rhode Island Dressing.
Why Can't I Get a Potato in Sweden?
We also noted that in the restaurant guides, the cuisine can be listed as something like "asian-swedish cajun fusion with a hint of provence". And "Rhode Island Dressing" is our Thousand Island Dressing, and no one from Rhode Island has heard of it.

7-6-2008 A Swedish Beach Day or "There are No People in this Country!"

We drove to Glass Country today, for an overnight stay ultimately in Kalmar. Took us about 3 hours, but we drove through beautiful country. There were heavy forests, many streams and small lakes, narrow roads. Just beautiful, tranquil.
Our first factory was Mats Jonasson Målerås, where we took a tour. His work is magnificent, and this was really more of a museum. Some of the exhibit pieces were art work, with themes of war, world problems, love and hate, etc. and the conflicts would be reflected in the glass in incredible ways.
We then went to Orrefors, which also had some Kosta Boda pieces, and this was a factory outlet. We took our time looking, then had lunch there as they all have cafes with buffets and "ficas". then, Pat and Danbought some gifts and some pieces for themselves. Decided to have it shipped, which was costly, but they took off more money so it ended up reasonable.
We then drove around to several others, trying to find something for Hillary to buy, and just to see as many as we could in the short time we had left before they closed. Went to what we thought was Kosta, which turned out to be a huge, awful outlet mall with little glassware! Then quickly drove to Sea, Åfors, and Transjö Hytta. Didn't find anything to buy, but the studio and the setting at Transjö was idlyllic--set in the woods with glass sculptures hanging over the little stream, placed wherever in the garden with the flower pots, just here and there, reflecting the sunlight. (except there was little sunlight!) Red buildings around, with the typical white trim, neat, and charming. The crystal was beautiful, we took pictures of just the crystal inside.
One thing we have noticed on the roads, and Per told us this, as this every so often, the road had very wide shoulders on either side, and is absolutely straight for several miles. Per told us these are all around the country, and are built to be also used as landing strips for aircraft should they be under attack. Sensible and interesting, as everything in Swedish design seems to be.
As we were driving around the countryside, as well as the the drive to the area, Ken exclaimed "There are no people in Sweden!". Indeed, we'd hardly seen anyone, even in the factories. One of the sales people told us this was because "everyone was on holiday and it was warm so they were all at the beach, it was a good beach day."
Well, we were quite struck by this, as it was raining! And when not actually raining, overcast and cloudy!
We then drove on to Kalmar, a charming old town on the east coast. Some of the streets are cobblestone, and this is a walled, medieval city. Our hotel is the Stadshotellet, a 200 year old hotel ? or so. Very old, very old fashioned with an old fashioned elevator, and a beautiful marble staircase. Rooms were small, plain and clean, fine with us. We really liked this town. Walked around looking for a nice dinner place, and enjoyed the town. There were actually crowds out, as there had been a local soccer match, which ended in a tie, so everyone was celebrating. We ate at a Bistro, pretty good but not noteworthy. Walked around a little more, then went back to the hotel where the 3 of them had an expensive drink at the hotel. Food IS incredibly expensive, as is alcohol. And not really that good.

Today's trip

Located on the Baltic coast in Southeastern Sweden, Kalmar is a small city with a rich history. Kalmar is the home of the "Key to the Kingdom", the name given to the magnificent Vasa fortress, Sweden's best - preserved Renaissance castle. When the old town from the Middle Ages could no longer be defended against the arch-enemy Denmark, a new Kalmar was built on Kvarnholmen. This part of the town, with its Baroque cathedral, its fortified walls and bastions, cobbled streets and stone-built houses from the 17th century, is a wonderful reminder of Sweden's time as a great power.

Today, Kalmar is located in one of Sweden's biggest tourist counties. Connected to Sweden's island paradise of Oland by one of Europe's longest bridges; lovely beaches, vacation houses, castle ruins, and a restored Viking village, are just a short drive away. The Kalmar Lans Museum, with its permanent exhibition of relics from the Royal warship Kronan, and display of work by Jenny Nystrom, creator of the Swedish Christmas elf, draws visitors from all parts of the world. The glassworks of Orrefors and Kosta Boda in Sweden's kingdom of Crystal are nearby; as is the emigrant region of Smaland.

Resulting from a historical link - the arrival of the first Europeans aboard the ship Kalmar Nyckel in 1638 to the area which is now the City of Wilmington - the relationship has flourished since 1963. Frequent exchanges occur between the two cities; in the areas of music, art, sports, history, education, business, and politics. In the spirit of sharing, adults and young people have established long-lasting friendships, and have developed an increased understanding of neighbors abroad.
--
Dan Klimaszewski

the rain came just as we found the beach

We got up, and took care of house stuff--the wash, the kitty cats, the dishes, etc. We then drove to Vadstena, a lovely town nearby. It is where Saint Birgetta is honored. We had seen this town with Per and Inger, but wanted to show it to Ken and Hillary. We shopped around, some cute little shops, but the prices are high. Hillary and I are looking for Ekelund linen towels, which Sassa had told us about. We didn't find them, but saw some other lovely ones. We walked around, saw the Cathedral, which was in the Gothic style. Nowhere near as ornate as the Italian churches, but still, impressive.

We then ate lunch at an outdoor cafe called MiCasa. The price was good, Per, you are right, going out for lunch is far more sensible! We had the plate of the day, beef, roasted potatoes. Ken had fish, and Pat had a chicken salad. The weather was wonderful, and we all felt so relaxed.

We then walked over to the castle of Gustav Vasa, whose summer home this was. He also allegedly came here because his son, Magnum, was mentally ill and was in a mental hospital. He was buried in the church, by the way. There was a moat around the castle, which was very impressive also.

We then drove back to Motala, and showed our guests the locks of the Gota Canal. This is very interesting, as there as 5 locks, and many boats pass through this. It is operated privately, but very busy, in the summer, at least.

After this, we wanted to find the beach and relax. We didn't find it at first, until Pat asked a Swedish man for directions, who nicely gave them. As we finally found the beach, we ended up in a downpour! But, we waited it out, and went down to the lake. It is quite beautiful, with sand and clear water.

We then grocery shopped and came back to our comfy home to relax. Met the neighbor, Frederick, who invited us over for pizza and wine when we return from our trip tomorrow to Kalmar and "Glass Country." (get your orders in if you read this in time!)

We really like it here. We feel it's sort of an alternative universe, as it's very similar to Michigan, especially the Upper Penisula. It's so clean, so relaxed. Swedes are generally so friendly, and so laid back, just calm and comforting. We have seen no slums, no poverty. Per has told us that mostly everyone is the same, and those that are not, are well taken care of by the government. It is interesting for us to see a form of socialism work so well. We are very impressed.

Our friends arrive

We woke had breakfast at the Hotel, which consisted of a Swedish smorgasbord. Cereals, eggs, sausages, meatballs, four different herrings, cold cuts, salmon, fruits vegatables, breads, but not many sweets, like we do for breakfast buffets.
We then checked out of the hotel, went to the airport, and picked up Ken and Hillary, all very routine. The Swedish roads and airports are very organized and similar to the U.S. After returning to the house, we let Ken and Hillary get some rest and shower, while we went to the grocery store. We watched prices carefully, as some of the things are extremely expensive by our standards. We spent about $70 and got enough food for a couple of dinners, breakfasts and assorted snacks, cheeses etc. Not too bad. We then grilled chicken and had our usual strawberry dessert. Of course, before this, we had our aquavit and skolled to our adventure!
The neightbors give us the strawberries for free as Inger and Per have helped them with their business. Inger helped with planting and Per helped them with some computer set up and other business issues. We also received a call from Jason on Skype, so through the magic of computers, we were able to have a video phone call from Sweden to San Francisco. Quite cool.
We are happy Ken and Hillary are here again to join us on this adventure.

Stockholm Day 1

Pa

We woke up at 5:45 am to take Inger and Per to the Stockholm airport for their trip to Michigan. It made for a long day, but not as long as theirs. It is 10 pm Stockholm (still daylight by the way), and we are at our hotel, ready for sleep, and Per and Inger are still in the air. Also Ken and Hillary are on their way to Stockholm, and will cross paths with the Walldeck's at some point between Detroit and Stockholm. Today we walked from our hotel, the hotel Birger Jarl to the Old Town of Stockholm and back. A lot of walking, looking in shops, and very little eating, so when we got back to the hotel we were famished. Pat takes responsibility for our bad lunch, as she had read that Marcus Samuelson owned this restaurant. He is a well known chef , who owns the famous "Aquavit" in New York City and Stockholm. Plus, he was at the Epicurian Festival in Traverse City. So I figured the food would be good. Wrong! We ate a bad sausage and taco at the Central Station for lunch, then came back to the hotel and rested, showered and looked for dinner.

All restaurants were full, but we finally found a nice place called the Zink Grill. We had a nice meal, fairly reasonable for Stockholm standards 1040 Kroner, which is about $170. Included a bottle of wine, and some appetizers as we were very hungry. Of course it was overpriced, as all things are in Stockholm. I acdtually paid $9 for a bottle of Belgium beer at the Central Station. Very stupid of me, I just didn't think about it, but overall we have bewen able to keep costs down due to the house exchange and the ability to cook at the house in Motola.

Tomorrow we pick up Ken and Hillary and return to Motola. We will post more pictures later.

Dan

cow bingo and lunch at Ikea

Per made me laugh this morning, no small feat considering my normal morning grogginess, by telling me about a game they play here called "cow bingo"´ You let several cows out of the pen , mark off the field in squares, and bet on where they you know what! Oh dear, we teased him, is this excitement in Sweden?

this part of our house exchange is a little different than others, as we are really staying with our hosts for a few days before they leave, and learning to live as they do. it is really a new way for us to do this, and vey enjoyable. we will have time to see the sites we want to see, but to get to know their way of living is in itself a great experience.

more later. yes,we had lunch at Ikea at Linkoping, then came back home. Per and i took a Vespå ride to get fresh strawberries from the neighbors for our dessert tonight, and now Dan and i will bike to Overlid for a Fica! Pat

Relaxing day in Nykyrka and Motala

Very low key day. I woke up early, then took a morning nap. We then looked around Motala with Per, bought groceries, found some sights in Motala and basically got our bearings. Pat made spaghetti for dinner, and also a cake for today's strawberries. As I probably mentioned before the next door neighbor is the largest supplier of strawberries in the area. They are equal to Michigan strawberries, and the growing season is longer because of the long long days of sunshine. This is a very weird experience. It is now 9pm and complete daylight. The sun is high in the sky, and a around 11pm it will begin to get dark, but more like dusk. I woke up at 3am and it was completely light. A soft light, but still light. It is very hard to get accustomed to. Right now there is no moon, so it will be interesting to see what happens if/when there is a full moon. Wednesday we wil be headed for Stockholm to spend the night and take Per and Inger to the airport for their trip to Ann Arbor. Ken and Hillary will be coming in Thursday.

Motala is a pleasant town, small, but prosperous looking. Everything in Sweden is neat and clean, and we have noticed no poverty yet.

Oh, at night we watched t.v., watched "Foleys War". i mention this because several people i know who may read this blog love this show, and now we see why. Yes, it was in English, we were watching the BBC channel. it is interesting to enter the lives of this lovely couple, we feel like we are residents here. a different experience.

It is always interesting going to grocery stores in other countries. We are feeling very comfortable here. Inger and i took our nightly walk. We are sleeping well.

Oh, i have discovered the chamber pot! This lowers my anxiety ten-fold!

First Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/danklim1/Sweden2008

here is the link to our first pictures from Sweden. More to come.

day 2---Catching on to the vagaries of the swedish keyboard

We slept long and hard, til 8:30! Per and Inger had a Swedish breakfast awaiting us, we had their great coffee, and cereal with their yogurt, toast with a wonderful jam--blackberry and current, and an excellent cheese. They don't eat this every morning, but it was a special breakfast for us.
We then drove to Vadstena, the home of Saint Birgetta, one of the oldest towns in Sweden. We had a wonderful lunch at the Barn 206, with huge open faced sandwiches. Delicious! We then drove around that charming town as well as another nearby one, named Skänninge. These charming towns all abut Lake Vattern, and are very picturesque. We saw part of the Gota Canal at a place where there were 5 locks, operating for the boats that were there.
Later, we napped, as we are terribly jetlagged. Then, Inger and Pat took a walk and Per and Dan had a whisky.
We are really enjoying ourselves and feel so comfortable with this very generous, friendly couple. i wonder if people on our webiste, Homelink.org, all tend to be adventuous and so open minded.
Some observations about Sweden---mostly all the houses are red, with some others being yellow. You can't tell the old ones from the new ones--the one Per and Inger own is 400 years old'---because they are made of wood and continually renovated. This is a peaceful, tranquil countryside, as i noticed on my walks.
Had another great dinner, fresh salad, potato salad, and grilled pork. with aquavit, and much wine. Much fun. Oh yes, fresh strawberries!
i have to add my liking for the Swedish computer, it has keys we donät have that i keep hitting by mistake. Here they are: ö,ä and Ö,Ä.

Entering the Land of the Midnight Sun

Our trip to Sweden was reall quite pleasant and routine. Per was waiting for us at the airport, and it was nice not to have to worry about driving or getting a train. The three hour ride to his house was also uneventful. Sweden reminds us of Northern Michigan, Wisconsin, or Ontario. Very unpopulated, lots of open space. Deer, Moose and Elk are all in the area. When we arrived at the house Inger was waiting, and we unpacked and had coffee. Dinner was Salmon, potatoes and peas, with Strawberry cake for desert. Very nice. We are also meeting the cats, Lisa, Mya, but Figaro is very sceptical!
Our accommodations at this point are in a 400 year old barn. The guest room, is quite nice, Per built it himself. When they leave for the U.S. we get to move into the house. Our hosts have been very accommodating and we have hit it off right away. The house is over 400 years old and the oldest house in the town of Nykyrka (New Church), which is a little settlement of about 500 people about 12 k from Motola. W took a walk after dinner to visit the village and the surroundings.

We have to add a note about the guestroom, which we find very cozy, and are liking. To get to it, we have to walk up a steep flight of narrow stairs, accessed most easily by walking sideways. Also, there is no bathroom, so if we need to use the facilities during the night, and anyone who knows either of us know that we do (!), we have to climb down the stairs to use the toilet. Pat was nervous about the stairs at first, but quickly adapted, and we also don't mind the mid-night walks!

We also must note the experience of the sunlight. At midnight, when we made our midnight potty run, it was the darkest part of the night, and still, quite light out. Fascinating to us.

We are enjoying our hosts very much.

Retirement

Well retirement time is here. Friday we will be leaving for Sweden and will be posting on this spot. It should be fun. Keep up to date with our trip.

Retirement has come. It seems quite weird to not have an office. I have spent all day organizing my home office, and I think I have a handle on things. I am mostly packed for Sweden, and have to go in two days this week to finish things up and meet with my successor. I must say I have been overwhelmed with well wishes from people. Cards seem endless and very generous gifts. I feel like my work has been appreciated.

Now off to Sweden, where our new friend Per will be waiting for us at the airport. We will have computer access most of the time, and also have our cell phones.

Here is a good link for Swedish news http://www.thelocal.se/
and another link to keep track of time http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=239