Sweden continued...

You will have to forgive my lack of little tiny "o's" above letters...I just don't know how to do it and will you really miss them?  I didn't think so.

I loved the "alley" of trees leading up to the main estates all over.

I decided that apart from having a charming red cottage, I am going to need an alley as well.

 Since Abby was still sick the first couple of days we were there, we took it easy.  On Sunday afternoon we left her at home with Papa and Mo took us to the nearby Osmo Chapel.  Typical country church with old, original stone and wood work all over the place.  This one still has the paintings showing through on the ceilings (many of them were painted over during the Reformation.)

 We decided to take the scenic drive home and were following the directions on Clark's phone.  Google maps said that this was a legit road and we believed them...all until we hit the boulder in the middle of the road and had to turn around.

GRANA

This is a town called Grana, where the peppermint stick was born!  It is a beautiful town alongside the most enormous sparkling lake you've ever seen.

A candy town, how could you not love that?

We bought so many of these taffy strand things that they lasted the whole entire trip.  I think we even had to throw some away when we packed to go home.  They just wouldn't have tasted the same in Newark.

SIGTUNA

After picking us up from the airport, they tried to keep us awake by promising me cinnamon rolls and vikings.  It worked, for a while.  We stopped in a town called Sigtuna.  Around this part of Sweden you can find old Rune Stones at any given bend in the road.  My parents have a grouping of Rune Stones and an ancient Viking burial ground just up the path from their house.  It is amazing how old they are.

It was pretty early in the morning so not much was open, but there was a dragon.  That was cool.

And an old town hall, cool.

Charming street.

We learned very quickly that this particular shingle meant cinnamon rolls.  I have a thing for cinnamon rolls.  Once, when I was eight, I beat a 300 pound Samoan in a cinnamon roll eating contest.  

Emily 13, Samoan 11.

I am not joking.

The town was quiet and peaceful by a lake and there was just interesting stuff everywhere.

One bite and I was smitten.  I mean, American cinnamon rolls are delicious, but Swedish ones, they may have captured my heart.

TYRESO CASTLE

The most beautiful oak tree I have ever seen...and more snails.  I told you there were a lot of slug like creatures.

As we walked around this estate my Dad talked to us all about how farms and estates worked back when our ancestors lived there.  It established our understanding for the rest of the week, learning all about their lives, where they lived, and what they did.

On this afternoon, there was accordion folk music wafting through the air and over the lake.  We finally made our way over the bridge and discovered we had just missed a little outdoor concert.  But the music provided the perfect mood music for our exploring.

Mmmm, fungus.

DOORS

In addition to my alley of trees and red cottage, a lovely threshold would be delightful.

I love interesting doors.

GOTEBORG

 Just a few days after we arrived, we hopped in the car and headed to the west coast of Sweden to a city called Goteborg.  Just outside of Goteborg is a suburb called Moldndal, where I was born exactly 33 years ago.  Being there for my birthday was a truly unique and special experience.  Not sure I would have ever thought I would see it, let alone celebrate my birthday there.

We spent a day in downtown Goteborg.  It was gorgeous and so fun.  We took a boat ride through the harbor and the river that goes through town.

Hazel thought it was overwhelmingly exciting.

 So did Mia.

 This is one of those times where I just show you a lot of pictures of my kids doing funny things like sleeping instead of all the interesting things that we saw because I am a Mom, and that's what I do.

You will just have to take my word for it.  The boat ride was one of my favorite things we did because we saw so much, AND we got to listen to a charming girl with a pretty Swedish accent tell cheezy jokes in both Swedish AND English.

I included the picture above because it made me laugh.  You go under several bridges on the boat tour, one of which is called "The Cheese Grater".  If you don't actually get out of your seats and get on the floor, not only will they yell at you, but you might get your head chopped off by the bridge that has only about 6 inches of clearance above the seats.

 It's the small things that count.  If you ask my kids what their favorite part of the trip was, they may say the movies on the plane, or the Murphy bunk beds in the hotel.  This hotel was very modern and cool.  We had interior windows to the courtyard below and each morning woke up early to get down and beat the business before they ate all our bacon.

 My parents and family woke me up on August 23 with singing and gifts.  A perfect way to start my 33rd birthday.  

My breath was not fresh.

 This is Mo reinacting my birth for us.  Forlossning means "delivery".  This is the hospital where I was born!

Ta Da!! And there I am.  Doesn't she look relieved and happy? (and doesn't the crotch in my pants look alarmingly low?)

 Then they drove us up the hill to show us the house that I came home to.  My parents were living in Sweden for 3 years in the late 70's for another church assignment-that time as a mission President (in charge of the LDS missionaries of the region.)

See that sad face?  That is how I felt when my sister, let's call her "Barry" dumped my tiny one month old self out of the stroller onto the curb by accident.  A man rang the doorbell to ask my mother if that was her baby crying out in the gutter.  It was.

Speaking of baby strollers, did I tell you that there were little Swedish babies everywhere? And all their mothers were pushing them in the most amazing baby carriages ever.  I have the one from when I was a baby in my basement...it makes me want to have a Swedish baby and somewhere cool to walk with it.

 The house.

 Then we went for a walk up on the hillside through the woods above the house.  It was gorgeous and fun and blissful.  We ate wild blueberries, watched for trolls and Hazel laid down on a bed of cushy moss.

 

 The night ended with my being irritated that my kids had bickered so much.  So I put them to bed and we had cake next door with Mo and Dad.  I felt guilty.

But in this picture I wasn't feeling guilty, I was laughing too hard to blow out my unlit candle because Clark kept making dorky faces for the picture....also, Mo had almost dropped the cake twice onto the bed.  It was a slippery little thing.  Laughing so hard that I lose bladder control would not have been a fun way to remember my 33rd birthday.

But laughing really hard with my Mom and Dad and husband was...even though I felt guilty for being a good/mean Mom.

KUNGALV FORTRESS outside of Goteborg

 This place was really really neat.  We finally had to make ourselves leave to see other things because it was such fun exploring.

 The dungeon.

 The views.

MARSTRAND ISLAND

 My sister Amy's advice about the umbrellas sure came in handy.  I was glad to be lugging around 6 umbrellas everywhere we went.  We used them.

 You take a 2 minute ferry ride over to Marstrand Island.  It is quaint and lovely.

 I believe this is the street from the home movie from my childhood where we first see "The Oscarson Wave"...waving for the camera + sunny day=The Oscarson Wave.  It was a classic so we had to reenact, even though there was a slight lack of sunshine this day.

 The groundskeepers at Marstrand Fortress sure are dedicated.

 The coast was so rocky, it was amazing.  The fog made it all the more dramatic.  What a beautiful place.

The sun did come out later in the week but somehow we still had fun.  I didn't mind the rain a bit.

Next stop, Stockholm.