Föräldrar i Sverige igen

During the long summer holidays, my parents came for a second visit to Sweden. Since their first visit in 2010 (see the full account here), many things has changed and this was reflected on the things we did during the vacations. Two major changes were that we moved into a house that are located out of the city and that we now have a car. We therefore spend more time away from the cities (we did much of the tourist things last time), and also traveled a bit more by car to see some of the things Sweden has to offer in the summer.

Below are a few pictures of their visit:

Room for our guests.

Very Local:

We had a few braais at our house.

Braaing some of the sausages that we made ourselves. 

A fire!

 We also spent some time on the river that we have access to.

Outing on the river.

Our house from the river.

When we have guests, we often use them for cheap labour (as we did when my sibling and her husband came to visit). This time I had a project to install a cat door in one of the basement windows. My dad and I thus removed a window, built a platform and a insulated wooden door to fit the window and installed the door into it.

Cat door from the inside.

Access to cat door from outside under the deck. 

(Side note: the cat door is an electronic door that locks during the night and they cannot go out. However they can always enter since it unlocks when the chip in their necks are scanned but this means only our cats can enter. We chose this place - under the deck - since it is a bit more protected from the wind, rain and snow. Also our doors are double and a single cat door becomes tricky to install. In the winter I will build a box onto the platform to keep the opening a bit more covered.)

We also had several long walks from the house enjoying the summer weather.

Local:

Moving a bit further we explored the town and the surrounding areas.

We went to a forest close by to pick mushrooms that we subsequently ate.

Finding the yellow gold.

Cooking the pickings.

Closest cities:

The closest cities to us is Gävle and Uppsala. We went to both for a few interesting activities.

Morning fika in Uppsala

Strolling past the castle

River and Cathedral. 

No visit to Sweden is complete without visiting IKEA. We spent some time strolling through the shop and also had an IKEA lunch. During our visit to IKEA we also visited several of the other shops in the surrounding area.

Lunch at IKEA

We also took a boat trip from Uppsala on Mälaren during one evening.

Departing.

View on the lake.

In Gävle we walked through the streets and enjoyed a street festival.

River running into the sea through Gävle. 

Driving around:

Having a car meant we could drive around an we visited several of the small towns and villages.

Österbybruk during a Sunday drive. 

Sculpture at Östhammar - at the Baltic sea. 

An interesting outing was when we visited Gårdsjö Älgpark. The park is located about an hour's drive from us and got to meet several of the residents (both human and elk). This visit is recommended for anyone who want to have a close encounter with these awesome beasts.

Feeding the small beast.

Female elk up close.

Male elk strolling past. 

The 10 days flew past very quickly and sadly the visit was over.

Next year, Carina's parents plan to come for a second visit (they have also been here while we were still city dwellers) during the summer while at the end of next year my parents plan to brave the Swedish winter. We are looking forward to both these visits and hope that this will inspire more friends and family from abroad to make the trip to us.

We are however already back to the salt mines and hope to surface again a bit during winter...

R&C

Scarf Blanket

When you are moving you discover a number of things that are in deep storage. This happened last week when we found a bag of winter clothes that went AWOL for at least 2 years. The bag contained, among other things, a number of scarves that my mom lovingly knitted...

Scarf heap

My mom is an extremely prolific knitter. Over the last 5 years in Sweden we accumulated close to 20 scarves. This is not the only thing she makes. Her output includes gloves, hats, shawls, blankets etc. These items are distributed globally to me and Carina, my sibling and her spouse, friends and family, their tiny offspring and to kids in rural areas who probably are the most appreciative.

Looking at the heap of scarves I felt a bit sorry that most were deemed to go back into storage. I rarely wear a scarf while Carina have a few favorites picked out. While packing them away I noticed that they are much softer than any of the blankets we own and I got an idea to make a blanket from them.

I thus went to a shop where a flock of technicolored sheep exploded. On closer inspection I found that alpacas were also involved and can therefore recommend this shop (YlloTyll) to anyone who need to purchase any wool or related products. In the shop, I found the gender bias extremely skewed (especially for a country claiming high levels of equality). The people where however extremely helpful and after explaining what I wanted to do I got a few balls of wool and other wool manipulation tools.

Back home I set to work to assemble the blanket from the 13 chosen scarves:

13 Scarves pre-assembly

First four assembled

One pane completed

Second pane completed

Finished scarf blanket

I have tested the blanket a few times and it is extremely difficult to get out from under it to face the world. I would thus deem the project successful. It is by far the softest and best blanket we ever owned - thanks Mom.

R&C

Summer holidays

As autumn started and trees are showing their first red leaves, I want to look back at a wonderful summer vacation with some special visitors from SA. My mother and father came to visit us here in Uppsala during the summer vacation and we had a busy two weeks of touristing. We enjoyed having them here with us and we hope that we were able to give them a memorable and exciting trip. Below are some pictures of our endeavors...

Day 1, Arrival and rest 

Room ready for guests of honor

We did not take many photos the first day, but one thing that amazed Mamma from day 1 was the beautiful flowers and the number of bicycles

Day 2, Uppsala town, Cathedral, City hall 

Our first outing - Bus ride through the whole of Uppsala

Mamma and Pappa dwarfed by the Domkyrka (Cathedral)

Inside the cathedral

Marie and Maria - Wax statue of Maria in the Cathedral

View from Stadshuset (City Hall)

The two Uppsala landmarks (castle and cathedral) from Stadshuset

Many bicyles at the station

Going for a early evening stroll next to Fyrisån (Fyris river)

Lanes of trees next to Fyrisån

Enjoying the view from Kungsängsbron (bridge over the Fyris river)

Discussing the interesting statues at the train station

Day 3, First Stockholm visit, Stockholm boat trip, Gamlastan (old town Stockholm)

On the train to Stockholm

Waiting for the Tunnelbana (Metro) in Stockholm

"Stockholm under the bridges" sightseeing with the Riksdag (parliament) in the background 

On the sightseeing boat

Lunch (and desert) in the park after the sightseeing

Visiting the Vasa museet

Day 4,  Old Uppsala - church, mounds, museum and Odinsborg restaurent

At Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala) with the two (new) Uppsala landmarks on the horizon

Grave mounds at Old Uppsala

At Old Uppsala Cathedral

Enjoying the sun at Disagård (open air farm museum next to Gamla Uppsala Cathedral)

Enjoying lunch at Odinsborg restaurant

Visiting Gamla Uppsala Museum to learn about Vikings

We had quite a few tubs of these

Day 5, Stockholm - Archipelago tour and visit to Gamla Stan in Stockholm

Back to Stockholm for another boat trip

Waiting for the start of the archipelago boat tour

Enjoying the "vibe" in the glamorous Strandvagen in Stockholm

Kicking off the archipelago tour with a pear cider

In front of parliament in Stockholm

On our way to Gamlastan (Old town) of Stockholm

Mamma in front of Stockholm Stadhuset (city hall), where the annual Nobel Prize dinner is held. The rule for this occasion is that every Nobel prize winner should sit next to a member of the Swedish Royal family

Day 6, Uppsala - walk in forest, buffet lunch at Skarholmen, Uppsala castle and Botanical garden

A walk in the forest at Hågadalen

Buffet lunch at Skarholmen

Looking out over the Botanical Gardens from Uppsala Castle

The canons that the king pointed at the Cathedral as a warning to the archbishop

Uppsala Castle

Day 7, Uppsala - visit to IKEA and lunch at the station restaurent

A visit to Sweden would not be complete without a visit to IKEA

Very much at home in IKEA

The old station in Uppsala - now a restaurant

Lunch at the station restaurent

Day 8, Stockholm again - Skansen open air museum

Another train trip to Stockholm

Catching the tram to Djurgården (translates to animal farm). The green oasis island of Stockholm

Visiting Skansen open air museum on Djurgården

Taking the funicular in Skansen

Raindeer

View over Stockholm from Skansen

A soldiers cottage

Taking a well deserved break

Old town and man in time period costume

Window shopping in Skansen old town

Lunch and a well deserved rest

Dinner - a very traditional Swedish dish - Falukorv (the famous sausage from Falun)

Day 9, Uppsala, quiet day in town, sunset cruise on Lake Mälaren

Enjoying some cherries next to the river Fyris that runs through Uppsala town

Another boat trip - this time in Uppsala. Sunset cruise on the M/S Linnea. Cruising up the Fyris River into Lake Mälaren for an awesome sunset accompanied by a typical Swedish Räkor buffet (shrimp buffet)

Returning to a dusky Uppsala (around 11 pm in the night)

Day 10, Uppsala - boat trip to visit Skokloster castle on Lake Mälaren

An early morning for another boat trip on Lake Mälaren - this time to Skokloster castle

Nice day at the beach on Lake Mälaren

Approaching Skokloster Castle

Having a rushed lunch at Skokloster before running to catch the return boat

The dash for the boat. Pappa won by far

Cruising back to Uppsala through a number of drawbridges

Day 11, Uppsala, last day in town

Day 12, Goodbyes on Arlanda airport

No photos :(


Thank you Pappa and Mamma for a wonderful time and a "lekker kuier". Hope to see you here again very soon :)


R&C