Finally arrived in Sweden via 24 hours in transit and then reunited with my friend (my Sverige, that’s Swedish for Sweden you know) at Copenhagen Central Station (just like a scene in a movie, I ran across a path of people, smashing my rolling luggage into their legs for the big hello hug!) It is so strange to see a friend again when you have not seen each other for two years. Lots of life experiences have rolled out for the both of us in that time, but then it seems like no time has passed at all. I only knew my friend for about ten months in Australia, but sometimes life is like that – you just connect with someone and that is it. We were sitting in the sun in Nyhaven drinking Carlsbergs and it felt like I’d just seen her last week!
After an afternoon in Copenhagen we got the train to her hometown of Almhult which happens to be the birthplace of IKEA! Her fiancé met us at the station and we went to her house and I met the famous Göran! What a charmer!
I gave him a kangaroo toy which after inspecting for awhile he was pretty chuffed with :-)
And I met the pretty Inga-lil, the funniest little thing I have ever seen, hee hee.
My first full day in Sweden we went for a forest walk which was so enjoyable. I love being out in nature and go for a bush walk every morning back at home. A forest walk is pretty much the same thing but sounds so much more whimsical doesn’t it? The terrain was different though, a lot more berries for one thing.
We stopped for a picnic in the sunshine and drank a delicious berry drink and ate Swedish cinnamon cakes (yum!) I was in summer holiday heaven. It was so nice to have Göran with us entertaining us with his antics. We picked and ate berries, sweet and warm in the sun, as we walked back out.
Göran – are you wearing a daisy chain necklace?
Then we went to Linnés Råshult which was the birthplace of Carl Linnaeus, the 18th century botanist who gave us the naming classification for all the plants and animals that we still use today. His passion for botany, science and medicine was astounding – he formally classified and named 8,000 plants and 4,000 animal species as well as minerals – crazy town!
We wandered around the plant and herb gardens which have been faithfully replanted in the exact way he had them when he was alive – he documented his garden so precisely that an exact replica was possible.
There was a small cottage that I believe was where he lived (maybe even was born in?), plus a cafe, gift store and museum.
There were some really fun garden features there.
I also read that Linnaeus is sometimes known as ‘Mr. Flower Power’ in Sweden – so I have a little soft spot for him in memory of my beloved former boogie board (RIP) which was affectionately (comically?) known as Flower Power by my group of beach buddies (well it did have flowers all over it and the words ‘Flower Power’ splashed across it – did I mention it was a kids board? But wowee, could it fly over those waves.).
In the afternoon we went to my friend’s parent’s house, they were both very friendly and down to earth. Sverige always said to me when she was in Australia that my parents reminded her of her parents and I could see why when I met them, they were very kind and welcoming. Her mum even gave me some Swedish lollies and some napkins with strawberries on them :-)
We had Fika which is the Swedish custom of having coffee with a treat a few times a day. I suppose it is like having morning or afternoon tea, though more frequently. It is, of course, right up my alley! And also explains why my friend and I spent so much time in cafes in Australia. But doesn’t explain how the Swedes are generally so slim. But anyway, her mum made a blackberry pie right there with us standing in the kitchen and we ate it fresh out of the oven – oh my! It was beautiful to look at and delicious to eat.
We ate it with coffee, not the kind of coffee I usually drink in Australia, much more intense than a latte and the sweet coffee they make in India – but surprisingly I really like it like this, it tastes simpler – fuss free.
We went into the garden to help dig up some veggies to take home for dinner (by help, I mean I took photos). The garden fences are much more neighbor friendly than the high backyard fences common in Australia. It is fun to observe all the little differences and similarities when visiting somewhere new.
When we drive in the car Göran travels in the back – aw look at this face!
The next day Sverige and I drove to the town Växjö and went shopping and ate lunch and had fika in some cosy cafes (I see a theme here). We sat in the sun at a footpath cafe and drank coffee and felt lazy. What are summer holidays for? No pressure!
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