We are in Sweden! The trip was quite an adventure. It started early with a van picking us up at the hotel for the airport. One of the places we didn't get to in Paris was the Arc D'Triumph, and by coincidence, the driver (en route to picking up guests at other hotels) took us there. All of a sudden we were swirling around it in what seemed to be utter chaos with cars and pedestrians going this way and that. We got to the airport in plenty of time but were very nervous about going over the weight limit--only 15 kg. was allowed, a full 10 pounds less per bag than either Northwest or British Air allowed. We each wore layers of sweaters and sweatshirts and stuffed our rain jackets with things from the suitcases so we wouldn't be charged the extra weight. As it turned out, only Carina's suitcase was over, and the kind worker ignored it! As we were waiting for the plane, I met a very nice woman from Canada who was working a few days in France and who was bound for Copenhagen to visit her Danish parents. She gave us lots of good tips about Denmark including how to find everything in the Danish airport quickly. We had only about 30 minutes once we landed to get luggage, go through customs, validate our Scan Rail train passes, pick up our seat reservations for later trains in Denmark, and find the train to Sweden, and get on it! We did it!
The train took us over Öresundsbron--the bridge built between Copenhagen and Malmö so that one needn't take a one hour ferry as in the past. We arrived in Malmö with plenty of time to wait for the train to Kalmar, so we hung out at the train station and enjoyed a Burger King meal--not must different than in the States but much more expensive.
The train ride was about 3 hours to Kalmar. The kids plugged in the computer and watched a movie while I read and enjoyed the southern Swedish countryside. When we arrived in Kalmar, not a minute after leaving the train we were greeted with big bear hugs from Rolf and Inger Lennartsson, the parents of Åsa (Maja)who worked at Swedish camp two years ago. Because they had been following our trip on the Blog, they knew exactly what we looked like even though we didn't know what they looked like! What a great couple! They first took us to Kalmar Castle and a great view of seagulls and Östersjön (the Baltic Sea).
We were working our way up to their farm on the west coast in Oskarshamn and stopped at many beautiful places which had great views and stories. We saw the stream where Carl-Gustaf XVI, the Swedish king, salmon fishes at the opening of the season. We crossed the bridge over to the island of Öland and had a great little picnic.
We stopped at a park where the kids attacked the playground equipment and played like little kids. The best part came when we arrived at their farm made up of 8 buildings, including a house just to ourselves, and a stream running through it. The name of their farm is Applerums kvarn. "Kvarn" means mill. They even have their own mill which generates electric power. Then we went inside and were greeted by their 5 cats and 4 month old kittens.
Robby and Carina had a great time playing with the kittens and even named each one. Dinner was wonderful! It was so great to have homemade food--special Swedish pannbiff, a type of hamburger made of ox and lamb meet, salad, cheeses, melon. It was a feast. We stayed up sharing stories and laughing and finding comparisons between Swedish and US schools. Rolf and Inger are both teachers so we had so much in common--but above all a love of children and family and learning.
Here's a professional picture of Kalmar Slott (the Kalmar castle):
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