Today was definitely a cultural-historical day. We started out early with Michael driving us to the Falun Stora Kopparberg--the world's largest copper mine in Sweden located in the city called Falun right next to Borlänge. We took a tour in English down to the depth of the mine--66 meters, where it was very cold, and we had to wear helmets and rain coats.
The guide was excellent--funny, full of stories, and because we opted for the tour in English, there were fewer people on the tour so we could ask more questions.
The conditions the miners (as young as fourteen years of age with work days as long as 12-15 hours)had to endures are unbelievable to us today. There is evidence the mine existed even in the 6th century, but its full blossoming occurred in the mid 1600's. Apparently, the mine was discovered when a farmer's goat, known as Kårebocken, kept scratching its horns in a place on the farmer's property which turned the horns red. The farmer was so curious to see why the goat kept coming home with red on the horns, and he eventually discovered the rich store of copper there.
So famous is this mine that kings and queens have visited there, and at the very lowest point tourist may visit,
many have "signed their names in gold."
Not only did the mine produce copper, gold, and silver, which is no longer mined today, but from this koppargruva comes the famous red paint, known as Falu-rödfärg, the color that is so often seen on Swedish cabins.
The mine was given the distinction in 2001 of being named a World Heritage Site.
Next we went to visit Michael at one of his three video stores called Film och Fabel.
This one is the largest in Dalarna and is in downtown Falun. Carina and Robby liked looking at all the kid movies they remembered from younger days, and we all enjoyed free ice cream, too.
On next to the village of Sundborn, where the beautiful home of Carl Larsson, a Swedish artist, is situated. We had an awesome buffet with all you could eat of Swedish pancakes and/or hamburgers and/or fish soup. Everything was so delicious.
Next, Katie, Carina, and I took a tour of the Larsson home
and visited all the quaint little shops
and the church in the village while Sven and Robby went golfing.
We met up a couple of hours later at the church, where Carl Larsson and his family are buried. The church was built in the shape of a cross. The sun was shining, the birds singing, the scenery gorgeous; this is the Sweden I will always remember. Sven took us to see the wedding cottage where Carl von Linne and his wife were married. There had been a festival there the day before in honor of him and a garden with examples of many of the 7000 plants he has credit for naming was dedicated.
Then we went to Sven's house and visited with his wife Gunhild and were treated to fresh strawberries, milk, and coffee.
We had sent some small gifts from America, and they had bought us each some books and souvenirs from the copper mine and the jubileum of Linne. It seems everyone in Sweden is celebrating his 300 year birthday!
On the way back to Borlänge, we stopped at the famous ski jumping hill called Lugnet to check out the view.
This was built several decades ago for a world championship competition and is still used for summer training and competitions in the winter.
We checked out a new mini-golf course just built at the bottom of Lugnet with a different Falun attraction for each of the 18 holes.
Katie wanted a picture by the huge Kårebocken by Stora Kopparberg,
and we couldn't resist another picture by a pony-sized Dala-horse outside a gas station (gas, by the way, is about $6.50 a gallon here).
When we got back to Michael's, Gunn and Monica were also there, and we had a nice last visit with them before they were due to go back to Stockholm Friday. The kids played Kubb while we chatted about the high cost and long waiting for housing in Stockholm, the bands that Sofia had seen at the Borlänge Peace and Love Festival that opened today, and we turned in late, again surprised at how light is it outside in the middle of the night.
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