Rising the flag in honor of us being there!
Sol-Brit (cousin) and Bengt our hosts
Discovering Halmstad Sweden
Friday, Saturday and Sunday night treats
We arrived in Halmstad Sweden (west coast, south) on Friday September 27, 2013 by way of three trains and a very expensive bus. We left Stockholm almost missing our train because of our lack of Swedish reading skills (it's a good thing were friendly and ask people what's going on). To make a long story short, Swedish is hard to understand, some people tell us wrong info, we missed a train and ended up on a bus on the middle of no where with no way of contacting anyone! Great adventures!
Sol-Brit (Sollan) was very understanding and picked us up at Halmstad Central Station (a bit confused why we came on the bus entrance instead of the train)!
We headed out into the woods where her little farm was and she has fika waiting! Yay fika, our favorite meal!!! The 3 days we stayed with Sollan and Bengt we made it tradition to have fika time with the English Swedish dictionary out, learning new words!
We stayed in the cutest little cabin that Bengt builds for a living! It came equipped with a bathroom and sleeping car partner (his name was Klösan and he was our favorite cat!)
We partook in Friday night traditions of eating lots of candy, drinking wine and watching Swedish Idol! So fun because we had no idea if the judges liked a contestant or not, we could just sing along with all the songs!
The next day we had a most wonderful breakfast (I swear we haven't felt hunger in 3 weeks)! We enjoyed a long walk with Sollans little pup Fia (who despite her cuteness most defiantly was not fond of Americans haha ;) )
Sollan took us into Halmstad where we got to explore the city of about 45,000. We walked through the shopping central square and into the north gate of the old wall around the city (to protect it from the Danish... Bloody Danish)! We climbed what seemed like a billion stairs (Kirdy tried to run up them) and finally made it to the top of the "hill." There was a great outdoor museum of old houses and farmsteads to look at! We also got to check out an old look out tower and the old area they used to hang people! Hey, at least as you were being beheaded you had a good view of the city ;)
That night after we made homemade aloe and buffalo wings, we had a repeat of Friday night, but this time with new candies, wine and a show called battle of The Chorus! It was so fun and such a great time to relax!!!
Day 2.5 with Sollan and Bengt started with another great breakfast and dog walk! We were loving life on the country side, walking through the woods and relaxing! Our cousin Bibbi came over with her family for fika! Sollan pulled off making heart shapes waffles that we slathered in Bibbi's homemade jam (honestly we are too spoiled and getting fat)! It was great to meet and chat with more family! It's funny how even though we are total strangers, there is always an instant bond! These people are related to our farmor. A little piece of her rooted on Sweden!
Monday, we had to pack up our little cabin and get on our way (it's funny how many things can explode out of one backpack)! We went to another cousin's house for fika! Siv is the youngest of the cousins and she lives with her husband, son and 2 month old black lab puppy on a great farm! We enjoyed homemade apple pie, coffee and chit chat with family. Even Siv's mom (oldest loving relative on that side) joined us! It was a great time!
After our fika we headed to our last destination of Sweden, cousin Stig. On our way Sollan saw an old woman walking down the street named Siri. Turns out we are related to her! Her mother is our great grandfathers cousin! It was a crazy random encounter and was so great to have her show us the letters she saves from Catherine and Larry and Jack and Eloise!
We are so thankful for Sol-Brit and Bengt for hosting us and making us feel so comfortable! We loved our time and love you! It was relaxing and wonderful! We are so blessed to have you in the family and have had the chance to make memories with you! We will be waiting for you in America/ Mexico!
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