For our week in the Swedish countryside we opted to rent a van for the many little trips we’d be taking. Julie and I hopped on the express train to the Stockholm airport (Arlanda). I hadn’t realized it was a high speed train until I glanced up at the speed indicator, did a little kilometer to miles conversion…and realized we were zipping along at 115mph! You could hardly tell we were moving that fast. We ended up renting a large, white Hertz van, with 3 rows of seating, and best of all…a manual transmission!
By early afternoon we’d reached Gerd’s house in Saxdalen, a small village in the Ludvika municipality of Dalarna county. Gerd explained that those living, or with roots, in Dalarna are very proud to hail from the region, as it is considered the cultural heart and soul of Sweden. The place is absolutely gorgeous, and we had arrived for some spectacular weather.
As if the prospect of more home cooking wasn’t enough, we were also looking forward to the break from hotel rooms and rented apartments. Gerd’s house had two spare rooms, and Conor and Skyler were able to stay in the house next door which Erika and Anna had recently acquired from their neighbor of 30 years (it’s the tan house in the photo above). When we arrived, their father Hans-Erik was hard at work fixing the place up. After we settled in, Julie, the kids and I spent a few hours down at the local lake before the evening’s festivities.
By dinner we gathered back at Gerd’s for drinks, Hans-Erik’s moose stew, and more cousins! Some I’d met as a child, others we were meeting for the first time. We enjoyed a wonderful summer evening on Gerd’s back deck with Inger and Anders, Inger’s mother Ann-Marie, brother Thomas and son Viktor.
On this particular evening we were introduced to the Swedish tradition of toasting with song, using a small glass of spirits like aquavit or flavored schnapps. They even had napkins with the lyrics for a variety of songs. Anna had mentioned the practice earlier, and I’ll admit some trepidation when I mistook her explanation of singing to drink as a solo endeavor. Luckily it ended up being a group effort, and the Swedes did a wonderful job of drowning out the Americans who either mumbled along, or tried to lip sync. Skyler did his best to redeem our national pride by taking down the whole shot after each song…although, it was quickly pointed out that you’re only supposed to take a sip. A good laugh had by all!
After dinner we were introduced to another fun past time, the lawn game Kubb. You split into two teams, then take turns using wooden batons to knock over small wooden blocks in a specific sequence until the winning team knocks over the “king”.
