Day 62: Paris in Four Hours

1 novembre 2009 (Day 62)

Today I had to leave my wonderful family. I was pretty tired after going to bed after 1 am and waking up at 5 to be ready to go. Gunnar, Catherine, and Gabriella came with us to the airport. It was around a two hour drive so we had to head out early. We three girls slept most of the way. The family was all so cute and waited for us to get past security before leaving. I got some wonderful hugs along with a lot of the cinnamon buns that we made. They really are the sweetest family, I am going to miss them loads.

Brooke and I hung out/slept/laughed at the boy with 5 layers on taking them all off/talked to a cute French family before leaving. We met some kids from Minnesota who were going all around Europe studying international business. They go to some private school so it is ALL included in their $15,000/semester tuition to go to multiple countries with their professor teaching them in the hotel, planning trips, etc. We both slept on the bumpy Ryan Air flight into rainy Paris. We took a 13E bus from Beauvais into Paris. It was a lot warmer in Paris than in Stockholm! I could also feel my skin slowly start to break out as it felt the French air. It was magical; in Sweden my skin cleared up and wasn’t all nasty feeling, but now that I am back in France it is back to greasy grossness. But enough about my skin, let’s talk about Paris. We walked by the Pompidou on our way to the church there, which was closed (it was around 3pm). We passed by the Notre Dame of Paris and the Seine on our way to the Pantheon. I showed my respect to people like Volataire, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Mr. Louis Braille, Rousseau, Zola in this neoclassical monument "To the great men, the grateful homeland.”

Afterwards we barely missed getting into the Louvre for free so we people watched and walked over to the Eiffel Tower. It started raining hard enough that we made our way to the metro. Brooke had fun playing with all the broken umbrellas from the wind and rain that had ruined them. Brooke successfully evaded paying to get into the metro, and I paid, being the law abiding citizen that I am.

We amused ourselves watching people make out, Dumbledore, and pigeons trying to attack people for about 2 hours. We munched on cinnamon buns, apples, and talked about movies. I then left on the TGV, leaving Brooke to fend for herself in Paris. And yes, the metro really does smell like pee. I slept most of the way home and caught the last tram. I talked to Oskar, a boy raised in SLC, Utah who is part Egyptian and part French. I got home and couldn’t fall asleep. Bienvenue a Nantes! I really loved Sweden and didn’t want to come back to France, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Brooke and I had a lot of fun seeing all of Paris really quickly while getting soaked and barking at all the people trying to sell us miniature Eiffel Towers.

Day 61: Halloween at the Palaces

31 octobre 2009 (Day 61)

Happy Halloween! They don’t really celebrate Halloween in Sweden, so no one dressed up or gave me candy. Instead we went and visited the current residence of the Royal Family, Drottningholm Palace. Drottningholm Palace was built in the 17^th century as a summer home that mimicked Versailles. It is very well-preserved and represents the architecture of that period. Gabriella’s mom drove us there and came along with since she has never seen Drottningholm Palace. We walked around in the gorgeous gardens while we waited for the Palace to be open. There is a beautiful baroque garden as well as a Chinese Pavilion. Back in the day everyone dreamt about going to China so they built a Chinese Pavilion using their imagination. It really doesn’t look like something you would find in China. There were hedge mazes and giant trees in the English Garden.

We went on a tour of part of the palace and learned that the palace was built by architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder by commission of Queen Hedvig Eleonora. A number of royal personages have since then left their mark on the palace. This is seen by the various rooms. Some have interiors completely changed. The library is incredible and has many rare books. The state bedchamber (the fake bedroom) of the king and queen were very impressive, all in blue and gold (Sweden’s colors). This was a room that was an honor to be invited to, as a symbol of intimacy. There are other rooms that follow the trends of that time period…Chinese things, murals on the ceilings. I liked going with Gabby’s mom because she asks lots of questions. Our tour guide was a really pretty girl majoring in history. In the palace they had stuffed lions hidden everywhere for the children’s tours which made it even more exciting! Sadly, you aren’t allowed to take pictures though!

We ate lunch in another part of the garden by a pond with lots of ducks. It was an area with lots of trees and bridges, green grass and white marble statues (thank you Gustav III). We watched the ducks as we ate our sandwiches. We crossed a little further after we ate and found some sheep. They are apparently the king’s sheep and they get moved to various parts of Sweden to graze. We started getting closer to them and they came to us! It was really hilarious having all these sheep charge towards us. They liked my shoes and they like Gabriella as well. We also walked around some more, which included I trip off the beaten path to find mushrooms and Langdon berries! I hope that the king doesn’t mind!

Tonight we made peanut butter fingers since Axel loves peanut butter. They were delicious. We had leftovers for dinner and made more cinnamon buns as well! We had ice cream and chocolate pie for dessert. We watched another Miss Marple and got back scratches. It was a perfect Halloween evening.

Day 60: Finding Roots in Rural Sweden

30 octobre 2009 (Day 60)

Today was the day of the family hunt! We woke up, packed lunches and headed off to Utterback county. The country-side drive was really pretty (2-3 hours) and reminded me of some of the states. It was a pretty quiet ride since the girls fell asleep while “Dad” drove. He really was such a sweetheart to take us. We drove all around Orebro county looking for different villages. We saw a lot of Karlskoga, a big city (where Mr. Nobel was born). Karlskoga (skog meaning woods) is near the beautiful lake Mockeln. We were able to visit Utterback and Strabergsmyren in the car. These are both small villages where my ancestors lived. It was really humbling and really neat to see where my ancestors lived, worked, walked, and did everything. The villages are still tiny, maybe around a dozen or so homes in each. It was too bad I didn’t find any relatives, but it was still fantastic to see where many of them grew up.

We went to the cemetery in Karlskoga and ate leftover meatballs there. It was really chilly, but I still looked in the cemetery to see if I could find any relatives. I didn’t notice any names I recognized, but I think I might have seen some relatives. Gabby’s dad went and asked in the church about other cemeteries. We then drove up to this GIANT cemetery. It was huge, I think it might have been bigger than Arlington Cemetery. Needless to say, we didn’t have a chance finding my relatives there, especially since it was getting dark. It was cool to see all of the wreaths and lights laid out for November 1^st (All Saints Day) to remember the dead.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to see where my family lived and worked. It is still very much uninhabited and woody. You can imagine my great great someone or other walking through those same woods to their friends.

Day 59: I Went on the But!

29 octobre 2009 (Day 59)

I really love breakfast. Today with my favorite I even got toast. You see, I have been craving toast since I have been in France, so having toast is wonderful. We went into the city again today. We went for a walk on some of the hunting grounds and had lunch there. It was nice, but we were freezing! It was a really cold day in Stockholm today. We went into the Old City for Gabriella to get some of that yummy white hot chocolate that I had gotten when we were in the old city the last time. We sat and Gabby drank her hot chocolate by some of the guards by the palace.

The highlight of the day was most definitely the boat trip. We weren’t sure that there would be one because it isn’t exactly tourist season, but we luckily found one with some cute mariners. We went on the outside part and watched the world go by! It was around an hour ride. It was so neat to see more of Stockholm and it was all so beautiful. We got back to our starting point as the sun was setting.

We went back into the center of the city and I bought a long hot dog because Faira Forsman said that I had to try one. It was pretty good.

This evening we had a Swedish tradition, pea soup and pancakes. The pancakes were really good, and almost as thin as crepes! I love my fun Swedish family. Watching Miss Marple, being all proper at dinner, it is just all so fun. They are such a nice family and I love them and their house.

Day 58: Museums and Meatballs

28 octobre 2009 (Day 58)
Today was another wonderfully fun day in Sweden. I woke up and had my new favorite breakfast of all time…museli and yogurt!
Today we decided to go to the Museum of Natural History. We made some home lunches (sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, Swedish rice pudding, etc.) and then took the train to the museum. We got off at the wrong stop (but didn’t realize it for a while) so what did we do? Gabby called her dad and I busted out the kanelbullar. I think cinnamon rolls are always essential when one is lost.
We got back onto the train and got off at the right stop. we walked up to the museum past some garden plots. The Museum of Natural History was really impressive. They even had English translations on some of the things. I bet that it would have been a lot better if I spoke Swedish though! They had an awesome exhibit about the human body with larger than life exhibits and cool machines to check out. There were tons of little people on field trips and it was fun to watch them, although they were hogging all the cool activities! I think my favorite exhibit was the rocks. I have never seen so many! I touched an iron meteorite, the oldest thing you can touch and saw rocks that were every color of the rainbow. The animal exhibit was quite large. They had all sorts of animals that had been stuffed including crazy rare animals, butterflies, and native animals. They had lots of stuffed birds. They had fish (that were alive) and this super long squid (which was not). They had an interesting evolution of man exhibit that I didn’t at all agree with. They had a weather exhibit and one with pictures from space. The photos were incredible. They had multiple close up pictures of each planet. The universe is incredible! They had a pretty neat little dinosaur exhibit as well. They had some dinosaurs that moved! My favorite was this little dino that was snoring.
We had lunch in the basement in a cute little lunch area. It was so good! I love Sweden. After lunch we went and waited in line for the 3D Movie: Sea Monsters! Brooke and I got a sweet headphone set so we could hear the original version, lol. The 3D-ness was awesome (as well as our 3D glasses) and the story was really neat. It followed the life of a sea monster that they found the bones of.
After we were tuckered out from the museum we went home and I made meatballs! I am quite a pro now! They were delicious meatballs and we had them with mashed potatoes and veggies. I could eat those meatballs all the time! Yum yum!
I don’t know if I have mentioned them or not, but I love feather blankets!