My extremely long journey home from Sweden was redeemed in the Philadelphia Airport: the news store had Stephanie Laurens’ latest novel Beyond Seduction. HALLELUJAH! I was ecstatic. My mother thought I was quite insane. The remaining five hour layover and five hour flight passed by quite enjoyably. I adore Stephanie Laurens! The store also had a program where you could return the book at any airport for 50% money back when you were done reading it. Why on earth would I want to give back a Stephanie Laurens book? What would I do when I want to read it again? I can think of a number of other books on which I’d be more than glad to get my money back, but not Stephanie. Never Stephanie.

Where was I? Oh right, Friday in Trollhättan. We drove to Vänersborg where my great grandmother, Dagmar, was born and where her father, Anton Johansson, was a brew-master at the Bluchers Brewery. My mother made friends with the research librarians at the library and we were able to locate the quarter of the city where the brewery was located (it closed and was demolished in the ’50s) and where my great great grandparents lived. We wandered around the few blocks, taking photos of the houses that were in existence at the time. Then we visited the church to which the family belonged. The librarian pointed out a book in Swedish that showed old photos of the town and had a photo of the brewery. My mom bought it at a local bookstore, and looking through it that night found a photo of my great great grandfather!!! He is pictured in a group photo of the brew-masters (front row, second from right). This is the very first photo we have of him.

We then drove out onto a large peninsula that juts out into Lake Vänern to see the castle Läckö Slott, and just missed the last tour. It was very pretty: a collection of white towers overlooking the lake. We drove back and it poured. I was certain we were experiencing the second Great Flood.

Saturday morning mom made friends with an elderly couple staying in our hotel who turned out to be from Seattle. It’s a small world. We went for a walk along the lovely Trollhättan Canal and drove six hours back towards Stockholm, stopping for dinner in the picturesque ancient capital city of Sigtuna. You know the rest – a looong journey home where I was greeted by my cat; my husband is traveling for work for another two weeks.

Ciaralira’s Quick Overview of Sweden:

Food
The Swedes love cucumbers. Who knew? We can’t figure out why a country with so many lakes and so much coastline doesn’t eat fresh fish – they pickle it. Lots of good breads. I ate cheese, cucumber, and red or green peppers on a piece of bread for two meals a day. A breakfast buffet was included in all hotels and consisted of the same things: pickled herrings, cultured milks, cucumbers, peppers, cheeses and meats, and breads and crackers. Everyone served Lipton tea, yuck, but apparently they have really good coffee (which I don’t drink). Swedes take Fika every afternoon like the Germans, which consists of coffee (or tea) and a small pastry or cake. We indulged in the tradition. Some of my favorite were the cardamon rolls, the Napoleons and Princess Josephines. My mom reports that reindeer is a tough, not very tasty meat. I’ll report that being a vegetarian isn’t that difficult unless you object to bread and cheese for many meals, or, heaven forbid, don’t like cucumbers. They also seem to like McDonalds, which were everywhere. Oddly we didn’t see a single Starbucks.

Music
The Swedes have on average five radio stations, one of which plays a single melody in electronic chimes, like a clock. The radio stations play a few old American songs, but most of the time play four songs on repeat, one of which is Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry”. My mom and I, driving for hours across the country, almost started crying after listening to it the five-hundredth time. We eventually gave up and turned off the radio altogether. Perhaps our rental car radio was broken? Perhaps most Swedes have satellite radio? Perhaps Swedes don’t listen to music? Who knows, but if you go to Sweden, bring your own music.

Transportation
Though the trains go most places and seemed quite efficient, it isn’t that cheap a way to travel. We ended up renting a car because it gave us greater flexibility and allowed us to visit the tiny village of Kannestubba. Swedish roads are very well engineered and Swedish drivers are über polite. Swedes bike everywhere. There are bike lanes and bike and pedestrian thoroughfares in all the towns. It was awesome. Apparently they even bike in the winter. I’ve never seen so many bikes in my life! My mom said it was like Holland. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go for a bike ride because of the rain.

Population
There are hardly any people in Sweden, which explains why there is no sprawl. One Swede explained to us that Sweden is twice the land size of the island of Britain, with a smaller population than the city of London. People are very well behaved, don’t litter, and are whiter than Seattlites, which is saying something. Everyone speaks English.

Highlights
Go to Stockholm and Lund. If I went again I might spend the whole time in Stockholm. It is, at this time, the most beautiful city I have ever visited.

More photos are up on flickr!