Monday 27 July 1998

Slideshow Pictures

Woke up and had breakfast. Rosemarie, Rita’s cousin, and Peter, her husband, who were visiting Sweden from Helsinki phoned Helmer that they were on the way to Broby. They hadn’t known that we were in Sweden, it was just a coincidence. We waited until they arrived.

Spent a short time talking with them, and then we left for Gimo.

About half way to Gimo we stopped at a roadside restaurant to have something to eat. It was around 2:00 p.m. lunch was finished but we managed to get something to eat. The food was pretty bad, stale salad and leftovers. In Stockholm we stopped at a gas station had a hot dog and something to drink and proceeded to Gimo.

We arrived in Gimo around 6:00 p.m. We asked a young man where Åkerigatan was, he wasn’t sure but told us to look in one area. Åkerigatan was just around the corner. We went into Hildur’s place stayed a short while and then drove with her to Leif and Helene’s home in Östhammar. A nice house with a nice view of the ocean. We freshened up and had dinner.

A wonderful dinner, that Hildur had prepared. After dinner we looked at some family albums and then went to bed. We slept in Leif and Helene’s bedroom while Rachel slept in Johana’s bedroom. They slept in the basement with Hildur.

 Tuesday 28 July 1998

Woke early, Hildur and Leif made breakfast and then we went to Forsmark an old steel foundry, that was established by Belgians, now used as a museum.

After, we went to look at a nuclear reactor and then off to Öregrund.

Helene who had worked during the day joined us. Had a snack at a seafood restaurant.

Bought Johana a toy horse as a gift. in one of the stores in town and Kaj’s sons a couple of CD’s.

The weather was quite cold, we had to wear our jackets in the restaurant. After we went to the beach, where Jonna went for a swim.

As was mentioned earlier we were wearing sweaters and it was cold.

Later Leif joined Jonna in the frigid waters while we stood shivering on the beach. On the way back to Leif and Helene’s we stopped at a farm where they kept Jonna’s and Helene’s horses. Then headed back to Leif and Helene’s.

Later in the evening Rita’s cousin Kaj, his wife Annika, and their sons Sebastian and Christian, joined us for dinner.

I was out of cigarettes and had to run out to a convenience store to buy some. Walked into the convenience store and asked for cigarettes. The cigarette shelves at the store were totally empty. They were completely out. I was told that the tax on cigarettes were being lowered the next day and they hadn’t stocked up at the old tax rates. I asked if any other store in town would have cigarettes. The clerk said they would all be out. So I went back to Leif’s house looking forward to an evening of suffering. Annika had an extra package of cigarettes and she gave it to us. I took a liking to Annika immediately.

During the meal the subject of Surstömming came up. It is fermented fish from the north of Sweden. Apparently when the Surstömming is ripe, the lid on the glass jar it is sold in, starts bulging. This is the top quality stuff, popular in Scandinavian countries.

Rita, being Rita, began to get excited about the Surstömming, and asked if they could get her a jar of the REAL good stuff which she could bring back to Canada. I began to panic. My imagination took me 35,000 feet up, inside the airplane we were taking back to Canada. The lowered cabin pressure would probably be too much for the jar lid. I could see Surstömming hanging off the ceiling, with Rita holding the empty glass jar.

Wonderful dinner with wonderful people. Having finished dinner and having exhausted the stories about Surstömming, Annika and Kaj left, and we went to bed.