It was a farewell to Uppsala and our kind hosts. Uppsala had such a welcoming feel, the lighting of the whole town felt so calm.
Back in our Lil Volvo. From Ingrid's recommendation, we were on our way to Sigtuna; the oldest town in Sweden. Just 30 mins away, but already it felt like a completely new place. With lots of small buildings all attached to each other, and no building reaching higher than a small two stories high, you could imagine what it would have been like. We visited the quaint church that is the first thing you see when you enter the town. Behind the fully standing church are some ruins of the previous church, it had a small rune stone embedded up high for all to see. Around the corner from these ruins were some more, but these ones were Lars'. St Lars' to be exact.
Trying not to slip, we made our way through the Main Street and to a souvenir shop that had the friendliest and most helpful lady. Down by the water, or ice shall I say, was the beginnings of a competition being set up. Everyone was fastening their skates on, a BBQ was set up, and here were braziers sitting in the ice. It did not look very safe, but they know what they are doing!
After a quick tea and treat in a small little house cafe, we were back on the road. I had entered the car park through the bus lane and confused everyone, so I made sure I went the correct way out! We headed straight for Bro. Yes, there is a town called Bro in Sweden. To them it is normal, and they must wonder why they have people constantly parked outside their small town sign laughing and taking photos. We saw a man who was the most Bro that could have ever Bro'd. Lars said 'Sup Bro', he just looked at us with a face that said 'no'.
Through some more beech tree woods, on the windy roads, with constant fear of imminent deer heard attacks; we arrived in Västerås. We were on a mission to find some quaint Swedish goods in some Charity Shops. For me, when you find a jewel amongst all the junk, you find cheaper items that have many more chapters in their story than brand new items do. But alas, in this town we weren't so lucky!
We met up with Ulrika, who is Lars' Mum's cousin, and who we were staying with for the night. We walked in to town through the back streets, seeing how people go about their day to day business. Something that I found amusing was that in winter, the council put barriers on public passageways, not to stop people from using them, but to say that no one is going to clear away the snow and ice. There is no point for them to clear is away, it will all swiftly fall back in the same place soon enough. Something that I cannot get my head around!
Some of you may know of Lars' alliance with Swedish socks. He only wears socks from Sweden. If they are really cool socks from another country, it's not going to happen. This love affair with Swedish socks started in Västerås. Inga (Ulrika's husband) owns a men's clothing store. It was here that Lars purchased his first pair of Topeco socks. There was never any going back. There is reason. The Swedes construct and design everything to suit a purpose. Socks were not going to be any different.
The four of us headed to a English Pub for a drink before dinner. They look and feel the same in every country. Then from England to Italy, we were off to have dinner in a Bike Store. The owner owned a well respected bicycle store for many years, and he thought about what could make his store even better; Pizza and Pasta! A shared platter to start, cheese, bread, grilled vegetables and a giant artichoke. The main course was, of course, Pizza and Pasta. Both made for people with bigger eyes than their stomachs, that was not going to stop me. After the outlandish amount of carbs, washed down by wine, it was time to walk it off on our way home. Food coma expected.
The Last Day in Sweden
It was time to say our farewells. A quick walk down to the ice to see experts skating and newbies falling over. We stood on the ice, now with full confidence that we wouldn't fall through. You may remember that we talked about a loud, booming noise that we mistook for a crack when we first arrived. We heard another boom on this day, louder, and more powerful than the others that we had heard, the vibrations would have gone out for kilometres. We took that has a goodbye from Sweden itself. We had nearly a two hour drive to the airport, simple, no issues. Not for Lars and Laura! When Lars needs to relieve his bladder, he really needs to relieve his bladder. Nothing else in the world is important or can be done until he has done exactly that. Just like the rest of the roads in Sweden, it was all trees. There was no where to pull over. After about 40 minutes of this, we found a side road to pull down. Turns out that it was a long driveway for some farm houses. Without a care, Lars went to jump out of the car. Up over a ridge comes a nice family, out for a Saturday stroll. He couldn't go anywhere now, but with the though that he was about to experience freedom meant that he could not get back in the car and drive. His only option was to tip my Coca Cola out and use that. He used my scarf to cover himself and I jumped put of the car to distract the sweet family from looking in and seeing my husband weeing into a bottle. They eventually walked past and a great sigh of relief feel upon both Lars and I. More for Lars because I still needed to go, and I am not going in a bottle. The rest of the drive to the airport was one in silence due to the amount of concentration I now had to hold.
Labels: Sweden 2017
