Boatorp

Today was another day for family history. It was time for Joan and Anita to visit the farm where Joan's paternal grandmother lived until she emigrated to the U.S. The farm Boatorp is now owned by Sören and Barbro but was owned by Joan's ancestors for several generations until Joans great grandfather sold it in 1900 and moved to America.

This was the only one of their ancestors homes that we could actually walk inside, and it meant a lot to Joan and Anita to see the rooms where their ancestors lived and to have coffee in a room that looks the same now as it did back then. We spent a lot of time looking around, drinking coffee and talking. Sören, Barbro and their sons also took us to the Otto hill which is a small forest road that leads from Boatorp to another farm that Sörens grandfather owned many years ago. It is called Otto hill because it was on Otto's farm (Otto was Joan's great grandfather).

Thank you, Sören and Barbro, for a day that Joan and Anita will never forget!

Look at photos here

Mothers day

Today we spent most of the time at home, my dad and Joan were singing swedish songs together and we took a long walk around the farm. Anita and Joan also spent a lot of time out in the barn, together with my dad and his cows.

In the evening we had a little party with Ivan, Aina, Lage and Mona. It was very nice and everyone thought it was interesting to meet Joan and Anita.

Pictures from today>>

Shopping and eating

We began the day with some shopping in Vetlanda. Joan and Anita found some shops they really liked and spent time there with Janne while my mom and I went home to make meatballs for lunch. The weather was so nice so we could sit outside and eat. In the evening we went to Sandsjöbaden and had "planka" which you can see on the pictures on this site.

Öland

We slept a little bit longer today, and after breakfast decided to visit the glassworks in Målerås and Orrefors. First we had coffee at the café in Målerås and after that it was time for Joan and Anita to do some serious glass shopping! They enjoyed both Målerås and Orrefors, and when they were done shopping we still had some time left so we went to Öland.

There we visited Solliden, where the royal family lives during the summer. We walked through the parks and had a late lunch in the café. It was a very nice day, and also the warmest and sunniest day so far during Joan and Anita's visit!

Todays photos are here

From Stockholm to Vetlanda, via Linköping.

Today it was time to leave Stockholm and take our guests south to my parents in Vetlanda. But on our way there we had three important stops to make in the Linköping area. First was Vreta kloster where we met Lars Rolander who gave us a very nice tour in the church and told us the fascinating story about the church and the convent that used to be there. Lars also knew where Joan's maternal grandmother had lived before she left Vreta kloster so he took us there. It is now a playground, but it was still very interesting for Joan and Anita (and for Janne and me) to see it.

Next stop was Ledberg and our wonderful tourguides here were Vivi-Anne and Runar who took us to Kaga church and to Ledberg church, both very beautiful churches. They also invited us for lunch and coffee in their home, which we really appreciated. After that we went to Storhagen to see the place where the home of Joan's maternal grandfather had been. We also visited the school that he most likely attended as a child.

Our third stop was Vårdnäs and Skarnöborg. Another nice person, Lars Lind, showed us where one of Joan's relatives are buried, and also made it possible for us to look inside the church. The most exciting thing was of course when he took us out to the lake where we could see the island and the house where Joan's paternal grandfather used to live before he emigrated to the U.S. Unfortunately we couldn't get out to the island this time, but maybe another time when Joan and Anita come back to Sweden again.

We arrived to my parents late in the evening and had some smörgåsttårta (sandwich cake) with them before we all went to bed, exhausted.
I would like to thank Lars, Vivi-Anne, Runar and Lars who made this a very memorable day for Joan and Anita, but also for Janne and me!!

Look at todays photos here

Back in Stockholm again

Well, it was sunny in Helsinki, but when we came back into Stockholms beautiful archipelago, it was raining and raining again. We had a good breakfast buffet on the boat, then came in the harbour in Stockholm and took the most expensive taxi ever. I would like to warn everyone for a taxi company called Pixie Taxi, because they charge 3 times more than normal! :(
Anita and Joan spent the rest of the day doing laundry, had fun in the grocery store, and they also cooked a very good dinner for Janne and me. We had to work, but it was nice to come home in the evening and eat together with our American friends.

Sorry, no photos from today...

Helsinki

We left a very rainy Stockholm but arrived to sunny Helsinki this morning. Sunny but cold! So we didn't spend as much time outside in the city as we had planned because we were freezing too much. We did see a lot though, the fish market, the Old Market Hall, lots of shops in the city and the beautiful cathedral.
When we came back to the boat we sat outside in the sun for a couple of hours, then it was time for the big smörgåsbord again. Of course we ate way too much today too! Later in the evening Janne, Anita and I spent a couple of hours listening to Mike again.

Todays photos >>

Cruise to Helsinki

We woke up to a very rainy day:( Went home to my apartment (and Joan & Anita since they are staying there) and helped them to do some laundry. We had planned to go into town but the weather was so bad so we didn't want to go anywhere before we had to leave for our cruise to Finland. So it was afternoon when we took the commuter train into the city. We went to Värtahamnen and waited there until it was time to board the ship. Then it was time to eat smörgåsboard which we all enjoyed, but we ate way too much and could hardly walk back to the cabin afterwards. We also had a very nice time in one of the bars, listening to a guy called Mike Haywood who were singing until midnight.

Photos from the cruise are here

VIsiting the King & the Queen

Today was another sightseeing day. We decided to drive out to Drottningholm where the Royal family lives, and look at the palace and the gardens. It was cold, but sunny most of the time, so we had a nice time walking around there. After that, we felt it was time for some coffee, so we took our guests to Café Lyran in Bredäng, which is a very nice place, close to the water.
We also had time for some shopping in Länna and a short visit to give Filippa her birthday gift for her 4th birthday a couple of days ago.

Todays photos can be seen here >>

May 21st

I had to work today, but before I went there I took the bus home to my apartment and then followed Joan and Anita into Old Town so they wouldn't get lost on their way there:) They spent the day walking around Old Town, had lunch with Janne at Café Gråmunken and then all of them met me at Globen after work and the four of us drove to IKEA since that was a place Joan really wanted to go to. They had a lot of fun there! We also had dinner in the IKEA restaurant before we went home to my place to drop them off for the night.

See todays photos here >>

Skansen

Today we went to Skansen with Joan and Anita. Well, first we waited for their luggage which didn't come with the same plane as they did yesterday. When it finally got here they unpacked lot's of gifts for us, and after that we drove into the city. We spent the afternoon at Skansen looking at all the old houses there and at all the animals. We were lucky with the weather, only one short rain shower, but it was chilly even though the sun was shining most of the time.
After Skansen we went to Monteliusvägen where we took some photos of the beautiful view over Stockholm.

See photos from today here >>

Visit from Arizona & Wisconsin

This afternoon they finally arrived, our visitors from the U.S. We met Joan (from Mesa, Arizona) and her daughter Anita (from Frederic, Wisconsin) at the airport and it was great to see Joan again and of course also to meet Anita for the first time. For those of you who don't know, Joan is the sister of my very good friend Russ, and we spent a couple of days with her in Arizona last summer and became very good friends with her too. We began to plan for her trip already then, and now it was time for her and Anita to see the country where there ancestors were born and lived until they emigrated to America.

See photos from today here.

Too busy to blog:(

I am sorry that I never have time to write here... I have been so busy lately, I'm working all day, then spent a lot of time and energy applying for unemployment compensation for the hours that I don't work, and at the moment I'm very busy preparing for our American guests who will arrive in two weeks.

Anyway, as soon as I get a free moment I'll take some time and write here about our very nice weekend in New York where we went for a long weekend.