Sweden Adventure Part 3: Grimstorp Gård & Nässjö

It was a relief to take a short, uncomplicated train ride and end up in a very familiar place: Nässjö Centralstation.  Mattias has ended up there dozens of times in his lifetime, and every time Sune is there to meet him.  In his late eighties, Sune wasn't about to break tradition.  With timetables in hand, he guided us to the stop where we'd catch the bus to our farm house accomodations in Grimstorp.  Sune's references indicated our bus left in hours, but when Mattias corrected him with an even earlier departure time care of Google, Sune asked "Who's that?"

 Grimstorp Gård is a big field with a house, and a little offshoot of pavement that only slightly indicates a bus might stop there.  We rented a renovated farm cabin to share with the East Coast Karlssons for the rest of the week.

 

Even with a few incoveniences, the house and surroundings were perfect for the boys.  The owners were grandparents themselves, and had a fully stocked playhouse, complete with outdoor toys and a sandbox.  The gravel road leading to the house was just a bonus.

 

Surrounded by an old fashioned wooden farm fence and nothing but a country a road in front of the house, the boys were free to play and explore with limited supervision.  I loved laying in the grass, which from the close up below you can appreciate is actually 75% moss.

 

That evening Kerstin and Magnus came by to see the whole lot of us at the house.  The boys hadn't seen them for more than a week, and they were super happy to be with Farmor & Farfar.

It was pretty special to be reunited all of a sudden like that, in a quaint and simple place.  What a pleasure: seeing our family, the young and the old, simply enjoying each others' company.

A few days later we celebrated my 34th birthday on the patio, in the best way possible: no fuss, very few gifts, and a homemade cake.  

Nearby there is a small lake to swim in, but you had to risk crossing 4 railroad tracks and crouching under barbed wire to get there.  After weighing our risks and learning to listen for approaching 125mph X2000 trains we decided, "Why the heck not?"

 

While it was pretty to look at, we were greeted by fire ants and mosquitos. This visit was a mere photo opportunity-- as soon as Ellie gets bitten, the whole troop has to abandon mission.

We were surrounded by nothing and everything at the same time.  At Grimstorp we had hours to hang out in the grass, to pick through the gravel, to stare at the clouds.

  

One morning we caught the bus back to Nässjö so that Mattias could visit Sune at home. 

While small, I always thought Nässjö's town center was pretty.  It had been 7 years since my last visit and it was a comfort to see all the usual landmarks.

  Mattias headed over to Sune's while we stayed behind at the Stadspark with the kids. 

We found this family of swans while walking around the lake.  They're pretty, but they're mean! 

Before we left we had to visit the wall of candy that lives in every convenience store. All the relaxation at Grimstorp was just a prelude to the main event, the big reason for our visit this summer: Pallarpfest 2014.  To be continued...

Sweden Adventure Part 2: Jonköping & Beyond

As much as we enjoyed city living, we were ready to kick back and relax, and explore an area we haven't visited before.  After a lot of research and discussion we settled on staying in Jonköping for a few days.  To get there we had to take a 2 hour train ride then transfer to a bus.  Travelling by train is so much nicer with kids, they get to move around (no seat belts!) and enjoy the scenery.

Due to some unforeseen track issues our train was 20 minutes late into Linköping-- just  when our bus was supposed to leave the station.  We had a game plan: Mattias was to sprint to the bus with our tickets and beg for mercy so that they would wait for us.  Alvin and I would try to get the three kids and all our shit there as quickly as possible.  Did it work?  You bet!  Mattias practically ran in front of the bus just as it was pulling away.  He held it for 5 minutes while all the passengers onboard watched me and Alvin and all our kids/luggage run down the road to the station.  And when we boarded we were greeted by a lot of irritated faces.  Luckily one woman was kind enough to move so that I could squeeze myself and all three boys into 2 seats.  

Our arrival to Jonköping felt like a huge exhale.  We were greeted at the station by our Airbnb host who drove me, Anders, and all our luggage up to her house on the hill.  We rented 3 out of 4 of her bedrooms, and had the full run of her beautiful home.

We were welcomed to a living room with books, legos, and train tracks.

The back yard was the best part for the whole family.  In the evenings we would relax and booze up on a huge boulder overlooking Lake Vättern.

Linus used the apple tree and some other stuff to open up his own apple store.  No iPads or MacBooks-- just apples.  The boys favorite activities were sliding down the grass hill and collecting the jumbo garden slugs.

 On the last warm day before the rains came we spent the morning at the beach.  Lake Vättern is Sweden's 2nd largest lake, guaranteeing the waters are always cold.  But we're from Northern California so it wasn't such a big deal for us.

 We also liked walking through the city itself, with a few rows of preserved wooden buildings.  Our main reason for heading into town was to buy candy at a recommended candy shop.

 Godis Huset (The Candy House) was everything Mattias could hope for.  We gave each of the bigger boys a small bag of their own to fill and take back to San Francisco.  Have you ever seen kids in a candy store?  I felt like I was fulfilling their wildest dreams.

 The following day we took a bus to the town of Gränna, which has been making peppermint sticks since 1859.  The town is located at the base of a steep rocky mountain and has old wooden houses with cobblestone streets.

 We watched a candy making demonstration, and of course bought more candy.

 Then we took a ferry to Visingsö, an island in Lake Vättern.  In the middle ages Swedish kings ruled from here, but all that remains are the ruins.

It was rainy and chilly but we had fun watching the kids rip around the old 17th century ruins.  They really wanted to find a dungeon.

 The rest of our time we spent at the neighborhood park or the city park (Stadspark).  Even with a small population, the city managed to build an awesome playground, family amusement area, sports stadium, bird museum, and cultural museum.  Why can't we do this in the US???

There is an old cottage from the 1700s furnished with period furniture and handcrafts, and this viking  runestone.

Swedish summer, no matter what the weather, means that ice cream is always appropriate no matter the time of the day.  Even with salt licorice sprinkles on top.