We're home. By the time we got our bags at LAX yesterday, it was 24 hours after we had checked out of the hotel at Arlanda (and given that we were awake well over an hour before we checked out, that's an even longer day). A vacation cut short, alas, but we did enjoy ourselves so very much while in Sweden. So let me recap!
On arrival in Bollnäs, we were met by Conrad's cousin Kersti and her husband, Ivar, and whisked off to lunch at the cafe of a beautiful garden shop, Mobackes Trädgårdscenter. The shop puts on an annual holiday display using many amaryllis flowers and other flora. It's not large, but the imagination shown was really delightful, and I'd never seen so many different colours and types of amaryllis. So lovely.
After lunch, we headed to Kersti and Ivar's home, a farmhouse from the 1800s. We stayed in the second house (also from the 1800s). The two are painted the typical red that you find all over Sweden, the Falu red.
You'll also find a lot of houses and farm buildings painted in a yellow, and the two together all over the country are such a beautiful combination, especially with a snowy backdrop. In addition, many homes have advent candles in the window, and the warm glow from them made for such a wonderful, warm sight.
Wednesday evening the family all gathered at the Långheds Bygdegård (the local community center)
for the Saint Lucia celebration, a traditional celebration before Christmas. Five of Kersti and Ivar's grandchildren were participating in the concert, and it was our first time seeing all of them - the eldest was in the womb when last we saw her mother and father in 2014. The children were all very sweet, though by the end they were a little antsy. It was super cute. There were a few sweets to enjoy, and we got to catch up with Kersti and Ivar's children (who are all close to me in age) as well.
Dinner back at the house followed that, with Olov joining us for a bit as well. Then? To bed. Lots of travel, I was still feeling the effects of the cold I had had, and we needed some sleep.
Thursday started off with terrible news from home: Conrad's mother had passed away the night before. It was an awful shock. And it also meant we had to scramble to change plans for the trip, cutting it short to get back to the USA. It was sad news for Kersti and Ivar as well - Kersti is Conrad's second cousin on his mother's side, and they had met Conrad's mother when they came to visit Michigan a number of years ago. We spent time that morning dealing with what arrangements we could before joining Kersti and Ivar along with Pär and Olov at lunch at Kitchen in Alfta in the same industrial park complex where Olov has his office. After lunch, he showed us his office and their operations, which were really cool, really fascinating. From there it was a little shopping for mementos in Alfta at a store across the street from the library (of course I took a photo of the library!).
We swung past a little shop in Knåda on the way home,
then got back to changing and canceling and making bookings for everything ahead of us. That completed, we joined the whole family for dinner together (well, most of them - Lena's son lives with his father, and her daughter had handball practice that night, and Pär's partner Maria had gone to Stockholm for work).
That was a really great evening. Through it all, Conrad was doing pretty okay - things had not really sunk in yet for him.
Friday was a travel day. Packing for the train was pretty easy, and we got that done readily after breakfast. That left time for us to drive a little deeper into the country to see Lena's project: ForRest. Wow, what a beautiful forest retreat she has designed and built.
We saw the property in 2014, and it was a thrill to see what progress she had made.
Lunch was up next, at Gästisbacken in Alfta. The original plan had been to have the Christmas table there that night, but at least we got to have a good lunch
in the beautiful hotel
across from the old church.
A bit more shopping (and a stop for hot chocolate)
after that, and then it was off to the train station in Bollnäs to catch an afternoon train down to Arlanda. It was already dimming out when we boarded, and long dark by the time we arrived. We checked back into the same airport hotel as a few days earlier (though with a view),
did a bit more souvenir shopping, and then headed to the airport hotel for some dinner - fish stew for me
and meatballs for Conrad.
Re-packing followed, then to bed.
By 5:30 the next morning we were in the SAS Business Lounge.
Getting through passport control before our flight was a mindbogglingly slow process that had us worried we would miss our flight, but we didn't. It was over to Heathrow,
then a handful of hours in the lounge there before the 10.5 hours flight back to LAX. It was a perfectly comfortable flight,
and I dozed a couple of times, but I would be lying if I said that all that airplane and airport time wasn't just a little boring.
Oh, it was good to get home, unpack, shower, and get to bed. Nine hours of sleep last night, and much needed!
Life happens, right? Who could have known we would need to come home early (and leave tomorrow morning for the Midwest for the funeral on Wednesday)? Kersti and Ivar were as wonderful, warm, and generous hosts as ever, and we were so glad to see them again. The whole family was also very good at providing what support they could for Conrad. A too-short time of it, though, and I am sorry for that. We'll need to get back there again, and not with a nine-year gap!
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