Sweden, Part 1

Pater Noster is a lodge on a tiny island on the coast of western Sweden north of Gothenburg. The lighthouse there used to be operable; now it provides a backdrop for an upscale getaway….

Sooner or later we would have to try pickled herring in Scandinavia…..

Maria and Håkan were engaging and fun to visit with…. Their Pater Noster retreat was a gift from Håkan’s employer for his 50th birthday! Ahh, sweet youth!

On the ferry from Denmark to Sweden, many people were loading up on cases of beer, wine and alcohol…. Håkan explained to us the cross-border alcohol trade…. Norwegians go to Sweden to get cheaper booze; Swedes to Denmark; Danes go to Germany; and Germans go to Poland…. As illustrated in the map below!

Taxes in these countries are high in any event, but particularly on lifestyle items like alcoholic beverages; in both Sweden and Norway, alcohol sales are strictly regulated through state monopolies.

Even though its cultivation and use is mostly banned in Sweden, we are pretty sure this was a field of cannabis along a country road…..

And another pretty plant… a flower grown openly in the town square….

Jönköping is a town renowned for its match industry…… the first phosphorus matches were made here beginning in the middle 19th century…..

Unfortunately, the business early on depended on child labor (because their little fingers were adept at folding and filling match boxes)….

Sadly, too, phosphorus poisoning spoiled and ended many lives before a less-toxic alternative was found.

The match industry is a sad story in many respects… only somewhat relieved by the imagination and artistry that went into the labels!

Speaking of excess, Henry had never been to an IKEA store…….so we made a quick stop there, including a Swedish meatball lunch.

Skövde is a town of about 57,000 people in southern Sweden with a large Volvo manufacturing facility that is not on the typical tourist track…. But we really enjoyed meeting the local people and wandering around.

Another chance meeting with a guy tooling around Skövde in a low-rider…..

….. led to the tip that a large parade of vintage American cars would be happening in the nearby town of Falköping. We hurried there to witness literally hundreds of classic vehicles in varying degrees of preservation, some driven with dignity and pride, and others with not a little bit of youthful spirit. Please note that alcohol may have been a factor in the enthusiasm of some of the participants, but we were solemnly assured that the drivers were strictly obligated to remain sober.

The town of Kosta is the home of Kosta Boda art glass…..a brand I remember from my childhood in the ‘60s when my parents acquired a piece, an expensive investment that was treated reverentially thereafter. The glassworks are still going strong today….. with galleries, outlet stores, and a hotel that features glass installations, including a brilliant blue bar with glass seating and tiles.

Not every glass-blowing demonstration includes the frantic recovery of a red-hot vase that was dropped as it neared completion…..

Kalmar Castle in far Southeastern Sweden was the site of the formation of the relatively short-lived Kalmar Union in 1397, when Sweden, Norway and Denmark were unified for the first and only time under a common monarch. The Union was formally dissolved in 1523, and territorial disputes and wars returned and continued for centuries.

Ales Stenar is a magnificent megalithic monument in the outline of a ship on top of steep cliffs overlooking the sea.

The stones are thought to have been placed around 550 CE, near the end of the Iron Age. Opinions on its function vary. It could have been a grave monument or cult center, or even a sun calendar, because of its positioning in relation to certain lunar events and the summer solstice. The stones keep their secrets, while parasailers take advantage of the updrafts along the cliff walls…..

We seemed to continually miss festivals in many towns we visited…. Usually by just a few days, darn it!

We crossed back into Denmark from Malmo, Sweden to take the overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, Norway. These ferries are one-day cruise ships, with dance clubs, bars, swimming pools, children’s play areas, multiple restaurants, private cabins… and the all-important duty-free shop. Quite a mob scene all around during the summer vacation months.

And as we left for Norway, an also-colorful sunset

We will return to Sweden – my gosh, we haven’t even mentioned ABBA yet! But for now we will be exploring Norway largely by train. Happy rails!