Kalmar!!

Sorry about the delay here folks.. I was, uh, creating anticipation!! Because this was definitely the best few days of my vacation.

Day 7 (continued)

We met our hosts, Ulla and  Åke Sandberg at the train station in Kalmar. (Ulla and Åke are.. Kirsti's mom's cousin's husband's parents. OK, simple right?) They drove us for a tour around Kalmar and the surrounding area. Then we drove out into a forest to meet their relatives for a picnic! Sweden has a law that basically says "all nature shall be free". AKA you are allowed to go on anyone's property, provided you stay away from the homestead and don't disrupt the nature. You are even allowed to camp for free for one night! So we went into this random forest and had a delicious supper, followed by a scavenger hunt!

After all the fun and games were over, we headed to Trekanten (Three Corners directly translated), where the couple lives. As soon as I walked into their house I was in love! Everything was stylish but antique at the same time. Åke does a lot of collecting; he even had an old record player in the garden house and we danced to some 1920's jazz! Among other things he collects coins, he has a collection over 130 countries large! 

During fika (coffee break) I discovered fläder saft! Fläder is Swedish for elderberry. They take the flowers of it and turn it into a sweet drink! They actually don't really use the berries here. 

Day 8

This day started with the most fabulous breakfast outside on the porch! (Little did I know that every meal from then on would be outside!) Then we headed into Kalmar. There was Loppis (Like a garage sale but usually isn't in a garage) throughout the town so it was very busy! We took a tour of Kalmar Castle. They had many interesting exhibits, including some history as well as several dresses that different princesses and queens had worn!

We walked into the city and had ice cream twice in one afternoon, instead of lunch! I don't know if I've ranted about ice cream yet, but let me tell you, Swedish ice cream is seriously awesome. it always comes in a waffle cone (one of the ones this day was homemade, YUM) and they have so many cool flavours! My favourite that day was blueberry!

We checked out the cathedral. It was inspired by the churches in Rome, so it had a very different look to the others I have seen in Sweden.

At 4 we took a ferry to Öland, an island off the east coast. We went to a restaurant and ordered Panbiff (a sort of meatloaf-hamburger combination with gravy) and some potatoes that were boiled then fried whole! They were really good, crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside! After supper we headed back to the Sandberg's, where we ended the night with some fika, complete with sparkling wine! 

Day 9

The beginning of my journal entry for this day was "Today was one of the best unexpected days in my whole life I think." I will explain why!

After a lovely breakfast on the porch, we took the scenic route to Öland. On the way we checked out a church from the 1100's, that had an alter piece than was stolen from Poland in the 1600's as a war trophy!!

We crossed the long bridge to Öland and took the eastern roads up north. (Öland is a very long, very skinny island- 16 km across but 136 km long!) We then headed west and stopped in Borgholm and got some ice cream and walked along the harbour. We took a nice trail in the woods up to an old cafe, which was famous for it's blue cabinet! It seriously just looks like a cabinet, but there's 2 bathrooms in it!! Weirdest thing. We took another trail and walked up to some old castle ruins. On the walk we saw some sky divers! We then took the car to the other side of the harbour and had a picnic of fika. 

We started driving again and went to a national park area; it was so beautiful there! On the way back we saw a camel farm! Before we came to it, Åke tried to explain what it was that we would be seeing. He was saying camel (with a bit of an accent) but we could not for the life of us figure out what he meant. We thought we had known all the different types of farming! Once we saw the camel's it was an "oh, DUH" moment! They were camels with two humps, and some of the humps were a bit lopsided, which made them look really funny! Before heading home we stopped at a butik for some Kropkakor (direct translation is body cakes!) to bring home for supper.

Now, kropkakor is a famous dish all over Sweden (and there's a reason, it's freakin delish!), but Öland's are unique because they use raw potatoes instead of cooked, so they have a different texture. Okay, to explain what body cakes actually are: they are about the size of a tennis ball, with cured pork on the inside wrapped around potato on the outside. They are usually served with cream and lingon sylt (Lingonberry jam). About 2 or 3 can fill you up, and it's great because it's a whole meal in one little ball!

After supper we pulled out some old bikes (literally: Kirsti's bike was from the 1920's!) and had a great ride through some nature! After the bike ride we skyped Michael, their son that lives in Canada (who is Kirsti's mom's cousin's husband).

This is just the beginning (well and the middle too I guess) of a great stay with some amazing people! Stay tuned :)