Sweden 1

28 - 29 Jun 09

Hot, long day. Everywhere was hot. Atlanta, Paris, AND Göteborg. I’m icky.

Arrived early into Atl from COS. 2 hr wait for 8hr flight to Paris. Could not sleep. Why did I forget my ambien and pack my meds in my suitcase? Apparently poor planning. A 2 hr delay in Atl = landing in Paris right when connecting flight left = 6 hr additional delay in Paris. The airport is lame. Ate good quiche and napped on the floor of concourse 2G. Finally got to my gramma’s house at 11pm local time (that’s 3pm in COS). Total travel time = way too long (28 hrs). Holy crap.



Everything is so familiar. It feels so much like coming home. I love it here. It’s so green compared to CO. I spent so much time running around this neighborhood as a child. I’ve missed it. Got our bikes ready! Will head to the beach tomorrow. I’m in bed now, finally, with the smell of honeysuckle coming in the open window.

Also, it’s still daylight outside and hot. I wasn’t expecting that!


30 Jun 09

Today was an abject lesson in the frustrations of not being able to communicate well. I REEEEALLY need to relearn to speak Swedish. It’s vital to proper correspondence and connection with my family. And how will I ever find the good pubs if I can't ask the locals?

After breakfast this morning, mom and I biked down to Fiskebäck, the “beach.”

I love the Swedish version of beaches: smooth rock with only a small strip of sand. I had forgotten how brown Swedes can be. With the stereotype of Swedish winters being so cold with such short daylight hours, it’s easy to forget that this is not how it is year round. Daylight hours are LONG right now. The sun comes up super early and stays up quite late. It’s after 10pm now and it is still light outside. Locals are at the beaches and parks soaking up the sunshine. We stayed at the beach for a little while, but I wasn’t very patient with sitting still. So instead mom and I biked down to Långedrags, a pier. Mom had some more coffee, and then we biked home for lunch.

After lunch, we headed back out on the bikes down toward town centre along the water.

We met my mom’s sister and her daughter for ice cream… well, they had ice cream while I sampled the local beer. When our various “treats” were gone, Stina and Lisa-Maria went back toward home and mom and I continued into town. We biked all the way to the town’s center and back home.

Lots of miles on single speed bikes with foot brakes, going up and down hills. Tiring, but awesome day. We finally got home around 9pm, ate some dinner and I'm now getting ready to pass out.

It turns out that the Gothenburg H3 are having their Red Dress Run this Saturday. Of course, since I didn’t know this until today, I didn’t bring a red dress. Going shopping for one tomorrow.