My First Trip to Sweden (Day 2)

I awoke Saturday morning at 8:19 AM. The problem here is that Roger and Ulrika had invited me to have coffee and go for a walk at 8AM. Roger, Ulrika and Ida were leaving for Turkey later that morning to visit their younger daughter and I wanted to see them one last time, and here I was already late. So I sent Roger a text message letting him know I was running behind, but would be over a little later.

The Hilmersgården has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, so if there are other guests, you have to share the bathroom. Fortunately, no one else was in the bathroom so I was able to get in and get out quickly. I got dressed, had a little breakfast, stuffed my backpack with a jacket and Nikon D70 camera, and headed out the door for Roger’s place. I had missed the morning walk, but was able to enjoy coffee with Roger and Ulrika. Roger and I also had an opportunity to look at the genealogy research that I have stored on ancestry.com.

After saying our last goodbye’s, I headed over to Ann-Helen’s house where I met her husband Anders and her cousin Margaretha. After looking at the family tree, we had cookies and coffee on the back patio and had fun looking up words in the Swedish-English dictionary. Ann-Helen also showed me some old land maps from the 1800’s which show where the old houses stood. She showed me the spot in her back yard where the Anders Larsson house used to stand.



After taking a few pictures, Ann-Helen, Margaretha and I headed off to meet Ann-Helen’s mother who lives next door. Astrid loves flowers and is said to have “green fingers”. We took a few photos at Astrid’s house and then headed off to see the old house at Gressela 5.


The old house at Gressela 5 is where Johannes Andersson (Anders Larsson’s son) reared his family. When Johannes Andersson died, his son Olof Martin Johansson reared his family there. The last person to live in the house was Olof Martin’s daughter Olga Olsson. Since Olga’s death in 1982, no one else has lived in the house.

After taking pictures of the old house at Gressela 5, we returned to Ann-Helen’s house briefly to pick up Ann-Helen’s daughter, Charlotta. The four of us then traveled to the Fjärås Bräcka visitor’s center where we had a nice lunch of cauliflower and crab soup, followed by some coffee.

Next, we went to meet Margaretha’s son, Matthias, and his family at their home. It might be interesting to note that Matthias and his father, Sven, raise more than 5,000 pigs at a time. They also maintain farm land to grow the crops to feed the pigs. In addition, the family has several apartment houses nearby that they rent for 5,000 – 6,000 Swedish crowns per month.

When we arrived, Matthias’ wife Linda was outside painting some tongue and groove boards while Matthias was inside watching his three small sons. Linda remarked that it was nice to be outside painting boards for a change while her husband was inside with the kids. We went inside and after everyone got a chance to look at the family tree, the boys showed me their Legos, miniature farm, trucks and tractors. We then admired the family garden while Charlotta and the boys jumped on the trampoline.

Not long after, we were on our way to Äskhult, an ancient village dating back to the 17th century. After walking through the old houses, we visited the village’s small café and gift shop where we had a snack. It was there that I learned the Swedish word for ice cream is pronounced “glass” and the Swedish word for glass is pronounced “gloss”. On our way back from the village, Charlotta mentioned that she enjoys talking to me because she is learning new English words.

We soon left Äskhult and traveled to Ann-Helen’s niece’s house. Christina also said to have “green fingers” and has a beautifully manicured back yard. She lives in a new development and has two sons. Her husband Niclas Hermansson works for Volvo Trucks.

After visiting Christina, we drove back to Ann-Helen’s house. I knew that family and friends back in the United States were eager to see some photographs, so Charlotta helped me get on their laptop and upload the first round of photographs to Facebook. Anders Davidsson showed me a shirt he had which was covered with old American cars and the words “Route 66”. Anders told me that it had been a lifelong dream of his to visit America and drive Route 66. He and Ann-Helen had been to New York several times to visit family they had there, but had not been able to fulfill his dream yet.

About an hour later, Anders and I left to pick up Astrid and we all went to Margaretha’s house for dinner. Margaretha had apple cider and pretzels, toast with goat cheese and roasted walnuts, potatoes, salmon with red onion sauce and salad. For desert, we shared vanilla and chocolate ice cream with fresh raspberries, strawberries and of course, coffee. It was a meal fit for a king. Ann-Helen’s sister Mariann, who was watching her grandson Gustaf, also attended the dinner. Margareth’a husband Sven has never been to America, but would love to come see the big farms. Since the family had planned to meet at the Hanhals Kyrka (church which is pronounced “shirka”) in the morning, the dinner guests asked questions about how often our family attends church in America, how often we take communion, do we baptize our children and a number of other questions. After an incredible meal, it was time to go.

Back at Ann-Helen’s house, I finished uploading the photos to Facebook and headed off to Hilmersgården. It was 11 PM when I finally got in bed.