On Thursday August 30 we walked to the bagel shop and bakery for our fourth breakfast in Copenhagen. Back at our "Danish furniture museum" Hotel Alexandra we checked out and carefully drove our "new" rental car through the narrow driveway of the courtyard and out of town about 25 miles to the Fredericksburg Castle that is a very large brick building with towers and turrets and archways and fancy windows- really quite a sight. The castle was the king's family residence for two hundred years but in about 1850 the king's family moved to Copenhagen so they decided to use the castle building as a historical museum of Denmark. The 60 rooms were very fancy- with different painted ceilings and ornate crown moldings and carvings with furniture and paintings and objects from each era of Danish history- each king and the major wars and ship battles were shown. They had an audio guide that told about each king and walking into each room was a surprise- they were each beautiful and different. This was included in our Copenhagen museum pass and we felt like we had found the "best" museum to visit on our way back to Sweden. There were large gardens surrounding the castle but because it was raining we just looked through the windows of the castle.
Brooke- maybe you can remember a bad day when you were feeling sad- that's how we were feeling after our luggage was stolen. But then God gives you a new day and a fresh start- and you smile and begin to feel better. Maybe you get a hug from your mom or get to play with your dad. This was how we felt after touring the castle- this was a beautiful place to begin our "second trip to Sweden". God was giving us a fresh start for the rest of our trip through Sweden.
We took a car ferry across the channel from Denmark to Sweden; it took less than an hour to load the cars and trucks and sail across and unload the cars and trucks. Then we drove through the rain in Sweden towards Kalmar. But as I was thinking about visiting my cousin Lena, I remembered that we were meeting her the next day in Jonkoping. I had made a mistake in planning our trip- I had "lost a day". We stopped for dinner in a town that was still 100 miles from Kalmar, but only about 150 miles from Jonkoping where we wanted to be the next afternoon. So after dinner at McDonalds I used my phone (WiFi) to make a hotel reservation in Vaxjo, and sent a message to our hotel in Kalmar. We switched directions and drove north instead of further east and made it safely to our hotel in Vaxjo after dark.
Brooke- when you realize you have made a mistake or "gone the wrong way" be sure to stop and ask God "please help me do what you want me to do" or "please help me find the right way" from where you are. Grandma and I stopped and drove in another direction to get back on our trip schedule and arrive in Jonkoping the next afternoon to meet my cousin Lena.
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| Driving onto the Ferry |
After breakfast on Friday we went to a shopping mall near the hotel and Grandma found a store with nice long-sleeve shirts and she found five that she liked and bought. We also found a suitcase and a backpack and a bag to keep all of our bathroom supplies. Having a suitcase and more new clothes helped us feel a little more "back to normal". We stopped at the Emigrant museum that showed how many Swedish people left between 1850 and 1930 to go to America. Grandma's great grandparents August and Brita Erickson came to America with her grandfather Carl (5 years old) in 1880, and my grandfather Eskil came to America when he was about 20 in 1920. Our grandmothers had also come to America with their families. The museum explained why the left (to find land for farming or jobs in the cities) and how Swedish people helped build America along with many other immigrants from other countries. Because America was a relatively new country with lots of land and jobs, almost everyone living in America today has come from another county- or their parents or grandparents came from another country.
We drove to Jonkoping in more rain and met my cousin Lena Pettersson at the Husqvarna museum at 3 pm. This was a very old factory that first made rifles for the Swedish army and in 1850 started making other metal items like stoves and cooking pans and in 1900 started making sewing machines and motorcycles and bikes and other mechanical things, and in 1950 started making chain saws and other logging equipment. My grandfather Eskil had Husqvarna chainsaws and Grandma gave me a Husqvarna chainsaw to cut trees at Love Creek, on the property that my grandfather bought because it reminded him of Sweden. The Husqvarna factory is in the city that he came from in 1920. My cousin Lena owns the farm where my grandfather lived until he came to America about 100 years ago. After we visited the museum we went to dinner with Lena and we told stories about our family and she told us about her family. She speaks English but we do not speak any Swedish- so we talked with her in English.
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| Grandma and Lena (My cousin) |
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| Husqvarna Factory Building |
Brooke- These first two days of our "second trip to Sweden" were good ones. We visited an interesting castle and rode on a ferry and saw the factory where my chainsaw was made. But the most fun was visiting with my cousin Lena and hearing more about my Swedish cousins (family) who stayed and live in Sweden. We each have many similar things in our lives- we belong to a family and we live in a house somewhere and we go to school or work somewhere and we have favorite things we enjoy doing and we sometimes go on trips. My grandfather Eskil lived on a farm surrounded by woods, so he bought the land on Love Creek and built a cabin and made lumber from the trees with a chainsaw and sawmill. He was a carpenter and built houses- just like your dad. He had lots of tractors and chainsaws and other machines- just like your mom and dad have motor bikes and boats and many other machines with engines. I know that you and Aprilia and Cameron like going to Love Creek just like I do- playing in the creek and finding salamanders or walking on the roads and finding banana slugs or riding on a dirt-bike or in the Gator or "flying" on the zipline. I hope we can go to the woods together soon!
Love, Grandpa and Grandma
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