Stockholm Adventures

Hi Eden and other grandkids or family

On Tuesday September 11 we got up for our last tour day in Stockholm and had a good breakfast in the hotel and met Mirian (Grandma’s third-cousin, descended from her great-great-grandfather Erik Ersson and her daughter Sara in the hotel lobby at 10 AM.  Sara lives and works in Stockholm, and Mirian was visiting Sara for a few days.  After meeting her cousins Orjan in Yxtorp and Ewa in Orebro, grandma had a text from Mirian asking if we would like to meet in Stockholm.  So we were ending our trip to Sweden with two more of grandma’s “long-lost” Swedish cousins.  Mirian and Sara both speak English very well and Sara lived in southern California for a few months with friends a couple of years ago.  Sara helped us add a day to our “travel cards” at the ticket machine and we rode the subway to a station where we boarded a bus to another art gallery house that was on the same island as Skansen and Prince Eugene’s house and other museums.  Thielska Galleriet was a villa built for a banker who was friends with many artists and who collected Nordic art from 1850-1925, including several of Carl Larsson paintings.  His house in the city was overflowing with his art collection so he needed a larger gallery. His fortune was lost during WW I and Sweden bought his collection and opened the villa in 1926 as an art museum.  We explained to Mirian and Sara that we had visited Carl and Karin Larsson’s house and were looking for Carl Larsson paintings throughout Sweden.  They had been to the Larsson house but had not visited this art museum and they were happy to join in the “hunt” for more of Carl Larsson’s paintings.  We walked on a trail to the Thielska Galleriet along the shore of the island and passed the old custom house- where ships would pay their tariffs and docking fees for trading in Stockholm.  We enjoyed walking through the rooms of the villa and we did find several more Carl Larson paintings (6 or more)- just like we had on Sunday at Prince Eugene’s art museum.  We had a very nice lunch together at the café in the villa, and imagined we were visiting Mr. Thiel with other artist friends 100 years ago.  

Mirian- Judy's cousin and Sara- Mirian's daughter

Sara at the old Customs House

Surprise- not a Carl Larsson painting

Mirian Judy and Sara

Delicious Swedish lunch with Mirian and Sara

We rode the bus back to the station and took the subway to Old Stockholm with Mirian. Sara had a business meeting so we said goodbye to her.  We walked down the curving streets surrounding the Royal Palace with our umbrellas in the rain.  A very narrow alley led us up to another street where-surprise- Carl Larsson had been born.  After looking in a few shops we stopped for coffee and a pastry.  We ended up at the Royal Palace and went into the apartments with just 20 minutes until closing time at 5 PM.  We were about the last visitors and so we had most of the rooms to ourselves.  These rooms were beautifully decorated with elaborate ceiling paintings, moldings, tapestries, paintings and fancy furniture.  The chandeliers and wallpaper and many other furnishings were amazing- we took pictures of each room because we only had time for a “spin tour” where we walk quickly through each room and spin around to see everything in the room and paintings on the walls briefly. The palace is still used by the king and queen of Sweden for their offices and receptions and meeting, but they no longer live there.  The Storkyrkan cathedral was next door and we snuck in through the exit doors to glimpse the gothic interior decorations.  This was the church where the Swedish reformers spread the Lutheran message from 1525-1550- encouraging people to read the Bible for themselves (or listen) in Swedish. This rainy afternoon was one of the few days that we needed our umbrellas - we generally had good weather with several sunny tour days.  Mirian went with us on the subway back to our hotel and we said goodbye to her.  We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant down the street from our hotel.  Our last day in Sweden was a good one, especially because we went with grandma’s Swedish cousins and saw Swedish art and the Royal Palace and the cobbled streets and buildings of old town Stockholm.  Back at our hotel Grandma saw an e-mail message from the woman from the island of Vinon who was looking into historical records of Grandma’s great-grandmother Brita Stina Pers dotter.  This woman had found records about Brita’s family and confirmed that Brita married August Erickson in 1867 and moved to America in 1880 with three children (one was Carl Joel, Grandma’s grandfather).  And she revealed that she was descended from the same family as Brita, so she and her sister from Vinon were also Grandma’s third cousins from Sweden!

Old Town buildings

Alley to Carl Larsson's birthplace.

Mirian and Judy shopping in Old Town

The Royal Palace staircase

Storkyrkan church near the Royal Palace

We planned our trip to begin in Oslo and to travel through Sweden and end our trip in Stockholm with all of its historical buildings and museums and art galleries and churches.  We planned for Stockholm to be the highlight of our trip.  Our five days in Stockholm were fun and filled with art galleries, historical houses, palaces and churches.  But the best part of our Sweden trip ended up being the days that we spent with our Swedish cousins.  We visited my cousins (Lena and Elisabet) and saw the farm where my grandfather Eskil lived before he came to America in 1920, and we had dinner with Lena’s son Fredrik in Uppsala.  We had planned to try to find the farm “village” that Grandma’s great-grandfather August and great-grandmother Brita left in 1880 to go to America.  But Grandma had no idea that she would meet Swedish cousins still living in the Erickson farmhouse, and meet Ewa in Orebro and Marian and Sara in Stockholm, and hear that she had other Swedish cousins from Vinon.  That was the “biggest surprise” of our trip to Sweden. 

Eden-I am glad that you have so many cousins and that you get to see them a lot in Sacramento.  Playing with cousins can be a very fun part of being in a large extended family.  Having cousins is like having more brothers and sisters.  Your baby sister Adeline is the newest cousin in our family. As Grandma found out about her “long-lost” cousins in Sweden we realized that we all have lots of cousins in the world.  Our “family trees” are joined together when we marry and when our brothers and sisters are married, so we have more and more cousins as our family trees grow.  And because we are all descendants of Noah and his family after the flood, we are sort of all cousins!

On Wednesday September 12 we had our last big smorgasbord breakfast in our hotel and packed our one suitcase (we didn’t have many clothes) and one backpack and went to the subway station under our hotel and crossed under the street to the train station to board the express train to the airport.  This was a very nice way to get out of the city without any traffic- we looked out the windows at the city apartments and then the towns and farms in the countryside- our last glimpses of Sweden.  We had a little time to wait in the executive lounge for our 2:30 PM flight back to Oakland on Norwegian Air. We had books and were relaxed and ready to return to our home in Sacramento after enjoying our visit to Sweden- the county where two of my grandparents and two of Grandma’s grandparents had come from. 

Eden- you have a lot of energy and you love to explore new places and new activities.  I expect you to travel and explore many parts of our country and different countries around the world.  I hope you will be able to visit Sweden one day- like your Mom did when she was living in Paris.  But wherever you go on your future travels, you will always want to return home, because home is where your family and friends are and where you are loved and cared for- it is where you belong.  Jesus tells us that we on a journey on earth and that our real home is in heaven with God our heavenly father.  Jesus said: “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2. Jesus is the only way to make it home to God- “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. Eden-wherever you travel, to Sweden or anywhere else, remember that God is your heavenly Father and that He has a room for you in His house. You are a traveler on earth and you can choose where you will go; so choose to follow Jesus and go where He takes you- “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” Matthew 7:13-14.

Love, Grandpa and Grandma