It took a lot of time and a few reminders from Anne of Green Gables (“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will,”) but we finally convinced my folks to make the trek to visit us in Sweden! They still think Lund is a big town and that traveling is too risky, but they are embracing train travel and are very much enjoying the food. Mostly we are spending time together in Lund, with a few short day trips around Skåne. The Lund puzzle I bought at Stadsparken inspired puzzlemania. Together we already finished 1,500 pieces!
We’ve been walking around Lund everyday, always finding something new, like the textile studio at Kulturen, a hot air balloon over St Peter’s Abbey, a medieval church with clues to Lund’s Catholic past. We sampled tea and chocolate biskvier at Hovby 9.
We listened to Mamma Mu och Kråkan at the story bench and forced all the neighbors to listen as well since we couldn’t find a way to turn down the volume or stop the recording once it started, lol! Then mom wanted to see the actual book so we went inside the library where I found a copy. It’s about a cow who has unlikely adventures with her crow friend. A sweet little girl in the kids section must have thought it looked like story hour so she plopped herself down on the floor at my feet to hear me read 🙂
The botanic garden is always a hit.
Classic English Tea at Alice och Kattens Tesalong, a first for Dad.
Mom and Dad took the train with me to Älmhult, home of the IKEA museum, which reminded Mom of the Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, MN (the history part) We enjoyed the photos and collections representing Småland’s past as well as the product stories, textiles, and everything IKEA. The influence of Ellen Key and Karin Larsson on IKEA design was another highlight for me. We had the traditional meatball lunch at the cafeteria and went home with a few products not found in other IKEA stores, such as the Nils-Erik Nilsson älmhult tray. It was an excellent day out in spite of a long delay and crowded conditions caused by a cancelled train.
Did a bit of shopping and had lunch in Malmö.
Nori is dealing well with change. She spent a few days watching the grandparents from a safe distance, and on the first day she sat staring through a crack in the door while the visitors slept! Curious and a bit suspicious…
But now she’s chill. Surgery site healed though her cute little tummy looks pretty weird. The good news is that she still loves a belly rub, and now she has a house full of people to give her cuddles.
Leave a Reply