Saturday in Sweden

 Saturday 21 September

Up to a Swedish breakfast of bread and ham and cheese. We then set off south to Varberg (60km south of Goteborg) to visit Pernilla's mum, Gunborg. On the way we drove along the old main road rather than the E6 expressway that goes from Rome to Norway.

At Gunborg's house we enjoyed fika, a swedish morning tea type feast with coffee, buns and cakes. Gunborg had made quite a few cakes that were gluten free, a thin almond torte and hazelnut meringue type biscuits. Both were so yummy we now have the recipes for Pernilla to translate. 

 Pernilla's brother Magnus and his family (Annette, Elis and Svarta) live next door and came in to visit (no it is not a low ceiling).

 Pernilla then took us to the Varberg Castle to see the castle itself but also the museum there that houses a bog man from the 1300s with intact clothing. An amazing display.

 We walked on then past the cold bath house and hot bath house of the late 1800s spa society. We declined to bathe choosing instead to drive into the countryside to see the house where Gunborg had been brought up near Valinge.

 At Torpa we wandered around a mediaeval church where Pernilla's mum and dad were married. We even found some conkers in the churchyard.

Back for dinner at Gunborg's house. She had prepared a spread of local cheeses, crispbreads, bread and a beautiful creamy vegetable soup. Dessert was local ice cream with apple sauce (compote) from her own apples.

We had lots of fun chatting together in broken English, minimal Swedish and many translations through Pernilla.

The sun had not risen much over about 30 degrees above the horizon all day and had well set by the time we got home though the daylight hours are about the same as ours at this time of the year. We drove hgome along the faster but boring E6.

It was great to return to Sweden and be reminded of the horizons of pine and fir trees, the red painted houses with white windows and the unusual traditional fence construction.