We caught the ten o’clock ferry out of Sandefjord today, heading for Sweden. It was raining hard when we left Norway, but we arrived less than three hours later in Sweden welcomed by blue skies and sunshine. They like that blue and yellow thing over here (all their road signs, caution signs, speed signs, directional signs – are all in blue and yellow.)
It would have been a straight two hour drive south to our destination for the night – the city of Gotenborg, but we decided to take the slower path along some of the roads less traveled near the coastline (as recommended by The Good Teacher Inga.) We were not disappointed. We stopped in the seaside town of Grebbestad and had lunch on the boardwalk, watching the people go by. The town was too crowded for my liking so we decided not to linger, but instead head on down the road going south again. The roads were slow and the sun was hot and we were both sleep deprived so we found our way down to the water’s edge and parked the van on someone’s gorgeous piece of property and took a nap (they weren’t home.) The sound of the water lapping the shore and birds chirping in the bushes made for a wonderful rest (see photo of the spot we napped.) We assumed Sweden has the same kind of property laws Norway has – that all shoreline is open to the public and there are no such things as “No Trespassing” signs – people are free to use everyone else’s property assuming they don’t do any damage. We were too tired to drive so we felt much better after that power nap. We decided to take the main highway south for the last hour so we’d get into town by dinner time as we were running a bit late by then.
I reserved a hotel on the water’s edge in the city of Gotenborg. We arrived too late to explore the town much as we needed food. We found a nice café not far from the hotel, right on the boardwalk so we watched the huge ferry ships, freighters, sailboats, kayakers, catamarans and speed boats going in and out of the harbor while we were eating. It was quite pleasant, and I liked it all the more because it was so cheap compared to Norway. Kory even afforded himself a glass of red wine and the whole dinner wasn’t more than forty bucks. The food was good too and the setting couldn’t have been better. Thankfully, the sun was still shining.
After dinner we walked along the boardwalk until Kory and Kaleb discovered rocks big enough to stack, and they went at it again – making works of art to leave behind for others to enjoy. We later found a corner grocery store and Kaleb and I bought some candy and popsicles in flavors we hadn’t tried before – one of my favorite parts of the “culture” we get to experience when we go to a new country.
I like it here so far but I’m having a hard time understanding Swedish. Everyone has been able to understand my Norwegian, but the slang on the words here is too mushy and I can’t make it out. Every word ends with an “a” sound, even when it’s not supposed to. I may have to resort to speaking English but I hate to do it.
I used the ferry ride today to work on another picture book of the trip we are now taking. My ideal would be to keep it current every day then just order the printing of it the last week we are in Norway. It’s kind of cool to be able to write the blog for memories, and then make up the picture pages for the sights. Good combo. I’m sure one day if I lose my mind, I’ll be glad I gave this gift to myself. I’ve shown everyone we’ve visited my picture book of the Lofoten Islands and they have all been very impressed (or at least they are doing the Norwegian thing of being supportive and positive no matter what…) but I do think it’s quite nice and I’m anxious to make more. I think it will replace my need for scrapbooking as there is no mess to clean up afterwards.
Kaleb spent his time on the ferry today playing his Nintendo Pokemon game. I’m afraid all the memories he will have of this road trip will revolve around which characters he was able to capture and which ones evolved into other characters. He won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure his passion for dogs has now been replaced with his passion for Pokemon. It’s such a complicated game and he’s studied all the rules and knows how to play. Although I’m thankful he’s stopped asking for a dog of his own, I do hope this new craze passes quickly as it seems like such a waste of time and it’s so addicting, he becomes quite unpleasant when we tell him his time allotment is up. And he spends much less time reading now, but he has taken a keen interest in reading my blog and telling me just what he thinks about it. He isn’t exactly the kind of editor I am looking for.
It would have been a straight two hour drive south to our destination for the night – the city of Gotenborg, but we decided to take the slower path along some of the roads less traveled near the coastline (as recommended by The Good Teacher Inga.) We were not disappointed. We stopped in the seaside town of Grebbestad and had lunch on the boardwalk, watching the people go by. The town was too crowded for my liking so we decided not to linger, but instead head on down the road going south again. The roads were slow and the sun was hot and we were both sleep deprived so we found our way down to the water’s edge and parked the van on someone’s gorgeous piece of property and took a nap (they weren’t home.) The sound of the water lapping the shore and birds chirping in the bushes made for a wonderful rest (see photo of the spot we napped.) We assumed Sweden has the same kind of property laws Norway has – that all shoreline is open to the public and there are no such things as “No Trespassing” signs – people are free to use everyone else’s property assuming they don’t do any damage. We were too tired to drive so we felt much better after that power nap. We decided to take the main highway south for the last hour so we’d get into town by dinner time as we were running a bit late by then.
I reserved a hotel on the water’s edge in the city of Gotenborg. We arrived too late to explore the town much as we needed food. We found a nice café not far from the hotel, right on the boardwalk so we watched the huge ferry ships, freighters, sailboats, kayakers, catamarans and speed boats going in and out of the harbor while we were eating. It was quite pleasant, and I liked it all the more because it was so cheap compared to Norway. Kory even afforded himself a glass of red wine and the whole dinner wasn’t more than forty bucks. The food was good too and the setting couldn’t have been better. Thankfully, the sun was still shining.
After dinner we walked along the boardwalk until Kory and Kaleb discovered rocks big enough to stack, and they went at it again – making works of art to leave behind for others to enjoy. We later found a corner grocery store and Kaleb and I bought some candy and popsicles in flavors we hadn’t tried before – one of my favorite parts of the “culture” we get to experience when we go to a new country.
I like it here so far but I’m having a hard time understanding Swedish. Everyone has been able to understand my Norwegian, but the slang on the words here is too mushy and I can’t make it out. Every word ends with an “a” sound, even when it’s not supposed to. I may have to resort to speaking English but I hate to do it.
I used the ferry ride today to work on another picture book of the trip we are now taking. My ideal would be to keep it current every day then just order the printing of it the last week we are in Norway. It’s kind of cool to be able to write the blog for memories, and then make up the picture pages for the sights. Good combo. I’m sure one day if I lose my mind, I’ll be glad I gave this gift to myself. I’ve shown everyone we’ve visited my picture book of the Lofoten Islands and they have all been very impressed (or at least they are doing the Norwegian thing of being supportive and positive no matter what…) but I do think it’s quite nice and I’m anxious to make more. I think it will replace my need for scrapbooking as there is no mess to clean up afterwards.
Kaleb spent his time on the ferry today playing his Nintendo Pokemon game. I’m afraid all the memories he will have of this road trip will revolve around which characters he was able to capture and which ones evolved into other characters. He won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure his passion for dogs has now been replaced with his passion for Pokemon. It’s such a complicated game and he’s studied all the rules and knows how to play. Although I’m thankful he’s stopped asking for a dog of his own, I do hope this new craze passes quickly as it seems like such a waste of time and it’s so addicting, he becomes quite unpleasant when we tell him his time allotment is up. And he spends much less time reading now, but he has taken a keen interest in reading my blog and telling me just what he thinks about it. He isn’t exactly the kind of editor I am looking for.
No comments:
Post a Comment