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This time I am meeting Roy Bengtson and his wife, Lena. They live in Akersberga- about a 30 minute drive North of Stockholm. I was treated just like family with a touch of royalty. Roy picked me up Friday afternoon at the hostel and we were on our way. Such a nice man and looks a lot like his sister in Malmo, Marianne! He told me that the plans had changed and instead of me spending the night at Ulrika (his daughter) and Niklas' house, I will instead come with him and his friends to the Theatre! You see, Lena has been sick with a bad cold so she wasn't able to make it to the theatre- and they have friends visiting this weekend from Malmo, their daughter lives in the center of Stockholm. So instead of sleeping at Ulrika's, I will go to the theatre and sleep at Roy and Lena's.
Typical Swedes- making sure the plan is layed out before anything happens and also making sure everyone is aware and OK with the plan of action. haha. So we had some time to kill before we had dinner with Roy and Lena's friends so we went to pay a quick visit to Ulrika, Niklas, and baby Elsa. They just moved into a new apartment complex in Solna, a small subarb of Stockholm- within walking distance of the city. It is the typical IKEA style house you'd see in the magazines- I loved it! And Niklas met us in the lobby with baby Elsa... she is a little over a year old and quite a doll! Â Ulrika soon came home from work - Niklas is the stay at home parent for the next 4 months, then they will both go back to work- and we were offered coffee or tea during our short stay. Such great hospitality. Ulrika pulled out a few albums from her trip to the States in 1991. Guess what? The first picture she showed me was of Grandma Johnson! Crazy! Seeing a picture of my Grandma (from MN!) in SWEDEN! Ulrika had visited family in Minnesota in 1991 and Grandma took her to the falls or something. Ulrika had a picture of Grandma standing on a bridge with a waterfall in the background and of Grandma and Harry and Irene Carlson. Ulrika also said she stayed with Dani when she was in MN... but she didn't have any pictures of this time. It was so much fun looking at pictures of my immediate family in Sweden!
After Ulrikas Roy and I went to meet his friends at their daughters apartment. There were going to be 6 of us for the theatre tonight- Roy and I, his friends from Malmo, and their daughter and boyfriend. Marie (the daughter) hosted dinner... something light they said... something fancy I'd say! We had crab, lobster, shrimp, and an assortment of cheeses and breads! OH MY GOSH! It was so delicious! And the table set up was gorgeous- Marie said that as an 18 yr old girl one starts to collect some type of crystal glass and collects the theme of that glass. Hers were so pretty and we were served wine and sparkling water... like I said before, treated like Royalty!
After dinner we walked to the theatre from Maries. The musical was Singin' In the Rain! I've only heard the one famous song as a child- but this was full of dancing and singing and Swedish comedy. It was all in Swedish too, except for the one famous song. It was later translated to Swedish though, haha. It was such a nice treat to be at the Theatre in Stockholm- but too bad that Lena was sick. I could really sense it was a funny musical seeing that the whole audience was in hysterics half the time- the main female character is quite a big deal I guess!
That night- and for the rest of my stay here-Â I had my own room and bed at Roy and Lena's house. They have a quaint little place by the water and it looks kid of like a barn or something you'd find on a farm. It is the typical red, with two floors and their own wine cellar in the basement! On Saturday am we had a nice typical Swedish breakfast and enjoyed the morning relaxing. Roy took me to see the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace- this time with horses and different uniforms! It was very nice! To get there, we took the boat ferry across and then to get back to the car we took an old rail car that only operates on weekends. These were the tracks, Mom and Dad, we saw on the roads in Stockholm- they are for these street cars that go across the city. So we took the rail car/ street car to the Waldarmuseet. It is supposed to be a Swedish Art Gallery with an amazing landscape. The latter it had, for sure. I felt like I was up north for a second because it was so wooded and right by the water- it was gorgeous! We had to take a small walk to the museum and once we were there we found out it was only two special exhibitions for the spring time and not much Swedish Art. A disappointment but we spent our time outside instead enjoying the scenery overlooking different view of Stockholm I hadn't seen before.
After the museum Roy and I drove back to the house and awaited our guests for the night. Ulrika, Niklas, Elsa, and their friends arrived first and later Marie and her boyfriend. Lena is an excellent cook and I've heard great things about her from my stay in Malmo with Marianne. We sat in the family room on the couches and socialized while we ate Reindeer hour'douvres and ejoyed wine that they had just bought on their road trip to France... (Roy and Lena drive to France once a year to buy wine for their wine cellar, that's a whole other story!) After this was done we moved on to the dining room (a seperate room) and enjoyed our first course of cheese with some type of sauce on it with bay leaves. It was so good and I couldn't believe I was having a real 3-course meal with FAMILY in SWEDEN! It was so special! The main course consisted of Honey Salmon, potatoes, and broccoli. Oh yes, and wine, of course! Next was dessert... home made while chocolate creme brulee wit strawberries! Gosh, it was delicious! After we were all stuffed we moved back to the family room where we enjoyed our coffee with a "colorful" liqeour- as Lena said it- aka Whiskey. Swedes sure like their alcohol, that's for sure!
After the guests left, their friends spent the night in the other guest room beside mine. (This house is big enough to sleep a whole army!) The next day we again enjoyed our breakfast in the dining room with coffee and tea. Their friends left to drive back to Malmo and Roy and Lena and I conversed about our relation and family. Roy then took me on a road trip North of Akersberga to Vira Mude- an old city that was once used for welding and metal smiths who made iron, like curtain poles, hanging lamps, etc. He showed me the "factory" where they made the casted iron and the historical city it had turned in to. It was a nice little place and the store it had was where Roy and Lena bought most of their iron lamp chandeliers and curtain poles and hooks... very expensive too!
Then we went to see the Archipelago! Can you believe it? I wasn't expecting any of this to happen and this is what I was treated to! To get their, we had to take the car ferry over to the biggest island, and drove to the point farthest out we could drive. From there we took a small hike (about .6 Km) to the look out point of the archipelago... can you say amazing? Because that's what it was! I felt like I was in the Boundary Waters again... looking out and seeing nothing but water and islands- these islands though were mostly stone and rock. Every once in a while you'd see a sail boat in the distance, but other than that it was clear, open water with a bunch of tiny islands. It was so beautiful! I'm so fortunate to have seen this part of Sweden as I know I would have never gotten the chance to do so if I hadn't visited Roy and Lena.
For dinner I was again treated like Royalty, sitting first in the family room enjoying wine and socializing then moving to the dining room where our first course was reindeer meat and melon... strange to think but it was a great combination! The wine choice switched to Red wine- again bought from France just a few weeks ago. Lena made delicoius chicken with a potatoe/lettuce salad. Dessert was an assortment of cheeses and crackers. Some cheese that I've never tasted or heard of before! Then, as before, we moved back to the family room and enjoyed our coffee with a colorful liqueor. This time we talked more about the family and Roy reminisced on his grandfather- Olaf. He told me that Olaf traveled to Amerika a lot when Roy was a child and one time he brought him back an American toy. It looks like large swimming goggles that you look into and it magnify's a picture that you can slide into place on the opposite side. He had a huge crate full of these pictures that turn 3-D once you look at them through this view finder type of toy... from America! Roy sure loved talking about the past with his family and relatives. Like everyone else we've chatted with he remembers the name Frank... Grandpa's brother. I don't know myself but I think Frank visited Sweden in the 70's and must have met a lot of the family.
One thing that was so great on my visit to Roy and Lena's was looking through his old photo albums. To be honest with you, the first page of the album was all America pictures. Ellen, Augusta, Joel, and even Axel. It was so awesome! Roy even had two pictures in his album identical to the ones I had brought to show him! Who would have thought that I come to Sweden to see pictures of my own family I've never seen before?!
So the night ended off well and we were all pleased to have looked through albums and recognize family. Roy was sure glad I visited because it sparked interest in Lena's side of the family and even more of Roy's family in Sweden- where they are, who they are, what happened to them, etc.
The next morning Roy said I had to help myself to breakfast, I was no longer a guest, I was family, like his own child... how sweet! Â The weekend was over before I knew it and I was saying "farewell and welcome to Minnesota any time" to my long lost relatives in Sweden. Who would have thought?
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