Our Last Shared Morning and On Our Own Again

We woke early and went into the main cabin to wash up at the kitchen sink. Tord fixed us a lovely breakfast with some much needed coffee, cereal, cheese, brown bread, homemade apple sauce and liver pate'. We sat at their pretty table and gazed at the lake.

Then I rode with Tord and Peter, while Vi rode with Bob for our last morning of touring. We both used the time to ask lots of questions. We drove through beautiful winding scenery and stopped in the town of Karlskoga to see the Alfred Nobel (Nobel Peace Prize) Museum.

It was not open, but we could walk around and the grounds were lovely. Vi explained that most places would still be closed today as it is Mid Summer Day.

As we drove, Tord talked and I learned many interesting things. He said a lot of the men in this area worked in the iron mills and he pointed out chimneys/stove pipes made of iron on the roofs of the houses. He said the bigger the chimney, the more money the person had.

I also learned why so many Swedish buildings were red. The red paint came from Dalarnas Lan and is a by-product of copper mining. It is very cheap and seals the wood well.

We drove on to the quaint, small town of Nora, where I thought my Great Grandfather lived. I wanted to walk there, soak in the atmosphere and take pictures. 

We parked in the town square and got out to explore. A famous writer of mystery novels in Sweden, Maria Lang, wrote mysteries set in Nora. You can take a Murder Tour of all of the sights where she staged the action. We laughed about so many murders for such a small town. We walked down along the lake looking at the old houses and lovely gardens.

Some people have little side mirrors on their windows called gossip mirrors as they can see people walking by and what they're doing, but people can't see in.

We went into the town church enjoying the feeling of peace and beauty. It was built on the sight of the old church in 1880. It was eerie to think my Great Grandfather may have been there. If I could just ask questions. I am driven to keep researching when I get home.

        

Reluctant to say goodbye to our new friends, we stopped at a café and sat outside sipping a Latte and having a Swedish Pastry of a rolled pancake, whipped cream and berries.

 

It was a nice ending and I choked up as I tried to express appreciation. Words seemed so weak. It was such an honor to spend time with these incredible, gracious, generous people. Thank you Don & Sandy once more for setting this up.

We drove off with the guide of our Tom Tom as we waved till Tord, Vi and Peter faded from sight. We headed north towards Mora through rolling Northern looking country that reminded us of stretches of Alaska with gradually greater distances between settlements.

We passed a long line of kids hiking along the highway as they portaged their canoes and huge packs to the next stretch of water. It looked like a great, adventurous group.

Clouds moved in and a brisk wind came up and we were back into jackets. We stopped in Mora for gas and again were a little confused about how their system worked. A nice older man spoke broken English and helped us and then his wife helped me find the restroom, practically pushing me in to show me. Nice people save us once more.

It started to rain again and we went into increasingly bigger hills with dense woods and old log cabins with moose horns above the doors.



It looked a little more like we had seen in Norway. Then suddenly we were in small mountains with great views and pines, ferns and huge rocks.

There were lots of small motor homes and trailers on the road. There were many campgrounds along the way beside the lakes and rivers. We wished we had our trailer with us. This was our first night with no plan and I hoped we'd find a place to stay.

Temperatures were down to the 30s with rain moving in and out and we were hungry and tired. We drove into the small town of Sveg  and looked for a hotel. The first one we checked was closed. There was only one more and they had a wedding reception in full swing. The hotel was very nice and we decided to give it a try as we went up to the desk. Can you believe we got the last double room and the clerk was sweet and helpful and spoke good English!? The Angels were with us...well for a bit. We asked where to eat and there were only three restaurants in town with one being a distance out and the other two pizza places. The clerk recommended one of the pizza places saying it was cozy. When we got there, the menu was in Swedish, of course, but the waiter didn't speak English. I saw the word Vegetarian and we pointed to that and motioned for beer. As Bob was enjoying his first sip, he was trying to read the words on the bottle. He noticed the word "traffik" and pointed it out and it hit us both at the same moment. We had heard that there is no tolerance for drinking and driving and less than one beer will get your license taken away and time in jail. Some young hikers came in and Bob asked their advice. They strongly advised against drinking any. So Bob had to leave his full beer there. I thought he might cry. He was so ready to kick back and relax.

But, the pizza was very good and when we got back to the hotel, the clerk laughed and got him a beer to enjoy in the room and, she let us do our laundry in their laundry room. We cleaned up our suitcases, reorganized and prepared to push on in the morning. Bob said I should keep the faith, it would all work out, and he was so right!