Saw all the Icelandic Sites

Had a great day with Margrét going around all the different sites in the Golden Circle outside Reykjavík today, and you´re lucky as I´m able to have some pictures as Margrét took a bunch and I can access them with this computer! The weather has been great as it's been sunny and about 60 degrees here, which is quite warm for here.

Here's a picture of me in downtown Reykjavik from yesterday.


We started off around 10 a.m. this morning with driving east out of Reykjavík on Route 1, which is the route that goes all around the island. It doesn´t take long for you to get out of the city (5 minutes) and into the country. The landscape here is a combination of wide open spaces of either lava fields or fields of flowers and grasses. Either way, it´s breathtakingly beautiful. The photos will never do it justice, but we´ll try to show you something.

We first stopped in a small town to get a map, and at the tourist shop/info place, they had a bubbling pool of hot water coming out of the ground. Quite cool.

After going through many miles of farms, lava fields, and other landscapes, we made our way to Flúðir, which is famous for growing mushrooms. There, we bought some kleinur, which are Icelandic twisted doughnuts. As be traveled on, the road, which is a majorish road, turned to dirt, and there were sheep along the sides. We soon got to Gullfoss, which translates to Golden Waterfall. It was very impressive, and it cuts a canyon into the landscape, so you can´t see it coming up until you are right on it. Here´re some pictures of that.




Next, we went down the road to Geysir, to see the original Old Faithfull. Skrokkur blows every 10-15 minutes, and here is a picture of me that Margret got.


Then, we went into Hotel Geysir for lunch, where I treated Margret to lunch for about US$85 for the two of us. Again, it's expensive here!

We traveled on to Thingvellir, which is the site of the old Icelandic parlament from AD 974. It's an amazingly magical place, and it's where the North American and European techtonic plate come together. Here're some pictures of that.



We're just about to go out to dinner, so I've got to stop. Coming home tomorrow after a dip in the Blue Lagoon, and for some other shopping here.

Later!

Ken

Fun with Margrét

Margrét and I went out on the town yesterday, and I saw most of downtown Reykjavík. The city reminds me of Anchorage, in that it´s a larger city, but kind of more of a town, out away from everything else, and the light is the same in the time of year. As Iceland is so far west in the time zone, and we´re so north, the sun goes down about 3 or 4 in the morning, and then comes up around 5 or 6.

We went out and had pizza. We each had a person pizza and a bottle of beer. The pizzas were IsKR1500 each, which is about US$25 and the beers were IsKR500, about US$9. We walked around and say the Althingi, which is the parlament, and the city hall of Reykjavík, which is bigger than the parlament. After that, we went to a bar and I had a great piece of chocolate cake, which was IsKR650, or about US$10.50. Yes, Iceland is expensive!

It´s a beautiful day outside, and it might be in the 60´s and sunny, so we´re going to have a great day traveling. We´ve already got plans to get together with her friends tonight and go to the Blue Lagoon tomorrow. As Margrét has a camera, I might be able to post pictures with this. My pictures will have to wait until I get back.

I also might splurge on an Icelandic Sweater while I´m here.

Ken

Iceland is Niceland

I´m sitting in Margrét Eir's living room after flying into Rekjavik, and the weather here is quite nice (about 60 degrees and partially sunny. For Iceland, that's a great day.

We're about to go into Rekjavik from her apartment in Kopavogur, and check out the town. Tomorrow we'll be traveling around to a number of the sites that Iceland is known for.

Gotta go!

Ken

Adjö Sverige

This is my last morning, and I'm just about to pack up and head to the airport so that I can get the flight to Iceland. It's raining today, and I'm lucky that I've had two nice weather days in Stockholm.

Since I've been here, I've actually run into people that I know. Yesterday, I got up and went to start my sightseeing by passing by the Bellman House where Carl Mikael Bellman, Sweden's greatest poet and songwriter, lived in the 1700's. Then, I went to Gamla Stan to go view the Royal Castle, and in line to get my ticket, I ran into Shreyas Patel, a friend I play bridge with in Boston. We knew that we'd both be here, but we hadn't connected before we left to make plans. He was traveling here for a conference, and his mother was also with him, so we went and saw the Royal Apartments, which were quite impressive. After leaving there, I went off to see some other museums in the castle, then the Storkyrkan, which is the main royal church next to the castle. There, I saw some people I met in Norrköping when we were both doing research in the library. I then went and took a tour of the Riksdag, which is Sweden's Parlament, and then went to the Music Museum, where I bought a special Swedish overtone flute (säjlflöjt), and then went to the main shopping area to try to find some books that I wouldn't be able to get in Boston. I got almost all of what I wanted there, and then came home tired and at night Shreyas and I met at Den Gylldene Freden (the Golden Freedom) which is a tavern where Carl Mikael Bellman (noted above) used to drink. We had a cider there, and there was a man dressed in 17th century clothes with a guitar, and we found out that he's a Bellman scholar and is very involved with the Bellman Society, and we exchanged information.

Next, Shreyas and I took a walk and went over to Riddarholmen, which is the small island to the west of Gamla Stan, and sat on the Evert Taube Terrassen (Evert Taube is another Swedish troubador from the early to mid 20th century) and viewed the sunset (at 10:15 p.m.) and the City Hall. We then went to a bar, and had another cider and talked with Jeff from Virginia who is living here for the summer, and also Gunnar, who's a minister at a Lutheran Church in Östermalm, and originally comes from Lugnås, where my grandfather's mother's family is from.

Further in the small world department, I came down to breakfast in my hotel this morning, and there were two folkies from Boston that I know. Jan Elliot is a sword dancer and her husband Tim was at Pinewoods a couple of years ago when I went with Lynn Noel. They are here for a family reunion, so it's just so funny that I'm running into people here.

Well, I've got to go pack and get ready to go to the airport. I should be able to write from Iceland. I've loved Sweden, but I've been traveling quite a bit, so I'm ready to start heading home.

Later,

Ken

First Day in Stockholm

Well, it was an interesting day here. I had a good night's sleep here at the Columbus Hotel, and then started walking to the old city (Gamla stan). This is the original village of Stockholm, and it's very crowded. The streets are sometimes as narrow as 10 ft. across, and there are many times six story buildings on each side. I need to go through there a bit more to check out a bit more.

The one thing I found out (that was incorrect in the Lonely Planet Sweden guide) is that most of the museums in Stockholm are closed on Mondays. I went to four museums today, but only got into one. I did get to see the changing of the guards at the Kungliga Slott (Royal Palace), and that was quite impressive. I expected it to be about 10 minutes, but I left after 35 minutes, and there was a great military marching band that did a lot of good music and interesting choreography. The whole spectacle was cool.

I went over and met my friend Lena Hesselvik, and we had lunch at this nice restaurant across the water from Gamla stan. I've been eating mostly at cleap places, but this was nice, and I volunteered to treat her, as she and Fred put me up for 3 days, so I figured this was the least I could do. The food was great, but it really shows how much more expensive it is here that in the states. I paid SEK390 (~USD55) for two entrees and two soft drinks. I think at a nice place in the US, that would be more like USD35. Oh, well, I don't do that much here, but I don't do it much in America either, so vacations are for splurging.

I did get to the Vasa Museum, which as extremely good. The Vasa was a large military ship built in 1628, and because of design problems, it sank 30 minutes into it maiden voyage, and in the 1960's they managed to salvage it and bring it up with most of the artifacts, so it gives a great view into what life was like in the early 1600's. They did a great job at representing all the different parts of life from sailing, heroic imagery, ship building, forensics, city life, etc. If you come to Stockholm, I heartily recommend it.

About to go to bed tonight and wake up and do more museums, and hopefully be able to buy all the books, CD's and other things that I want to get, but haven't wanted to carry around with me. It will be my last full day in Sweden, and then I'm off to Iceland for some fun with the incredibly talented Margret Eir.

Ken

Back in Civilization after being in the Skärgård

I just got in today to the city of Stockholm, and I'm staying at the Columbus Hotel in Södermalm. Södermalm is sort of like the Harvard Square/Davis Square of Stockholm, as there are a lot of funky restaurants and stores, and there's a great variety of people here. It looks a lot more like what I'd see on the subway in Boston when I walk the streets here.

I've got three more days here in Sweden, and I'm planning on checking out a number of the museums here. There are over 70 in Stockholm alone. I have to figure out which ones I'm going to go to over the next few days.

Today was a glorious sunny day here, as the previous two were cloudy and rainy, so this was a great relief. Fred and I went out in his boat this morning, and it went really fast. I also hung out, sat out by the water, and right before we left, Fred and I went for a dip in the Baltic. It's definitely still cold. I was in for about 30 seconds, if that! As the Baltic has only one outlet to the ocean near Copenhagen, it's not very salty. When you're down by the water, it smells more like it's a big lake instead of the ocean. I can tell you, that when you swim in it, you taste the salt!

I've got to go up to my room and get some sleep now. It's about 11 p.m. here, and I'm quite tired. The room is nice, but I never thought that I'd spend about USD105.00 for a room on the fourth floor (no elevator here) with a shared bathroom, but as I didn't want to spend USD300.00 for a room for three days, I can manage this. I'll be happy to be home in my own bed, and also when I go to Seattle soon for the National Career Development Association Conference next week (yes, I'm a glutton for travel punishment) I'll at least have a nice bed.

Later,

Ken

I survived Midsommar

Hey all,

Just a note, I just found out that I got a bunch of mail that filled up my inbox, and I didn't get any new mail for 5 days. It should be fine now if you want to send me mail, so please feel free to resend anything you send me earlier that bounced.

Yesterday was Midsommarafton (day before Midsommer) and that's the day that everything happens. It was pretty relaxed around here, and we got down to the public festivities late, and I missed all the dancing, which was one of the main things that I wanted to experiences, so I was kind of bummed about that. Just means that I'll have to come back another year. I did get to see the pole, hear the musicians playing, and watched the potato-in-a-spoon races, the potato sack races, and the tug of war competitions between the different villages of the island (Mynäsudde won.) We then got invited to the people next door to my friends Fred and Lena's, and we had a great meal with their family and the friends of the two siblings that were there. There were about 16 or so people there, and we sang a lot of conveniently short songs, as in Sweden you have to sing before you can drink. I probably had more alcohol last night than I had for the past 5 months though. I paced myself and I felt fine though. I ended up going to a bar/club (the only one on the island) at about 11 p.m. and it was just like the places that I don't like to go to in America, but everyone was speaking Swedish, but it was one of the first places that I've seen drunk 20 year old men wearing crowns made of wildflowers on their heads.

Today, it was raining most of the day (seemingly another midsommar tradition) and we took it very easy. I took a walk for about 45 minutes, and we made dinner here. It started to clear up toward the end of the day, and we took a walk down by the shore. It's very pretty here.

We'll be going back to Stockholm tomorrow, and I'll be moving into a hotel room. Lena has said that she'd be interested in accompanying me to some of the museums that I'm planning on visiting while I'm there, so that will be nice to have company. I'm flying out on Wednesday to Iceland, so I'm sort of going through withdrawl thoughts of leaving Sweden. My Swedish has improved dramatically, but I'm also kind of tired of working so hard to speak. I know that this is one of my only times to really practice, but I think I also need some more time to absorb all that I've taken in here.

Overall, this has been a tremendously great trip for me, and one that's been somewhat overwhelming in so many ways. It's filled in some wholes for me, and I think I'm a little more centered now.

I'll try to write again while I'm in Stockholm.

Hej Hej!

Ken

Now in Utö

Well, I left Norrköping this morning, took the train to Stockholm, the next train to to Västerhannige, and then the bus to Åsterhavstad, where while I was waiting for the ferry, my friend Lena and her daughter Nini, and I helped them with the various packages onto the boat. It was great to see people that I already know. We came to the island and brought all the stuff to their vacation house on a hill with a glorious view of the bay between here and the mainland, and then we took their 30 year old bicycles the 3 kilometers (approximately 1.8 miles) to the only store on the island. We bought a lot of food and came back with our groceries on the three bicycles home. By the time we got home in the rain, Fredrik, my former singing partner in Stämbandet, joined us, and we started getting down to having some wine. As they were wondering what a vegetarian eats, I made dinner tonight, and we are going to take a little walk to see their old cabin. It is 10 p.m. right now, and it is still light out.

Tomorrow is Midsommerafton, so this will be the party day. We will go down to the center of the island for the raising of the Maistang (midsommer pole) and I guess there will be dancing around the pole, and picking of flowers for midsommer kranz (flower halos to wear on your head.) The big party is tomorrow, so we will see if I can write!

Ken

Been inside a lot

Well, since I got here, I've been in the Norrköping Library for about 7 hours as tehy have a really good geneological library and people to help out. I've found out a lot of things, especially about my father's father's family, but I've also done research on the other parts. The biggest thing I found out was that my great grandfather, Hjalmar Fredrik Mattsson, was the 4th of 5 children, but he was the only one who lived past the age of two. Also, he came to America with an 8 year old boy, who I'm not sure if he was a relative or not. More information needed to research.

Norrköping seems like Lowell if it were bigger. It's nice city, and they've done a lot of nice things here (the way they've redone the mills here into museums and concert halls, artists studios, etc. is impressive.) I've walked around a bit, and gone into 2 museums, but I've mostly seen the library.

This will be my last post for a while, as I'm heading out tomorrow to the island of Utö in the Stockholm archipelego, where I'll celebrate Midsommer with my friend Fred Hesslevik (who I sang with in Stämbandet) and his wife Lena. I'll take a train from here to Stockholm, another to Västerhannige, a bus to the port, and then a ferry over to the island. I'm looking forward to a few days of not traveling and just hanging out. I'm probably eat and drink a lot too, and I'm looking forward to seeing how real Swede celebrate Midsommer. Everything closes down here soon, and the weather for Midsommer is the biggest thing on the news.

I should be in Stockholm on Sunday, but maybe Monday. I'm flying out to Iceland on Wednesday, and then I really won't know the language.

Feel free to send me an email if you want to get to me.

Ken