So much for my good intentions of posting more in May. I managed 3 posts, then real life intervened. But in a mostly good way! My best friend from college, Julie, and her family: husband Todd (Benny), daughter Erin and son Drew, finally made it to Sweden to visit! I picked them up at the airport on Saturday, May 10, at 4:30 and we crammed all their bags into the Tesla and came over to Sweden. We managed to keep them up and got them on schedule right away, which I think was helpful for them. Anders cooked a delicious dinner of rosépepper salmon, new potatoes, and asparagus, with homemade caviar sauce. After dinner I took Julie and Erin to the grocery store to pick out breakfast things. Erin is 30, and has celiac disease, plus she’s allergic to eggs, AND is vegetarian. So no gluten and no eggs, no meat, though she was eating fish as necessary on this trip. I had already bought a small pack of gluten-free bread, and we added yogurt and gluten-free granola, as well as bunch of fruit to the basket. They are such calm, nice people. Benny brought us a whole 12-pack of regular-sized Vernor’s (!) and 3 bags of freeze-dried Skittles for the kids, all of which was very much appreciated.
On Sunday, we went to Malmö, first to an AIC Mother’s Day Brunch (as it was American Mother’s Day) at a really good crepe breakfast place. There were only 2 other members there, Lisel (with her oldest daughter) and Nelly. We were given potted pink chrysanthemums, and since Julie couldn’t take hers home, I inherited it when they left. 🙂 Then we went to the Disgusting Food Museum, which Anders and I had never been to, and spent an interesting hour and a half learning about all the gross food humans eat. I didn’t try anything. Afterwards, we went to Malmö castle and while everyone else went into the museums, I hung out in the sunshine outside the café to rest my knees. We then went over to Beachgarden and sat in the beautiful sunshine, with gelato served by Karin (who was working solo!) and then walked down the waterfront a little ways. On the way home, we decided to go to Aiko Sushi so I booked a table before we left Beachgarden and we enjoyed a lovely meal. After we got home, I got out all 4 bags of salt licorice that Anders had gotten from Martin for his birthday and the whole family (not me, haha) tried them. All of them said it wasn’t as bad as they were expecting!
Monday was super fun, apart from my stupid knees. We started out by visiting Flyinge Kungsgård, petting horses and watching some get shoed, and viewing the storks on their nests up on the rooftops. Benny is a confirmed bird nerd, with apps to photo- and sound-identify birds, so he was very happy to add a stork to his species list. Then we drove over to Lund and walked around, through Mårtenstorget over to Lund’s Cathedral where we caught the 12 o’clock ringing of the bells and the historical clock as well as a info lecture about the clock in both Swedish and English. The cathedral closed for 15 minutes so we walked over to the Kyrkoforum to use the public toilets and then visited the book/gift store before going back to the cathedral to tour around the inside of the church and down in the crypt. We then went to Saluhallen for lunch, though what we ended up with (wraps) wasn’t all that great. Then we walked again back over to Kulturen, the huge open-air museum behind the cathedral. I had hoped to have lunch there but they were closed on Mondays. I had to sit in the entrance foyer with my knees up as all the walking had really started them hurting, while the Bensingers explored the first section of the museum. The sun was shining and it was a lovely day. After they started under the bridge to the main area, I joined them and we walked in and out of houses for another couple of hours.
Once we got home, we hung out on the deck in the sunshine, while Benny identified all of our backyard birds, until it was time for me to go get the kids (Martin, Theo, and Karin) at the bus stop. Anders prepared a huge meal of vegetarian spaghetti bolognese with gluten-free noodles (which were really good), and salad with artichokes and kohlrabi. After dinner, we looked at photo albums, and then Theo and Karin taught Erin and Drew how to play Plump.
We had Copenhagen planned for Tuesday, but I decided Monday night that I wasn’t going to be able to manage, so in the morning, I drove them to Hyllie to catch the train over. Good thing too because they walked ALL OVER the city. They met Karin for lunch, and she texted me to say “they’re so calm!” which made me laugh. I spent a quiet day at home, getting small things done, and even worked a couple of hours, though I spent lots of time hanging out on the deck in the sunshine. We watched the first Eurovision semi-final in the evening, so I felt that I was doing a good job of making sure they were experiencing all things Swedish! 😀
Wednesday morning, they packed up all their stuff, and we went in to Lund, and had fika (salt-caramel frapino, yum!) before they got on the X-2000 train to Stockholm. A very short visit, but actually just right, I think, for all of us! After I dropped them off, I headed to my manager’s home and met her and my entire team for lunch and an afternoon workshop, which was lovely. They spent the rest of the week in Stockholm (even watching Eurovision semi-final 2 at the hostel bar on Thursday), visiting museums and exploring the city, and having meatballs, before taking the train back to Copenhagen Saturday night. They stayed in a hotel at the airport, and their flight left Sunday morning at 6 am (eek!).
I stil have journals detailing all the hilarious things Julie and I did in college, as well as the photo albums, and it was really fun to reminisce about everyone and everything. We met Benny our sophomore year (along with his entire gang of friends, some of whom both of us dated briefly). It was nice to get to know Erin and Drew (who is super quiet but when he does say something, is inevitably hilarious) better, and just to spend some time hanging out with people I so rarely get to see. And chances are so slim for seeing them in the future, since the chances of getting to Michigan are not great with my mom now in North Carolina.
This past week was a busy one workwise, and I have a super busy week ahead, with the AIC board meeting tomorrow, a massage booked for Tuesday, a physio appointment on Wednesday, hair on Thursday, and Mother’s Day (Swedish) with the kids home for dinner hopefully on Sunday. Then I have 2 short work weeks in a row, and Martin and Theo’s move, as well as a pile of medical appointments. No wonder it’s almost already June.
Time flies when you’re having fun!
Mood: relaxed
Music: BBMAK—Ghost of You and Me