sabrinakam

The 18th of July we arrived at Hanover airport where my parents, Inge (short for Ingeborg) and Helmut,

and my niece, Nele,

welcomed us. After an hours drive we arrived in Seelenfeld, my home village. I grew up in this tiny, tiny village and lived there until I was 21. About 300 people live in Seelenfeld and the closest mid-size town, Minden (80.000 inhabitants), is about 25 km away. Around Seelenfeld there are many small villages and the typical German country life (what ever that means) predominates.

The house where my parents live is quite big.

It used to be a farmhouse but it was rebuilt by my father, a passionate professional and private builder, during many years and now the house seems like a labyrinth. In fact, people have got lost there!!! Since there is enough room for several families in the house, my sister Andrea and her husband Michaėl

and their, for the most of the time, adorable kids, Nele and Joss, and their cat, Lotti,
live there too.

We enjoyed spending time together, talking, laughing, partying, playing, babysitting, singing, screaming, swimming, shopping, eating etc. See yourself!!!!

Thanks for a wonderful time!!!!

Love,

Sabrina and Fredrik

Gotland is Sweden’s largest island and lies in the Baltic Sea. It was a sovereign country for many hundreds of years until it became a part of the Swedish realm. The entire island is still full of ruins, artefacts and memories from its period of greatness during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages it was a prominent member of the Hanseatic league.

Gotland is a popular holiday resort for Swedes and foreigners alike. It offers beautiful sand beaches, hotels and apartments, good quality restaurants and cafes, a vastness of nature and events and festivities during the summer months.

Our friend Anna and her fireman, Erik, live on Gotland who we stayed with. Thanks for having us!!!! Erik, a real “Gotlänning”, showed us the southern tip of the island, with Anna we went to Visby, Gotlands province capital.

We also visited the Björk family (Tobias, Karolina, Vera, Alrik and Gunnar) at their ‘summer house’. A beautiful place!!!

At Visby we also visited Gotland’s Fornsal, a museum that has a collection of rune stones and other artefacts dating back over 8 000 years. Cool stuff!!!

We had a great time on Gotland!!!!

Love,

Sabrina and Fredrik

Stockholm has 1.7 million inhabitants and is Swedens capital. The city is built upon 14 islands and the water covers one third of the city area this is why Stockholm is often referred to as Venice of the North. It is surrounded by Lake Mälaren and by the Baltic Sea. The maritime life is an important aspect of the city. There are plenty of bridges, marinas and locks. The water is so clean that you can, in fact, catch salmon or take a swim in the middle of the city, just a few minutes walk from the city centre. Be aware though that the water can be somewhat chilly.

Stockholm has been our home town for 3 years and we loved to live in this Nordic capital. The city has a lot to offer from cultural events over shopping to activities in the nearby nature. Some of our best friends live in Stockholm who we wanted to visit and spend time with. We stayed at Karin, David and Anton’s place in Farsta Strand and met with David and Tobias one night. We hadn’t seen each other for quite some time and enjoyed a lot the get-together. A part from having fun with our friends, we did an awful lot of shopping (mostly stuff for our Russia, Mongolia and China trip) and NO sightseeing this time, therefore NO photos. Sorry!!!!

Many thanks to Karin, David and Anton for having us!!!

Loads of love,

Sabrina and Fredrik

Kurre, Fredrik’s uncle, turned 50 and had organized a big party in Köping.

A part from inviting all his friends from Köping and around, he invited his relatives from Danmark and France. Amanda, his daughter, was back from the US and friends from where she stayed for a year, Illinois, came to the party too. Agnes, his other daughter, and Ingela, his wife, with her family were also there. It was a big party with lots of dancing and chatting. Kurre and Ingela had organized a band who entertained us to the full with Swedish songs, jokes and funny stories. The guests themselves did every type of performance, singing, reading a poem, funny presentations or simply standing up to tell about Kurre. The highlight was the performance of Amanda and Agnes who beautifully sang a song to celebrate their father.

The party was great and the fact to meet the big family again was fantastic!!!!

Thank you, Kurre and Ingela!!!

Sabrina and Fredrik

Midsummer Day was originally celebrated on 24 June to commemorate John the Baptist. About 50 years ago, it was moved to the nearest Saturday. The celebrations however take place the day before, Midsummer Eve, this year on Friday 22 June.

In agrarian times, Midsummer celebrations in Sweden were held to welcome summertime and the season of fertility. In some areas, therefore, people dressed up as ‘green men’, clad in ferns. They also decorated their houses and farm tools with foliage, and raised tall, leafy maypoles to dance around, probably as early as the 16th century and modeled on a German tradition.

It was not until the 20th century, however, that this became the most Swedish of all traditional festivities.

Text and information from: http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/CommonPage____11366.aspx

We celebrated Midsummer Eve at Pelle’s, our friend’s summer house outside of Örebro. Since it is such an important holiday for all Swedes and the celebrations take place outdoors, everybody wants it to be a lovely sunny summer day. It didn’t happen this year!!!! It was a grey and rainy day but that didn’t stop us from having great fun. Pelle put up his party tent and from time to time when the rain stopped we played cricket ball and an outdoor quiz where you were supposed to find questions printed on paper somewhere in the garden or on the street. The food we ate was delicious and typical as it should be at Midsummer Eve. For lunch we had different kinds of pickled herring (I love that stuff), boiled fresh potatoes with fresh dill and soured cream. For dinner we had a delicious barbecue with different kinds of meat and fish, I had salmon. Yummy!!! As dessert we had a mouth-watering chocolate cake (thanks to Carola, Stefan’s girl-friend) with fresh strawberries and cream.

The traditional beverages are cold beer and schnapps, preferably spiced. For every time the schnapps glasses are refilled, singing breaks out. Swedes love drinking songs!!!!

We had a great time!!! Thank you, Pelle!!!

Love,

Sabrina and Fredrik

PS: Jätte tack ochså till alla som var med på festen!!!!!