We left Lund in the beautiful sunshine and after effectively navigating the 'round abouts' we found ourselves zipping down the freeway at 110 kph. Okay, so that's not as fast as it sounds, but it still felt good to get moving fast into our days of playing. We marveled at how Minnesota-like it all looked. Lots of pine and birch trees, rolling hills, etc. About 20 minutes out of Lund we began seeing the sea - beautiful farms, wide open fields and sea. Trucks bore the license plates from all over Europe - Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, GB, etc. So cool!
Traveling up the west coast of Sweden about midway to Goteburg we got off the freeway and opted for tiny village and farm roads. We drove seaside through the "Swedish Riviera'. We parked and walked along the beach at one point. The tide was out and the mud flats were in but it was fun anyway. We were amazed at the tiny summer houses lined up in rows. Literally not more than 300-500 square feet and one right on top of the next. We learned that they are very expensive and you buy them, but not the land, so you continue to pay rent on the land forever.
The early spring flowers were in bloom and we stopped to oooh and aaah at crocus fields, daffodils, etc. Took pictures of old thatch-roofed farm houses and loved the ambiance of it all.
On to Goteburg by about 2:00 and found our Hotel Tidbloms on the north end of this city of 600,000. The room was fabulous - high ceilings, moldings, huge windows, wooden floors, etc. We were in the turret end of the building so our room had a large curved wall. You could have put 2 1/2 of our room in Lund in this space.
We called Ling Andersson, a friend of Joanna Ferlan (Jill's mom). She wanted to meet us and show us her port city. She gave great directions and we took the tram to the city center and met her within the hour. She took us to Haga, the old city with lots of shops, boutiques, cobblestone, cafes, etc. After walking a bit we had coffee and "Swedish sweets" at a sidewalk cafe. The sun was glorious and Dick even toasted his "upper forehead" a bit! The Swedes were all facing the sun - in any little bit of sun they could find their faces were turned upward. We decided it must have been a LONG winter!
Ling is originally from Singapore but has lived in Goteburg since she was a child. She was a gracious and fun host for the rest of the day. We walked up to the "Avenue" and shopped in Orefors shops, wonderful dept stores (NK), etc. Then she took us to dinner at SoHo, a lovely place. We had such good conversations and learned a lot about the city and her life here. (She is married to a Swede and they have two boys.) At the end of the evening, Mats, her husband came to pick us up and take us back to the hotel. Such hospitality!
We crashed on our wonderful feather beds and were asleep in seconds. Excellent day. What will tomorrow hold?
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