Swedish Ponies, Like Swedish Women only Hairier

  Boras, Sweden
Sunday, June 10, 2007

We took the train from Copenhagen back to Gothenburg.  Due to our simply hoping on the train and not having tickets (except for our Scanrail passes) we were forced to change seats several times throughout the trip.

We arrived in Gothenburg and went out for a beautiful lunch at a nearby Indian restaurant.  The food was fantastic, especially after mostly living on sandwiches and cheap takeaway.  We both had delicious curries, and mango lassies and shared a nan bread filled with spices and a kind of home made cheese (kinda like tofu but tastier). 

Gabrielle picked up cake baking supplies while Dan watched the bags.  She couldn't read the labels to find what she needed, but a young Swedish couple saw her in distress and took her around the store and found her everything she needed.  Time had slipped away from us, so we dashed back to the train station to catch our train to Boras, where we would be picked up by the couple that we were staying with for the next two weeks.

So we found the train, and the doors hadn't opened yet. We waited with the other passengers... and waited... and the time for departure passed... and eventually an annoucement came on in Swedish!  Following the other groaning passengers to be, and having been through this a few times now, we figured that there was something wrong with the train and we had to get a new one.  A new train came down the track and parked right in front of the old one, so we got on that... after much waiting, and a few more announcements in Swedish, we got off our new train and back on to the old one (it seemed the train plague was catching) and eventually headed off for Boras 45 min late.

We arrived and met Hans and his daughter Maria. We weren't quite sure to what to make of Hans at first because after about a minute of talking to him we both realized that he actually DID swear like a sailor and it wasn't just our imagination. However, a few more minutes of talking to him, we realized that Hans was really friendly and very knowledgable about Sweden.

We arrived at the farm and met Marta and the rest of the kids. Marta took us into a spacious caravan that was to be our accomidation, and told us that we could use the car anytime we wanted. (We just met you!) Then Gabrielle headed into the kitchen with Marta and the girls and Hans poured Dan a whiskey! Hans and Dan sat outside talking about Sweden and the farm and Gabrielle was making Birthday cake!!!

Awesome Chocolate Birthday Cake!

After a BBQ dinner and a tour around the area, we had met most of the ponys, including one very active stallion. There was also a cute little foal that looked like a giant plush toy. Hans and Marta breed Shetland ponies and also provide camps in the summer time where kids can come and learn about riding, grooming, showing and breeding Shetland ponies.

Looks like it will be a good couple of weeks!

All our best from Sweden

Let Them Eat Cake

Dan and Gabrielle